22 February

Can I say a big thank you to all who have paid their subscriptions extraordinarily promptly. Most of you have not taken off the 5% discount so if you want a refund please let us know.  Otherwise, the credit will be offset against conference fees or next year’s sub. An even bigger thank you to a few members who have said ‘keep the 5% since we like what you’re doing’.
 
Remember, if you use your GSB card, after a few purchases the discounts you receive will more than pay for the cost of your subscription. If you’re not using the card get in touch with matthew.templar@gsb.co.nz  and he’ll get you up and running very quickly. Just recently we had a pretty crusty member (you’ll know who we mean) purchase a new car. The price could not be bettered anywhere in the central North Island!!!     
 
Our week has been dominated by meetings of the Governance board; Advisory Council; NZAAA; NZHA; Flight Training and the Aviation Trust fund. At each of these meetings the big takeaway was the importance of “One Industry, One Voice”. Read more
 
Australia is on this bow wave of change. For example, many sectors outside of scheduled passenger transport in the Australian aviation environment are now what we would call self regulating.  Largely through the process of risk profiling they set their own rules and how they will be administered.
 
In many respects this is a much tougher form of regulation because not only do you have to be true to yourself, but you also now need to be true to your peers and ultimately the regulator.  Effectively, the users of these services are getting, at the very minimum, three levels of safety protection.
 
New Zealand is just about to embark on sector risk profiling with the announcement this week that Aerosafe Risk Management has been appointed to do the profile on the Ag sector. For our part, this is a first and it’s critical to get a high level of engagement and participation. There is a very strong expectation that any mitigations developed will require a shared responsibility to implement.  No longer will implementation of the solutions be solely up to the Regulator, but industry and individual participants will be required to step up to the block.
 
“Red boots” calls this the world of “the velvet glove and iron fist”.  Read more
 
Welcome to our new world. One of the more tangible steps this week was government’s announcement of a new super agency for health and safety. Read more
 
Of course one of our industry’s great successes in acting as one voice is to send a very clear message to the Government that the medical charge is too high.  But what was disappointing was the zero feedback on the issue of what we need to do next.  I’m finding that the Government is very solution focused so here’s the scope of the solution.. read more
 
We hear about many success stories in industry and this week we’d like to bring you some from two of our members in the South Island.  First, one of the industry’s real leaders in the training community turned in 20,000 hours of flying read more and the other developing the potential of the MacKenzie basin read more. Send us more of these please because we want to share these with all our members and stakeholders as well as develop an achievement file.
 
Avalon Airshow commences next week. The Defence Industry Association will be representing the wider industry. read more
 
Industry wide Safety Advisory Committee holds first formal meeting of year. read more
 
John Funnell from HSBoP has accepted appointment to the AIRCARE Management committee replacing Tony Michelle. Lloyd Matheson has been elected chair. read more.
 
We’ve also have a meeting with the new CEO, Dean Minchington, of Skills IQ - our new Industry Training Organisation.  Some of you may know Dean as he has a strong background in Aviation and more recently worked in the “skills” space in Australia. It’s really pleasing to hear the merger is progressing smoothly and key personnel continue with the new group. Dean’s offered to brief the industry at our conference in June and to take a trade stand so there will be plenty of opportunity for an exchange of views
 
New members - a big welcome to Helisika Taupo, MARSH and Aerodac

Aviation is in our DNA Red boots

Conference is already on the count down.  The programmes for NZAAA, NZHA, and our joint sessions are designed. Flight Training and AEANZ programmes are under construction as is the IRM. For our Ag industry and flight training the session on risk profiling will be critical.  For the flight trainers of course it’s more a ‘look and see’ than active participation. Next week we hope to have an interview with Kimberley Turner, CEO of Aerosafe Risk Management, who will explain the process, and expectations on participants. Conference will be one of the major platforms to deliver the mitigations and test Industry’s commitment to the world of the “velvet glove.”      
 
Trades - remember the big discounts only go for another month so get in and make your bookings while the discounts last read more
 
Sponsorship read more
 
Delegates registration read more – conference rates have been held static for those who attended Rotorua. To attend a comparable conference of quality costs between $1500 and $2000. You pay no more than $630 plus meals.

Expressions of Interest – Executive Leadership programme, RNZAF Base Woodbourne 17-19 May
 
Arrive 12 noon, for a two and a half day intensive executive programme dealing with your own contribution and performance within a high reliability industry sector.  Speakers cover development of safety and risk management systems; the regulatory dilemma – the velvet glove v the iron fist; governance and personal communication style – its people at the end of the day that really matter. click here  
 

AIA members deals