I was privileged to lead a delegation of NZALPA officers to the annual IFALPA Conference 2018, this year held in Luxembourg.
As well as the growing concern around appropriate regulation of RPAS, there were a number of other industrial and technical issues that will be shared in Uplink in upcoming editions.
A major outcome for NZALPA was the confirmation that New Zealand will host the semi-annual meeting of the Association of Star Alliance Pilots (ASAP) to be held in November 2018.
This forum is an important one for NZALPA as it brings together the best industrial pilot minds in the Star Alliance to discuss and take action over issues of importance to the global pilot industry.
New Zealand last hosted the meeting in 2009 and we look forward to welcoming our colleagues to our shores for these three-day ASAP discussions.
NZALPA pilot member David Griffin was elected to the IFALPA representative role of Executive Vice President South Pacific (RVPSOP).
The position is primarily a liaison and representative role within IFALPA.
The RVPSOP reports to the IFALPA Executive Vice President Asia-Pacific. The RVPSOP represents the South Pacific region (Australia, Cook Is, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Is, Micronesia, Nauru, New Zealand,
Papua New Guinea, Palau, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu) at IFALPA. David volunteered for the role and is an experienced NZALPA representative.
He has sound background in the technical and safety area of our work.
Congratulations to David as this is also a great opportunity for NZALPA to be represented at a higher level within IFALPA and to do our bit for the global piloting world and our region.
President Tim Robinson, IFALPA Director Dean Fotti and Industrial Director Andrew Ridling at IFALPA conference.
Technical Director Hugh Faris, IFALPA Director Dean Fotti and Industrial Director Andrew Ridling before the start of Conference plenary.
RECREATIONAL DRONE USE RESTRICTIONS MOOTED
After recent national media coverage of high profile prosecutions and NZALPA’s continuing concerns about the lack of regulation around recreational drone use, a Member contacted the President to discuss his own experience. The highly-experienced commercial pilot said he spotted a drone as he recently went into land an ATR he was piloting into a domestic airport. Although an accident was avoided the pilot was horrified, reporting that it was hard to spot a drone from the cockpit and at the thought of how easy they could make contact with one of the plane’s engines.
Meanwhile, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has released a proposal that recommends recreational drone pilots should be restricted to visual-line-of-sight flights (no binoculars allowed!) and that those weighing between 250 grams and 25 kilograms limited to operate below 120 meters from the ground. The proposal also pushes for operators to undergo ‘safety tests’ and registration of all drones and users.
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