My view is this:
The SAMAA exists solely to look after its members' interests and for no other reason.
As such the association's first priority is to be aware of what its members want and take whatever steps it can to meet these needs.
Its job is not to enforce the laws of the land but rather to change the law or mitigate its effects to help its members.
There are two good examples of this. Firstly the acquisition of the 35Mhz band for model flying. Secondly the ongoing attempts to get the CAA height restriction lifted over registered fields.
Recently there were two golden opportunities to help members. I drew your attention to both but for whatever reason you chose to do nothing or pass the buck. The opportunities arose from a discussion on SARFLY about 2,4Ghz equipment, and insurance. Both things are of interest to our members.
I know that SARFLY is not a SAMAA group which is why I apprised you of the matter. However many contributors to SARFLY are SAMAA members, and those who are not are potential ones.
Firstly you declined to take action to issue Advice and Guidance on the matter of equipment not type-approved by ICASA.
There were two quite specific queries, the answers to which are matters of fact, not opinion:
(i) What does type-approval mean? Does it legalize the operation of equipment, or does it simply indicate that the equipment meets the legal requirements?
(ii) Bearing this in mind and in terms of clause 4.1 of the policy will the SAMAA insurance cover members who operate non type-approved equipment?
Crucial questions that need unambiguous answers.
Secondly you sidestepped the issue of leaning on ICASA to speed up type-approval for the many new R/C sets coming to market. You passed the buck to Dave Armitage, and raised the problem of cost - R2000 per type-approval.
I have the utmost respect for Dave's technical ability, likewise his integrity and honesty. But he is a dealer so the matter of Conflict of Interest cannot be denied. I know the committee is aware of this so something rather more rigorous is needed.
On the matter of the fee I would have thought that our members would be happy with this. In a budget of over R 1 million it is drop in the ocean. (I just hope no one says that we cannot spend it because it was not budgeted. This is the original, and most feeble excuse for inaction).
I look forward to your reply.
John
Here is Percy's reply...
John,
You know the operational structure of SAMAA. I even discussed it in a SAMAA News.
I did not side step any question I forwarded your requests to Dave who is responsible for that section and since this mail also asks about insurance I include Johan since insurance is his responsibility. I am not going to take over their portfolios and make statements about things that I have much less in depth knowledge of than they have.
When someone else is elected to my position he or she can elect to do it differently, they may be more arrogant in believing they know everything about everything than I am.
See my answers in red in your text.
Kind Regards, Percy Attfield
Kind Regards,Percy Attfield
office +27 (0)11 266 1078 | fax +27 (0)86 571 7769 | mobile +27 (0)82 556 9147
-----Original Message-----
From: John Godwin [mailto:johng@cis.co.za]
Sent: 29 May 2009 10:51 AM
To: Percy Attfield - Business Connexion
Subject: RE: Re: [Sarfly] Assan 2.4 ghz
At 07:58 AM 5/29/2009, you wrote:
>Good morning John,
>In my previous mail I pointed out that this is an issue for Dave and his
>committee ....................
Dear Percy,
My view is this:
The SAMAA exists solely to look after its members' interests and for
no other reason. Correct and for that reason we have created expertise in specific areas so that the members can get the benefit of specialization or in the everyday jargon Centers of Excellence or in SAMAA words subcommittees.
As such the association's first priority is to be aware of what its
members want and take whatever steps it can to meet these needs. Right which is why I did not ignore your requests I sent it to the Centre's of Excellence entrusted to meet those needs.
Its job is not to enforce the laws of the land but rather to change
the law or mitigate its effects to help its members. Yes and these service providers, be that ICASA or the insurance company etc. will consider their options given their policies and risk profiles etc.
There are two good examples of this. Firstly the acquisition of the
35Mhz band for model flying. Secondly the ongoing attempts to get the
CAA height restriction lifted over registered fields. Yes it is a good example because the height restriction issue has been ongoing for an extended time but SAMAA continues to follow it up with Aero Club and CAA. Just because it takes a longtime to resolve issues does not mean SAMAA (the subcommittee responsible for it) is not active with it.
Recently there were two golden opportunities to help members. I drew
your attention to both but for whatever reason you chose to do
nothing or pass the buck. The opportunities arose from a discussion
on SARFLY about 2,4Ghz equipment, and insurance. Both things are of
interest to our members. When your insurance company Chairman was asked how many MIPS his computer is and he passed the question to you, you figure he was passing the buck?
I know that SARFLY is not a SAMAA group which is why I apprised you
of the matter. However many contributors to SARFLY are SAMAA members,
and those who are not are potential ones. I hope they recognize that their issues are important enough to have it referred to the expert in that field rather than an arrogant al knowing Chairman answering without knowledge exposing them and their organization to risk.
Firstly you declined to take action to issue Advice and Guidance on
the matter of equipment not type-approved by ICASA. I did not I asked the Center of Excellence (the relevant subcommittee) to respond with the correct advice.
There were two quite specific queries, the answers to which are
matters of fact, not opinion:
(i) What does type-approval mean? Does it legalize the operation of
equipment, or does it simply indicate that the equipment meets the
legal requirements? That is something for Dave to answer, it is his portfolio. You don’t want an opinion (as you say) from me you want a fact (as you say). Dave can give you the fact. To do so he may have to contact ICASA, he may already know the answer, the answer may already be in the public domain and you just don’t like the answer. In any event he has that contact to ask the questions and get the facts.
(ii) Bearing this in mind and in terms of clause 4.1 of the policy
will the SAMAA insurance cover members who operate non type-approved equipment? Johan has the contact with the insurance company to ask the question. Again he may already know the answer, the answer may already be in the public domain and you just don’t like the answer. In any event he has that contact to ask the questions and get the facts.
Crucial questions that need unambiguous answers.
Secondly you sidestepped the issue of leaning on ICASA to speed up
type-approval for the many new R/C sets coming to market. You passed
the buck to Dave Armitage, correctly so that is his Centre of Excellence where he has the contacts and raised the problem of cost - R2000 per
type-approval.
I have the utmost respect for Dave's technical ability, likewise his
integrity and honesty. But he is a dealer so the matter of Conflict
of Interest cannot be denied. I know the committee is aware of this
so something rather more rigorous is needed. If I recall Dave was voted in by the members of SAMAA surely you took all that you say into consideration and then made your vote (for many years already), if anything he is the most senior voted person on the committee. Don't make it a committee problem now he is and remains one of the respected people of the industry that have been voted to the committee.
On the matter of the fee I would have thought that our members would
be happy with this. In a budget of over R 1 million it is drop in the
ocean. (I just hope no one says that we cannot spend it because it
was not budgeted. This is the original, and most feeble excuse for inaction). R2000 times how many sets did you say? I for one would object to it since I do not need anything type approved and I suspect there are many others who don’t need this type approval either. I would rather see that money go to an international team than for type approval.
I look forward to your reply.
John
PS. I propose to post this on the BLOG as an open letter. I'd very
much like to post your reply at the same time. Please put it on the blog without adding comments from yourself to my comments. It is the reason why I don’t get involved with the blog discussions they are never ending with specific individuals pushing their private agendas as a matter of urgency under the guise that everyone needs it.
