Airshows are good for the soul and business!

As one gets older and more involved in the business of aviation, time pressures often impinge on activities which we all need to do to stay interested, informed and passionate about our aviation industry.  If you are like me, it’s easy to find something more urgent than making the time for airshows, trade displays, conferences, or some other type of continued professional development (CPD). 

The lack of CPD will eventually catch up with us as aviation professionals due to the dynamic and technical nature of the aviation industry. 

I recently visited the Avalon Airshow in Melbourne, and spent time looking at the trade displays, aircraft and flying.  I was particularly interested in the technical advancements in corporate jets and unmanned aerial systems, as I have some experience in both.  It seems to me that these are both growth targets in the Australasian aviation scene.

As an aviation consultant, I often see people who are tired, ill-informed and have lost the passion for business and aviation.  How could this be?  Aviation industry participants are a strange breed; technically intelligent and highly motivated and passionate about anything that flies.  Sometimes however, the ‘stuff’ of business, or Government or large corporations’ red tape, or financial pressures eats away at our passion and as a consequence we under perform.

Underperformance often manifests itself as non-compliance with regulatory requirements or non-conformance with company procedures.  If this is evident in management, the safety regulator will eventually come a visiting.  Sometimes, this has serious consequences for the business.  Even if the business avoids regulatory problems, the lack of passionate spark may cause opportunities to remain undetected or you just will not be able to make the most of them.

Take time for CPD; visit an airshow or conference.  Network with colleagues and competitors and suck up new information.  Consider, using the services of a qualified executive coach.  Click here to find out about executive coaching. It will revitalize the business, equip it to seek new opportunities, improve regulatory compliance and conformance with company procedures and, … safety will improve too!

The Safeskies conference is held every two years in Canberra.  It is attended by people from Australasian aviation businesses and Government agencies, and those from other northern hemisphere countries as well.

The Reg Ansett Memorial Lecture usually commences the conference and is often interesting in that it gives one a bigger perspective.  I distinctly recall the 2005 lecture which featured Burt Rutan.  I came away with the feeling of awe about what he and his company had done, and the importance of a BIG vision!  His comments about the world being too risk adverse also made me think deeply about the risk and reward equation.

This type of stimuli at a conference does make one think – I mean really think; much deeper than our superficial thoughts about day to day issues.  It gives us insights and enables us to focus on the real issues confronting the aviation industry; Safety, service, profitability, international harmonization and now, the environment.

Although these are ‘global’ issues which require our thoughtful attention, we need to be able to act locally, in our businesses and agencies.  The content of the conference enables informed local action.  Clearly the focus of the Safeskies conference is aviation safety, whilst acknowledging that all of these issues are connected. 

The program is often enlightening because is engages the delegates from the Government and the regulator’s perspective, we learn from overseas experience, and most significantly, attendees hear about how Australasian aviation businesses have addressed safety issues.  This is always very interesting and contextual, and encouraging.

The conference also gives delegates an opportunity to catch up with old friends and colleagues and make new acquaintances.  In my experience, everyone is willing to offer some sort of assistance to anyone, and sometimes this can be priceless.

In the interests of continual re-invention and refreshing of the conference, maybe the Board could consider hosting the 2011 conference in Brisbane (for example).  Field visits to appropriate aviation businesses with something interesting could also be considered as an adjunct to the conference.

All things considered, the cost to delegates of the conference is relatively low and, in my opinion, the benefits from the investment far outweigh the cost.  Click here to visit the Safeskies web site.