SAFA Skysailor Magazine

3 September | October 2020 SKY SAILOR The Board would like to sincerely thank all those members who have responded positively to the challenges we all face at this time. Your renewals and messages of support are very much appreciated and will make a signifi- cant contribution to the continuing viability of our aviation activities, both now and eventually beyond this pandemic. Extension of Discount For members yet to renew, the Board has extended the renew-on-time discount until and including 14 September 2020. The discount code is SAFA20. For members interested in understanding how our mem- bership fees are spent, there is a document in the members area of the SAFA website under Documents, Membership Documents , ‘Membership Fees and Other Costs’ that provides a valuable insight into this important matter. Safety Matters This edition of SkySailor contains a comprehensive wrap-up of recently completed accident and incident reviews from our AIRS system. This is very important work that has been undertaken by our Operational staff, in particular Safety Management Officer Iain Clarke. The hard work done by our volunteer AIRS Managers around the nation has also made a great contribution to this report. Moving reported accidents and incidents from ‘Under Investigation’ status to ‘Completed’ allows all pilots to understand, learn and apply the learnings inherent in these reported events, to their own flying. To all those members who take care to provide detailed information relating to their particular accident/ incident we say a huge thank you, because in sharing your story you help other members improve the safety of their own flying experience. Also in the Documents area under ‘Policies and Safety Management’ is the newly approved ‘Safety Management System Manual’. This is a comprehensive upgrade to our earlier version. Significant work goes into producing docu- ments such as this and whilst our staff are responsible for ultimate delivery, thanks and acknowledgement must also go to former Board member and current HGAWA President, Peter South, for his work in pioneering the original version. Members are encouraged to take the time to read and familiarise themselves with this document which contains valuable information of benefit to all participants in SAFA aviation disciplines. In concluding this President’s Update, I want to again acknowledge the difficulties all of us face at this time and that it is harder in some locations than others. Whilst none of us can say with certainty where and when this will end, we can all take some hope from the various reports around the globe indicating how medical science is closing in on ways to defeat this virus. Please stay safe and we all look forward to the day when this pandemic is a memory. Photos: Sylvie Hlavaty