Presidents Report

VCAT

I was hoping by now we would have received the long awaited decision from VCAT on our declarations application. As a recap, we have asked VCAT to consider our permits and confirm our understanding of the conditions and restriction we must observe.

The second declaration is an application asking VCAT to acknowledge our existing use rights, that is, where we have undertaken activities for more than 15 years without a formal directive to stop.  This is what we established with the Church Hour application to allow us to fly on Sunday mornings between 0930 – 1030.

We are hopeful VCAT will respond soon and give us a favourable outcome and put an end to the anti-airport lobby group’s attacks and accept we have a right to lawfully continue to operate.

 Staff

Over the past few months some of our instructors have moved on to take up wonderful jobs across the commercial aviation organisations. I receive great pleasure is seeing the younger instructors moving into commercial pilot roles after learning to fly with PAC and then making their way through as instructors.

 Kellie has accepted a new role as GM at Microflite and will be finishing up at PAC in a couple of weeks. She has done a wonderful job for us and improved processes within flight ops to ensure our compliance and efficiencies are maintained. We all wish Kellie well in her next role as she continues to move onward and upward.

Committee

The Committee term is fast coming to a close with the AGM approaching and we are on the lookout for some new talent to join the committee. PAC has been built upon volunteers and their commitment to make this a special place for aviators to learn, share and grow.

 All of us, including myself, have benefited from being a Committee member. I was motivated to join the committee to hopefully pay some of my experiences forward so others who follow me can enjoy PAC as much as I have.

If you have been thinking about joining the Committee, now is your chance to put up your hand and become part of the Club management team and help build upon the work others have done before. If you are interested, I would like to hear from you and invite you to touch base and  discuss how you can be of service.

Costs

It’s clear that the economic stability we have enjoyed is about to go through a cycle of higher costs for all goods and services. We have experienced a dramatic increase in fuel costs, which impacts our aircraft hire
rates as well as all other commodities we consume.

We have begun reviewing the costs to operate aircraft quarterly as the lag of waiting 6 or 12 months is unsustainable. In any event, we look to keeping price increases to a minimum and only pass on what we must.

We are still doing all we can to reduce our expenditures and keep operations lean as it is sensible to achieve the lowest cost operating environment and continue to bring members great value.

President Jack