LIFE MEMBER
Life member DURING THE OCTOBER BOARD MEETING, RAAUS VOTED TO BESTOW COVETED LIFE MEMBERSHIP AWARDS ON TWO LONG TIME MEMBERS - DAVID EYRE AND GRAEME HUTCHINSON. IN ANNOUNCING THE AWARDS, THE BOARD SAID THE TWO MEN HAD CONTRIBUTED SIGNIFICANTLY TO THE ORGANISATION BY GIVING UP PERSONAL TIME TO PROMOTE, SUPPORT AND ENCOURAGE RAAUS ACTIVITIES WITHIN THE AVIATION COMMUNITY AND THE BROADER COMMUNITY AT LARGE.
DAVID P EYRE - A BRIEF CAREER DAVID earned his Private Pilot Licence in 1954 at the Aero Club of Southern Tasmania. 13 years later he was a commercial pilot and instructor at aero clubs around the South Pacific. His natural leadership skills led him to become the Chief Flying Instructor at various South Pacific aero clubs, the Rex Flight Centre, the Royal Queensland Aero Club, the Canberra Aero Club, Ausflight Aviation, Seabird Aviation (where he was also the test pilot), Bundy Flying School and the Jabiru flying school. He is also a Pilot Examiner with a multiengine rating and a float endorsement. All up he is proficient on 28 different aircraft types. He also test flew the first night flying Jabiru. He also test flew the first, and probably only,
RAAus aircraft fitted with ADS-B. He is also an approved CASA test pilot with spin testing speciality. In 1985 he became the CFI of the first combined CASA/RAAus flying school in Australia. All up, David has a total of 22,000 hours in command. On the ground he is a member of many consultative Air Services and CASA meetings and convenor of the Queensland RAPAC committee. Among the awards he has won are • Master Instructor Certificate - Royal Federation Aero Clubs of Australia; • Master Instructor and Fellowship Australian Federation of Flight Instructors; • Master Air Pilot - Guild of Air Pilots and Navigators;
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Inaugural Airmanship Award – RAAus. David and his wife, Angela, own Jabiru 1875. This was the original Jabiru used by the company as its main advertising aircraft. The aircraft was bought by the Eyres from North Queensland Aero Club when it had 149 hours on the clock. It now has 8,560 hours. On behalf of all RAAus pilots and members, Sport Pilot congratulates David Eyre for his long and distinguished career in aviation. NEXT MONTH Graeme Hutchinson Note: At the October meeting, the board agreed to accept guidelines for the awarding of life membership, as well as develop guidelines for meritorious service and the pioneer awards. The guidelines will be made available to all members on the RAAus website.