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Creating A Professional Association For Canadian Helicopter Pilots


Creating a professional association to represent canadian helicopter pilots  

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Ok.

 

With all the confusion being brought about by the multitude of topics and cross-posting and even another forum being spawned, I think we need a fresh start.

 

I've started this topic to foster discussion on the creation of a professional association of Canadian helicopter pilots. We don't need to go register on another site to have this discussion. We have all the tools we need right here.

 

I've put in a couple of questions to get the discussion going. Let's see where this leads us...

 

 

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I see nothing wrong with the other site. I think it just needs some time and be only open to members who are not anonymous due to the fact you have to give your real name and license number. Nothing has been accomplished here so I'm willing to try something new. Also the other sight is for pilots and engineers who want to be heard and not just a place to vent our frustrations and get into pissing matches with each other like Verticalmag has become. You can blow out a candle but you can't blow out a fire. So like I said earlier I'm willing to give it a shot. Unless Vertical Mag wants to represent us but I highly doubt it.

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Guest driver81

I see nothing wrong with the other site. I think it just needs some time and be only open to members who are not anonymous due to the fact you have to give your real name and license number. Nothing has been accomplished here so I'm willing to try something new. Also the other sight is for pilots and engineers who want to be heard and not just a place to vent our frustrations and get into pissing matches with each other like Verticalmag has become. You can blow out a candle but you can't blow out a fire. So like I said earlier I'm willing to give it a shot. Unless Vertical Mag wants to represent us but I highly doubt it.

http://www.cahepias.ca/phpBB3/phpBB3/

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I find that people that are combative and belligerent when they are anonymous, usually are a little more congenial when they use their real identity..... :)

Nope! I'm still a prick and combative To your face. LOL! But I'm still willing to listen for any ideas that are constructive,

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Here is a suggestion, for I have been thinking a lot about it for fix wing pilots recently.

Such an association will only carry weight if it represents the majority of people in the business. So goal number one is to get members, and lots of them. And here is how I think it should be done.

A group of credible and well respected pilots in the industry should go register the Association as a Federal non profit organisation, which costs very little to do, and is done in one day. This group of people should register themselves as temporary board, President, VP and Treasurer. Their sole mandate will be to take applications of new members, promote membership and organize elections once the membership has reached critical mass.

Since there will be practically no costs or fees to start with, ask a very very low membership fee, with no expiry date, until the new permanent board is voted in, something like $5. The stated goals should be as vague and open as possible, to represent the interests of professional helicopter pilots of Canada. The details should be left to the elected board, when it is elected through consultations with the members.

Open a Gmail account for the Association, which the board members will share, with which you can have an associated Google Drive to store Association documents, membership info and mail. All for free. Google also has tools to do polls etc, .

Open a Paypal account. This will allow members to send in their $5 contribution via Credit card and until a bank account is opened, the money will just sit there on the Paypal account. Some fees can be paid using the same Paypal account if required.. Paypal has special accounts for associations to sell membership, and they collect the name, address and phone numbers of people who join. I assume members should scan and send in their pilot licence to complete and justify their membership.

Membership should be open to pilots with a Transport Canada CPL or ATPL rotary wing licence who are either Canadian Citizens or Landed Immigrants of Canada.

Once the Association reaches critical mass, of say 4 to 5000 members, elections can be organized, the permanent board created and the association will able to decide what issues and subjects that are most important for professional helicopter pilots and what to do about it..

By then the Association will have $25,000 in the account and the real annual membership fees will be voted by the members and decided by the elected board.

At that point the Association will have a credible and viable association.

My suggestion for what its worth.....

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It's pretty much exactly what we did with HEPAC. Just so you know, in 2008 there were approximately 2400 holders of a valid commercial or ATPL helicopter pilot's license (medical current with TC). There were at the time approximately 1200 helicopters registered commercially with TC. That's a ratio of two licensed pilots per ship, including all of the low-timers and managers not really flying much. Not very high...

 

Let's say realistically that 50% of these licensed pilots sign up, that's about 1200 members. At 5 bucks a pop, that's a whopping $6000. You will get nowhere with that.

 

HEPAC peaked at about 70 members after six months of efforts. Dues were $60 if memory serves.

 

I had negotiated a deal with SunLife for life, LTD and medical insurance with no pre-screening requirements for HEPAC members that was conditional on a minimum of 100 members to start. We also needed someone to supply administrative services to collect monthly premiums from members. Needless to say, when the sh*t began to fly, new memberships dried up and we never reached the critical mass we needed to get things going.

 

If you don't have a basic platform to present your potential members to start, everyone will be in a "wait and see" posture. You need to have tangible objectives and a reason for being or people will not give you a dime.

 

The other problem is the part where you say "credible and well-respected". We had that, but certain people worked very hard at destroying their credibility and had absolutely no respect for them and the efforts they were making to get HEPAC off the ground. I certainly hope things will be different next time around...

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That is why I suggest $5. That is just to get the required membership numbers quickly. When there are sufficient numbers and the permanent board is voted in, the membership fee would be increased to whenever amount the new board or the membership decides is necessary.

 

For starters, make it $5 and have no specific platform, and the founding members can have no "agenda" since their mandate is just to get the ball rolling. That will protect them from attacks on their character etc. A majority of Members and the new board will decide at a future date what the Association's real agenda will be.

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