May 2010 covers_Covers.qxd - World Airnews

By: Tom Chalmers
APATHY
REARS ITS
UGLY HEAD –
AGAIN!
TO OPEN the hangar doors this month, I
have taken a quotation from the
editorial in the latest edition of SELCAL,
the journal of the Air Line Pilots’ Association
– South Africa (ALPA-SA), perhaps one of, if
not THE, strongest organisations of its type in
the country.
It reads: “Why are people prepared to put so
much of their time and effort into the
association? The answer is really very short and
fortunately sweet – they do it because of their
passion for aviation and their fellow pilots.”
There is a very strong message in that quote
for every other club, association, organisation
– call it what you will – involved in aviation in
this and, indeed, many other countries. If not,
why is it that whenever there is a problem,
work to be done or assistance needed, there
usually are only a handful of people who come
to the fore?
Here, too, the answer is simple, though
unfortunately, not sweet. It is Apathy, with a
capital “A”. It is a disease which is rampant,
though covert, in most clubs, associations et
al. It causes even well-meaning people to look
the other way and to “leave it to someone
else” to do.
Club committees are elected each year and,
in the main, it is the same old “die hards” who
find themselves back in office running the
organisation’s affairs, often criticised, but
seldom praised, for what they do.
And it is not only in organised bodies of like-
74 WORLD AIRNEWS, MAY 2010.
minded people where this disease, Apathy, is
prevalent. It is also very obvious in other
spheres of aviation as well.
Take for instance the case of Virginia
Airport, Durban’s sole general aviation facility,
which, like it or not, is facing an uncertain
future. All leases are due to expire in 2012 and,
in an obvious attempt to pour oil on troubled
water, the municipal manager, Mike Sutcliffe,
has “graciously” told operators that their
leases may be renewed on a month-to-month
basis thereafter for an unspecified period.
Has Sutcliffe lost touch with reality? How
does he honestly expect operators with annual
average wage bills collectively totalling over
R300-million, to operate effectively on such a
basis? Does he actually care, especially with an
annual R1,7-million pay packet in his back
pocket?
But be that as it may, do the operators
themselves really care? One would certainly
think so, but not if one is to consider the
Apathy being shown at present.
At about this time last year, some operators
began to sit up and realise that something had
to be done about their future at Virginia Airport.
Time was passing quicker than they had
realised and to make matters worse there
were moves afoot among local residents to
take legal action about the perceived “excessive
noise” caused by helicopters and fixed
wing aircraft. The situation was beginning to
look decisively ugly
As is often the case, an antidote for Apathy
was quickly found in the form of an approach
by most – but not all – to the Commercial
Aviation Association of Southern Africa for
help. (It is remarkable to note here, too, that
few of the operators are members of CAASA,
but expect its support anyway).
CAASA took up the challenge immediately
with its CEO, Kim Gorringe, bearing the brunt
of travelling backwards and forwards between
Johannesburg and Durban attending numerous
meetings of operators and attempting
those with the municipality whose representatives
seldom turned up for the meeting. All
this cost money – and a great deal of time —
with CAASA footing the bill and never a single
offer being made by the operators to assist or
even join the body.
The “Battle for Virginia” took a new turn
when the question of the general flying area
(GFA) arose. Training organisations at Virginia
had been using the GFA for around 43 years give
or take a few, and because of this, there was a
good chance that if a legal confrontation was to
occur, they could well win their case to stay. But
the new King Shaka Airport had been built in the
middle of the GFA, and no way were ACSA, ATNS
or the airlines going to put up with these
“puddle jumpers” using the area.
ATNS proposed a number of alternative
areas, none of which was really suitable and a
deadlock ensued. Instead of Virginia operators
banding together and raising the funds for a
court action, they let it slide and the Commissioner
of Civil Aviation used his powers to solve
the solution with a stroke of his pen – the GFA
must go and GA has had to take whatever else
ATNS and the SACAA have to offer.
Re-enter Apathy with a vengeance. Did this
major set-back make the operators more
resolute? Certainly not by the look of things.
Not even the pending loss by three helicopter
flight training schools of the bulk of their income
because of the GFA issue, seems to have goaded
the other operators, including one of the
biggest flying clubs in the country, into action.
Why worry? They still have two years to sort
this out. Yes, but, when action started to be
taken, there were three years left. And in 2011,
there will be only one year left. And then? Will
it again be left to “the few” to sort it out? Q