Chair Report

The 2021/22 year has been yet another challenging one. Over the past few years we have looked ahead and said “surely it has to get better” and yet we continue to face significant challenges from a range of areas. Having said this, RAAus remains one of the healthiest (if not THE healthiest) general aviation advocacy body in Australia. We also remain strong in terms of membership numbers with our organisation representing in excess of 9000 aviators across the country. Moreover, our register contains more than 3300 aircraft and we have some 190 flight schools in the system providing employment opportunities for pilots and training services to members.

This most recent 12 months has seen RAAus participate in a number of regulatory reform spaces including medical reform, airworthiness standards and pilot training. Some of these activities are ongoing while others have come to a conclusion, however, in all cases RAAus continues to work closely with the regulator, the Minister, the Department and other government and industry stakeholders to advance causes for the industry.

This has seen us realise several key milestones in the history of RAAus including the awarding of Australia’s first unrestricted part 149 certificate. We have also worked closely with industry, and with their blessing, made significant progress to offering even more aviators the ability to utilise the RAAus system to their advantage by opening our doors to aircraft up to 760kgs. Our efforts here included the removal of the arbitrary 45kt stall speed initially detailed in the regulations. In addition to this we continue to advocate for access to controlled airspace for our members to ensure that we are not repeatedly forced into tiger country which presents substantial risks to the lives of our pilots and their passengers. The sector as a whole continues to face pressures from economic factors as well as other environmental influences. This includes the obvious COVID related difficulties that have plagued the broader economy through to industry specific concerns. On the recovery from pandemic related shutdowns and restrictions we now encounter issues such as limitations by government owned entities that impose constraints on training operations that are, in some instances, worsening the financial troubles faced by our flight training schools. Of course the weather and the continued presence of La Niña cycles presents its own set of challenges with an unprecedented third consecutive year of the conditions making it difficult to go flying.

These challenges aside, we have come through the year in a position that allows us to continue serving our members and meeting the needs of the broader industry where appropriate. With a total comprehensive surplus of $564k (noting that this has been bolstered by a positive asset revaluation), we continue to remain financially healthy. The organisation has taken the time to reflect on the previous year’s operations and proactively look towards the future and will set out a new strategic plan to ensure the strong performance of the past is continued into the future. This will include looking inwards and providing our staff and volunteers with the training and support they require as well as looking outward and considering our members needs as well as those of the industry at large.

We are a wide open land with a diverse landscape ideally suited to aviation and RAAus is equally diverse in its thinking and approach to delivering on its objectives.

It is worth taking a moment to consider the objects of RAAus and how we are performing against this simple measure. Our constitution states clearly that we will pursue the advancement of aviation and encourage training in a number of related areas. To this end, I believe we continue to serve our members interests as well as those of the aviation sector more holistically. Considering that we cater to a number of different forms of aviation directly including powered parachutes, weightshift microlight aircraft and 3-axis aircraft, we represent a broad cross section of aviators. Our efforts to include even more aviators continue with our ongoing support of a number of industry initiatives that benefit aviators of all kinds. Our engagement and support of other sport aviation organisations and our ongoing presence in bodies such as the General Aviation Advisory Network and The Australian Aviation Associations Forum are just two examples of our collaborative efforts to further the interests of aviation in Australia.

In a more forward looking capacity we will continue to face challenges in the near future. I expect that the world economy and perhaps even political unrest will provide us with considerable trials in the next few years. Inflationary pressures are already present and the potential for a sizeable economic downturn on a global scale should not be underestimated.

Of course we already have the actions of Russia in Ukraine that have affected a number of aircraft suppliers having flow on effects into the organisation while the China and Taiwan tension in the APAC region also looms large. Broadening our focus to include new forms of aviation as they emerge and evolve in coming years will also offer new opportunities and help spread rising costs over a larger user base. The wider uptake of electric technologies and the introduction of new powered lift vehicles creates some exciting hurdles to overcome but also brings with it equally exciting prospects for the industry as these new ideas are adopted. All of these things will remain on our risk radar together with those items more directly related to the day to day operations of our organisation. With some forethought, preparation and positive execution of our business plans, we will remain in a solid position for many years to come. RAAus is about to enter its fifth decade of existence and is one of the oldest aviation organisations of its type in Australia. With a stable platform, a steady hand at the helm and some forward thinking I expect that Australia’s largest member based aviation advocacy body will continue to thrive into the future. The chance to shape and guide advances in aviation across our country is one that we are ready to take advantage of. We are a wide open land with a diverse landscape ideally suited to aviation and RAAus is equally diverse in its thinking and approach to delivering on its objectives. Whilst we may continue to face further challenges in the coming years as we have done in those years most recently gone by, we are well placed to thrive and remain in a position to deliver on the industry’s needs.

Michael Monck Chair