HEPAC Membership

[Heli Ops]

I know Canadians are patriotic people so thought I would start a poll to see who you think should be allowed to join HEPAC. I know of many Canadians, no longer with Canadian licences who are working in far flung corners of the globe who are keen to join but you have to decide who is allowed to join.

 

Heli Ops.

[skullcap]

Am not here to pick a fight so bear with me.

 

A good amount of thought should be put into allowing any entity that could be called a "company" to join.

 

It is very hard to turn away dollars from "associate" members as they are a great way to increase revenue, but look at the magster's math.

 

Since I live in a world where my tax dollars are being wasted on lapels of car racers, gun registries(in other words corruption). Newspapers and media in general print what is good news(not good in the nice way). Insurance companies dicatate what we can do with our helicopters. Then am extremely sensitive about joining an association that is for Helicopter PILOTS and ENGINEERS but has "companies" as members. As directors in HEPAC how could you not listen when one of your associate members who is not happy with a situation and is threatening to pull their fat account. Not to mention names but have been extremely unhappy with reporting from a certain mag years ago, it seemed that if you had a pulse and were willing to type away some drivel in the heli jargon then right on. I wrote letters displaying my displeasure of the lack of accuracy, diplomecy and general lack of knowledge but went unheeded. If one mag could join why not them all?

 

If a magazine could join then why not a corporation?

 

This should be simple "by the people for the people". Key word is people, not just pilots or engineers but anyone in the industry(working in Canada or for a Canadian company as I honestly do not believe that someone living in Spain working in the Gulf for the last 10 years would/should have any say in what is going on in Canada due to fact of lack currency within the country). If the people of the media want to join then great but keep your company out of it.

 

So now you say "how do we have any clout if there are no big guns on our side"?

 

By being honest, professional and having the "people" who do the work on our side. Sounds like a union to me but you know that, a union as it was originally disigned to do was a **** good thing and saved a lot of lives(child labor being one of the the big ones) so don't flip out. The hard part is to design an association that has teeth but is not a union. Can be done but takes some time and people have to be behind it. I WILL join Hepac when some of the dust settles, but not if corps, associate members, or the like allowed to join. I don't give a crap about anyone's honorable intentions of a corporation "today" as they can be sold and the new folk may not be as honorable.

 

Years ago some people took to hunting wolves from the air due to their "overpopulation" as the big game was being depleted. Now I don't want to get into a right wrong thing over it but at the time I thought it was very strange that the fish and wild life were behind this until it was explained to me the the outfitters behind the push to eliminate the wolves and all licences paid the saleries of the fish and wildlife folks. There were many hints of "do this or there will be no hunters since there will be nothing to hunt" that came out of the bullcrap later on.

Now they tag, collar and monitor the wolves and go about it in a rational method, rather than shoot first think later.( the wolves and the helicopter people are happier about it as well)

 

 

Bottom line is that with the many complicated relationships today within our industry it is necessary to keep things as "clean" as possible. Since this is the inception of HEPAC then it should be taken slow and carefully as how to start up.

 

Hepac should also take heart that there are a ton of P's & E's out there who do not post here and would be interested to join. We all need to flap our "gums" more at work about it is all.

 

Just because you don't have a lot of member now don't sweat it, it will take a lot of time to do the ground work and there are many folks like me who will not put there money where there mouth is until I can 100% say am behind it. One day it will click and you will be inundated with memberships, that should be one of your first goals, "how do we get people onside in an honorable way." Sorry but that how it is, so take your time to set it up, develope some(more) thick skin and be patient for crissake, and whistle once in awhile(BM, go kick a dog, that's your equivalent of whistling am sure). I'll join(promise).

 

sc

[skullcap]

PS I didn't vote as there was no catagory for "anyone working in Canada associated to the helicopter industry or for a Canadian owned and operated helicopter company outside Canada"

[Randy_G]

Skullcap brings up some valid points, and some great questions.

 

I agree that corporations/companies should not be allowed to join. My God, I'm agreeing with him, what's next El Diablo throwing snowballs ?? :shock: However we should not turn down any individual who wants to join. Perhaps HEPAC could clarify on who is eligible to join, and what each type of membership is about.

 

The way I envision the assoc. (I'm not a member, yet) all full members can vote, stand for the board, are involved in how the association is run, etc. Associate members are allowed to come to the meetings, all of the parties, but have absolutely no say in the actual operation of the association, or who goes on the board. We could offer associate memberships to those ex-pats living abroad who wish to be part of the association. They would not have any say in the running of the assoc. but I don't see why they couldn't be part of it.

 

As directors in HEPAC how could you not listen when one of your associate members who is not happy with a situation and is threatening to pull their fat account.

 

To me, any sponsor would need to have a contract to protect not only the assoc., but the sponsor as well. If HEPAC uses my example, anyone who has an associate membership has no say in the running of the operation. If a sponsor disagrees with the direction of the association, they will be free to pull out after the contract has finished, or they may buy-out the remaining time of the contract. Protecting the assoc. and giving HEPAC time to find another sponsor.

 

Cheers

[Heli Ops]

Skullcap - Obviously you have some serious issues with us helicopter magazines and dont want us as part of your association, thats fine - happy to leave you and the team to develop it as you see fit without our input, advice or ideas.

 

Have been helping Don to get this thing pushing forward for some time by generating discusssions but wont help where we arent wanted.

 

Good luck with HEPAC.

 

Heli Ops

[Randy_G]

Ned, in my mind you (and Mike for that matter) are more than welcome in any association that I am involved with. Both you and Mike have gone the extra distance to understand what you write about. As objective observers, you guys bring much to the table. You need not have to prove to anyone that you wish to help the industry.

 

Cheers

[Heli Ops]

Randy - I have nothing to prove to anyone, I have been involved in this industry, one way or another since I was 15 and am now 37. That includes ground crew, got my heli PPL many years ago but let it lapse, shooter, loader driver, even helped out for two years in management in a company so I have a good understanding of this industry and it gets added to on a daily basis with every operator we visit.

 

Good luck with HEPAC and hope it gains momentum.

 

Heli Ops

[Over-Talk]

H-ops, no disrespect intended, but open your eyes. The votes are in favour of your organisation joining !!

Don't run away just because of one person's opinion. This is a forum, not a dictatorship.

Skullcap has some good points. But will the evil organisations he speaks of even want to join HEPAC ?? Will those organisations qualify for membership ?? It doesn't sound like they are trying to improve the Association or the industry by acting heavy-handed as he speculates.

 

Hang around, HEPAC (or any other Association like it) needs support from groups like you and Vertical..........the votes speak for themselves.

[Blackmac]

Heli-Ops & Vertical, As far as I am concerned you are both WELCOME as associate members and will no doubt provide constructive opinion of HEPAC to the industry as long as it is vetted by HEPAC.

 

Reiteraiting what I said on another thread was as such; HEPAC bylaws indicated what we were trying to accomplish and now we are discussing items on an open forum when in actual fact, it should be discussed and voted on by the membership, and discussed by MEMBERS in a closed forum.

 

When you guys get enough GUTS to spend the $200.00 and join the assoc., maybe, just maybe, you will see some results that you are dreaming of.

 

You have been handed a chance to dream, so what are you waiting for.

 

Cheers Don

[Elvis]

Remember Monty Hall on "lets make a deal" for what's behind curtain # 2 can be Your's only for $200.00

 

:elvis: :elvis: :elvis: