JULY 2018 113
T
he AAAA Convention underscored
the importance of professionals
getting together to improve safety,
learn new skills and to celebrate what a
great career aviation can be.
Dr Tony Kern (a speaker at previous
AAAA Conventions) talks about the
‘three dragons’ of ignorance, apathy
and isolation – ‘don’t know, don’t care,
just leave me alone’!
Conferences, training days and
other events address the three dragons
in one fell swoop. It is surprising how
positive you become simply by mixing
with other professionals, seeing new
equipment or hearing a new take on an
old problem.
This year, Sidney Dekker gave a
great presentation that challenged
listeners to think of not who is
responsible, but what is responsible
when things go wrong. Alan Corr
from the US delivered a workshop on
spraying excellence that really got thediscussion going, and delegates heard
from aircraft manufacturers and a wide
range of trade exhibitors.
But inspiration doesn’t stop at
good speakers – AAAA recognised
great contributions to our sector.
The Ray Mackay Award for a lifelong
contribution went to Harley McKillop
who has trained, mentored and helped
hundreds of application pilots over
many years. The Professional Pilot
Award went to Craig Patton for his
unselfish development and sharing
of safe scooping sites for the Fireboss
firefighting aircraft. The Leland Snow
Innovation Award went to Balmoral
Engineering for its development of
a high quality, low-cost powerline
marker, while AAAA president Stephen
Death received the Midcontinent
Award for his contribution to AAAA.
AAAA also looks forward at these
events and this year Kaddie Crosby
was awarded the Col Pay Scholarshipto assist with attaining an application
rating.
Even the Deputy Prime Minister
tweeted “Aerial application is
invaluable to the productivity of
Australian agriculture and the delivery
of emergency services. Congratulations
to all the award winners at the AAAA
gala dinner tonight.”
Undervaluing the power of mixing
with your peers is common, but self-
recognition as a professional is critical
to lighting a fire under your career.
Real industry professionals search for
opportunities to learn and engage.
If you see yourself as a professional
with a commitment to learning, you
can start by simply participating in the
regular fare of relevant and fun events
run by your association or professional
body.
With the quality of speakers and the
tailored content on offer, all you have
to do is register and turn up.T
here has been plenty of recent
discussion surrounding the state
of the helicopter industry in
terms of growth and activity, but
if the interest levels demonstrated by
participants at Rotortech 2018 is any
measure of our sector’s engagement
and willingness to grow, then we are in
good health.
With 996 registered delegates (an
almost 10-fold increase), 78 industry
booths, helicopter static displays and
three days of informative presentations
ranging from night firebombing
operations to interactive sessions with
senior CASA executives and the CASA
Director of Aviation Safety Shane
Carmody, the event’s success was
evident.
The keynote speaker Chuck Aaron
held court with 400 people packing
the presentation hall to hear about
and watch footage of his stunning
helicopter aerobatics demonstrations
using his highly-modified BO 105.
Vision from both inside and outside
the helicopter gave a realistic sensation
of being thrown around the sky with
some in the crowd feeling slightly
uncomfortable, especially with Chuck’s
stunt of 20 consecutive barrel rolls
with a full glass of water poised above
the radio stack not spilling a drop. If
you’ve seen the James Bond movie
Spectre you’ve seen Chuck in action, in
the stunning flying sequences above
Mexico City’s Zocalo Square.
Rotortech served to highlight a
diverse industry on the move serving
communities across Australia, from
agriculture to emergency medical
retrieval, firefighting, offshore
transportation, policing, tourism,
Antarctic science and exploration,
mining sector support, critical utility
infrastructure construction and
monitoring, with other activities too
many to list. No other aviation sector
stretches across such a broad range of
capabilities.
Rotortech also hosted the inaugural
helicopter awards dinner with asold-out crowd of over 250 people.
The dinner saw presentation of the
Pilot of the Year (Roger De Souza),
Engineer of the Year (Trevor Breed),
Crewman of the Year, (Trent Owen)
and Support person of the Year (Maria
Coutinho) awards. All were nominated
by colleagues for providing long-term,
dedicated and outstanding service to
the helicopter industry.
These helicopter industry awards
will now be an annual event to
recognise and reward individuals who
serve our important industry above and
beyond the norm.
Let’s take Rotortech’s success as our
platform on which we drive forward
until the next conference in 2020 – it
sets the example of how our combined
strengths will help us through the
regulatory changes ahead.
Finally, the AHIA would like to
thank the organisers, presenters,
exhibitors, delegates, volunteers and
everyone involved in Rotortech 2018
who made it an outstanding success.‘Undervaluing
the power of
mixing with
your peers is
common.’
‘Rotortech
served to
highlight
a diverse
industry on the
move.’
The three dragons
The power of mixing with your peers
Taking flight
Rotortech 2018 a great success
FIRE & AG
PHIL HURST
CEO AAAAAHIA TORQUE
RAY CRONIN
DEPUTY CHAIR AHIAAERIAL
AASSOCIATION OFPPLICATION
AUSTRALIA LTD.