The
Aero Club of South Africa
Roger Thomas
I started my aviation 'career' in Paragliding just over 12 years ago now, and have moved 'up the ranks' as and when my finances have supported it, moving onto Hangliders (briefly), microlights and then the natural progression to fixed wing power flying.
In order to maintain your licence in any of these disciplines, other than fixed wing, it is mandatory for one to be a member of the Aero Club of South Africa (AeCSA).
The Microlighters, being part of AeCSA, have some pull with the bodies that they deal with. Sometime back they opposed an item the CAA wanted to introduce and representing approx. some 2900 members, were able to lobby fiercely, knowing that they had significant backing. They won their case and CAA had to go back to the drawing board with their proposal.
It still amazes me that there is no such body to represent the 'recreational' private pilot - well certainly none that appear to have any significant membership. This has been evident through the process that AOPA, CAASA etc have been involved in, in fighting the CAA cost increases.
Indications are that even with their current awareness campaigns these organisations have not managed to swell their numbers by any significant amounts. I believe that we as Algoa Flying Club have a stronger membership base than any of the above bodies.
A power flying pilot is able to be part of the AeCSA on a voluntary basis. This you are able to do via the South African Power Flying Assoc (SAPFA). Being a SAPFA member in turn gives you membership by affiliation to AeCSA.
What is in it for you and what does the AeCSA do? Here is some background information detailing some of the history and services currently offered by AeCSA. (Thank-you to Neil De Lange, who supplied the following information.)
AeCSA's HISTORY
The
Aero Club of South Africa was formed in 1920 by a group of airman,
"Millers
Boys", who had served with the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval
Air Service. In
1928, due to lack of funds, the club went into recess. It was revived again
in 1936 when
Mr. I.W. Schlesinger offered £10.000.00 in prize money for the promotion
of an air race from England to Johannesburg. A further £10.000.00 was
donated by Sir Abe Bailey to promote Civil Aviation in South Africa, part
of which was used for the establishment of a National Controlling Body for
Aviation.
In
1939 as World War II hostilities began, Aero Club opened a Civil Pilots
register to enable government to readily mobilize those in civil aviation
or those with any past flying experience. When war was declared all the
established flying clubs were turned into military units with many of
these men giving the SAAF a name and reputation unequalled before.
At the end of the war in 1945 the Aero Club set about the re-establishment of clubs throughout South Africa. Today Aero Club has 12 sections and some 5000 members. It employs a full time General Manager and two Secretaries whose chief responsibility is the overall safety of its flying activities and liaison with the Civil Aviation Authority on sport aviation matters.
Recently,
the Aero Club became involved in development programs to expose those
previously isolated communities to aviation and liaise such with the
Department of Sport and Recreation. A
general committee elected by the members and representing each of the 12
sections, is responsible for the administration and development of the
Aero Club's policies in the interest and well being of sport aviation in
South Africa.
What AeCSA does for its members
The Aero Club consists of the following sections:- Power Flying, Gliding, Parachuting, Aerobatics, Ballooning, Hang Gliding & Paragliding, Aero-Modelling, Homebuilders, Microlighting, Experimental Aircraft and Virtual Aviation. Aero Club is affiliated to the Federation Aeronautique Internationale - the world controlling body for sport aviation. No competitive recreational flying activity in South Africa is recognized without Aero Club approval. This includes world record attempts.
Aero Club officials regularly attend FAI meetings to ensure South Africa's participation in international competitions. Aero Club provides a strong lobby on behalf of all its members on important issues e.g. fuel price rises, and Met forecast services and levies.
Aero Club provides a central identity for all sport aviation enthusiasts. It advises, via notices and magazines, current happenings and items of interest to all sectors of recreational flying. It also administers various functions relative to the issuing of pilot licences, airworthiness certificates, etc. that section committees cannot attend to on a part time basis, to ensure the smooth running of your particular interest.
Aero Club maintains a high level of communication with the Department of Transport which in turn respects the Aero Club's interests in sport aviation. Aero Club maintains a high level of communication with the Dept of National Education (Sport Advancement) and the Protea Colours Board (SA Sports Commission). It is affiliated to the South African Sports Foundation and provides a voice on many committees throughout South Africa, including the Civil Aviation Advisory Committee, the Southern African Aviation Safety Council, the Air Traffic Controllers Association, Radio Frequencies, Subsidies, etc.
It provides a voice on committees worldwide to represent South Africa and ensure contact is maintained and provides venues for events in all sections - all that is requested from the individual is membership and an FAI licence. Aero Club provides members with a wide range of aviation related goods complete with Aero Club insignia. It organizes Safety Seminars to promote safety in all aspects of sport Aviation.
Aero
Club is at present, busy with the promotion of numerous projects which
will be of direct benefit to its members.
The current
problem
With the current setup there are two problems as I see it.
The first is that there are free riders to the processes that AeCSA perform, as no contribution is being made by the majority of power pilots, and secondly AeCSA could be more effective with a larger membership base. Somewhere there has to be a win - win solution to this?
Probably the biggest hurdle is that of getting the recreational pilot to part with a few more of their bucks to join up as members.
Possible
solutions
The
heavy-handed approach may be to approach CAA and request them,
to force membership upon power flyers, as in the case of all other
recreational flying disciplines. This obviously may not be the first prize
of solutions - even though it has been effective for the other flying
disciplines. Nobody likes to be forced! On top of that CAA probably like
the current situation where there is no representative body for
recreational flyers. They have more of a chance to promulgate laws without
having anybody in a position to seriously contest them.
I believe that SAPFA have attempted on a few occasions to try and negotiate a bulk or concessionary membership fee for power flyers. The main reason that this has not been accepted was for the legitimate fear that other sections may do the same and it could result in less fees collected on a whole by AeCSA
Personally, I believe as a current member of AeCSA, that surely the more members that we have in AeCSA, that eventually it must bring the shared cost down for all? For example, if we are currently paying R100 for membership and say a two-year concession was offered to power flyers at say, R50 per annum - assuming that there is a significant increase in numbers, the fixed costs of AeCSA should be able to be spread over more members. Then the power flyers could move to R75 and the already existing members drop to R75. I call that a win for all.
Okay, that is my limited view and maybe too simplified an approach, but surely at times like these where we are all moaning about costs, poor service and legislation issues, there is indeed a requirement for a body with enough clout, to represent the power pilot?
Conclusion
Currently in the flying fraternity, there is much unhappiness about various changes that are taking place, whether they are cost or legislation issues. The likes of SAPFA and AeCSA are trying to fight these issues, but lack the backing of the people affected by the issues. In order to be taken seriously by the bodies that they need to negotiate with, they require a strong membership base.
Looking at the Algoa Flying Club with its 300 members only 5 are members of AeCSA via SAPFA (Two of which are SAPFA committee members). I think that if you were to look at other clubs around the country you would probably find similar scenarios.
In closing there are two things I would like to see happen:
-I urge AeCSA and SAPFA to come to some arrangement to assist SAPFA go on a drive to swell the membership numbers. Imagine if we could get to the position where we could say - "Sorry Mr X we are not going to accept that, nor will our 2000 power pilot members, please go back and rethink your proposal…"
-Secondly, for you as a power pilot, to seriously consider joining and providing your support to the likes of SAPFA and AeCSA.
If I have convinced you, send an e-mail to mail@sapfa.org.za for joining instructions.
