Ron S, "The Chairman" has asked me to give a brief report on our club AGM at
Cranfield last weekend.
Unfortunately Jon Tye, our outgoing Chairman had lost his voice so he was
unable to say very much to us. Ron Swinden stood in and made The Chairmans
address on Jons behalf.
The first and most important item on the agenda was a tribute to the late
Pete Clark who was tragically killed some months ago at Old Warden during his
display of the Slingsby Firefly.
Ron Swinden spoke of the brief time he had known Pete, that unassuming person
with a wonderful sense of humour. Pete was not a "career pilot" but had come
to flying late in life. He was one of a rare breed of flyers who had "taught
himself" and had reached a standard of professionalism that many of his
fellow aviators admired and looked up to.
This was no more poignantly demonstrated than the day of Petes funeral in
the small church yard on the Yorkshire Moors. As he was laid to rest a Royal
Air Force Tornado, two Tucarnos, and the lead Hawk from the Red Arrows few
overhead in salute to this man. This was not a tribute to a fellow Officer
since Pete had never been in the RAF but a mark of the personal admiration
and repect that he had gained amongst his fellow professionals.
The Chairmans Report - this was a brief one. Jon was delighted to see so many
Europas now flying (the count at Cranfield was 10 and a half, the half being
the factory cockpit mock up). He also noted the extremely high standard of
finish on all the aircraft.
Ron Swinden went on to report that at the PFA's AGM the membership had at
last gained the right to vote by post. Also that our No1 Europa flyer Peter
Kember had been elected to the PFA committee. Ron felt that after his fuel
tank saga, things at "the factory" were running smoothly. His one moan was
that his paperwork was in a mess due to the many mods and could they please
produce a list. Ron also urged all builders to take time off from building to
keep current on their flying skills.He finished with a plea that the
membership should find a way for the Club magazine and the Internet to
coexist together without one forcing out the other. He felt they both had a
place in the Europa builder (and now flyers) armoury.
Carl Pattinson (that's me) went on to read out the 1995 AGM minutes. I
apologise to those who fell asleep and promise to severely abridge the next
years one.
Dot Pattinson (Treasurer) gave her report on the clubs finances. All well !
Copies of her annual report are available to club members on request.
The new committee was elected, which apart from the post of Club Magazine
Editor was not contested. Sadly, on this occasion Margaret Watson was not
elected as Editor but we thank her for volunteering and hope that she will
consider standing at some time in the future.
The new committee is as follows. Chairman - Ron Swinden. Vice Chairman -
Martin Stoner. Secretary - Carl Pattinson. Treasurer - David Corbett.
Membership Secretary - Rowland Carson. Social Secretaty - John Riddell.
Editor - David Watts.
The retiring Social Secretary - Trevor Jackson reported that he had organised
two further events for the club, both fly ins. One is to be near
Northallerton with a visit to RAF Leeming and the second near Kemble with a
visit to Aero Developments (home of the British Subaru) and a dinner at a
stately home ?
Under the heading of Any Other Business, Peter Kember stood up and commented
on the last Europa year from his point of view. He complimented David Dufton
on his efforts in producing a splendid Club Magazine. He said he felt that we
had spent too much of our time whingeing and griping at the factory and that
not enough credit was given to their efforts. He stated that we should
rejoice and be glad that we were at last flying (well, at least he is -
whinge whinge !)
His parting tip to the assembly - invest some time and money in proper Europa
training before you start to fly. I can heartily endorse that one !
Finally I stood up and made a long (and rather boring) speech on the need for
us to appoint a Safety Officer now that the Europa Fleet had started to fly.
I expressed some concern that I had heard of a handful of minor flying
mishaps. I felt that we as a club should appoint an officer (possibly Martin
Stoner) to collate such incidents so that we could see if there was a common
trend and if so what we could do to improve the situation. I commented that
it was my belief that this particular problem was a lack of training/
experience but added that I was not necessarily qualified to make this
judgement.
Peter Kember replied, saying that although he had no objection to a safety/
training officer he felt that the idea of confessing ones sins to a "father
confessor" was unnecessary since this would give the impression that there
was a Europa problem and it was his view this was not the case.
Mike Gregory then stated that there was nothing onerous about the idea of a
Safety officer and that in fact all the best professional flying
organisations used such systems (namely the Royal Air Force). I believe Mike
himself is involved in formulating safety policy in the RAF.
Unfortunately due to a misunderstanding we did not take a vote on this issue
so we dont really know what most of the membership thinks on this one.
I can only add that I intend to pursue this one further so watch this space (
or maybe the Club Mag).
Finally Ivan Shaw stood up and gave his now traditional address to the
assembly "1995/96 from Europa Aviations Point of View".
There being no other business the meeting ended.
Carl Pattinson
Mr - why use one word when ten will do just as well. Hope you didnt all fall
asleep !
PS - My E mail address is CPattinson@aol.com (not the one above).
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