Australian Flying — November-December 2017

I

7474

AUSTRALIAN FLYING November – December 2017

n 2016-2017 Recreational

Aviation Australia (RAAus)

membership grew by six

percent. That’s an amazing

result and demonstrative of

the support RAAus enjoys

within the sector.

Subscriptions to our Sport

Pilot magazine grew by a

staggering 33%.

RAAus’ digital foot print now

sees more than 11,000 Facebook

followers and some 23,000 digital

news subscribers.

In a word, we are maturing and

people like what they are seeing.

Like all things true maturity

takes time and sometimes the

pathway has obstacles. We

are getting better at managing

our way through obstacles and

planning better to avoid them

altogether.

As RAAus Ltd. turns one, the

significant maturation process

from incorporate association to

company occurred seamlessly with

significant work going on in the

background. The directors and I

have been absolutely committed to

establishing a robust governance

framework that sets us up for

success.

Governance isn’t just a word you

start using. It needs to be backed

up by robust processes: detailed

analysis, record keeping, due

diligence and transparency.

In achieving good

governance levels a raft of

crucial documentation was

developed. Documentation

included the development of a

Governance Policy Framework,

Risk Appetite, Risk and Audit

Committee Charter, Code of

Professional Conduct for Staff

and Directors, member based

Complaints Handling and

Disciplinary Framework and a

host of supporting documents.

As part of our commitment to

organisational transparency all of

these documents are available to

members.

Internally this process led to

the review and development of a

number of business operational

policies.

Our core documents ensure

that RAAus operates consistently

and that everyone who interacts

with us, from our members who

are central to everything we do,

to third party stakeholders such

as our f light training schools, is

treated equally and fairly. This

includes non-related parties, such

as contractors, the regulator, other

government departments and

other bodies, aviation and non-

aviation alike.

Having done this hard work

allows us to focus on our core

business, ensuring we get out of

the way of our members and let

them do what they love doing best;

f lying or building.

It then pays dividends. More

members are willingly reporting

occurrences to us, thank you.

This data and information is

invaluable in our continuous

improvement cycle.

We then talk more about safety

and in turn as a group, become

safer.

What does the

next 12 months

look like?

A number of major projects are

top of mind, both with the Board

and our members. Our push

for CTA and increased weight

continue to move ahead. We are

a little frustrated with the pace

of progress in this area, but great

change comes in small increments

and we continue to work very hard

to deliver these two outcomes to

members. The important thing to

remember is that at no point has

CASA said no. CASA continues

to engage with us, discuss options,

ask questions. It’s a two way

street and we remain absolutely

Growth

and

evolution

RAAus CEO Michael Linke says

the organisation continues to

evolve, transform and improve.

And importantly, grow.

(^7474) A Spot of Recreation RECREATIONAL AVIATION AUSTRALIA