COPA’s Got Talent
What Can You Do For Your Association?

Advocacy
Whenever I meet our members, we inevitably get into a discussion of ideas and priorities of issues affecting aviation. I love these conversations because they allow us to take the pulse of what’s important to you and oftentimes point things out that we may not always be aware of at the Ottawa office.

What concerns me is when a somewhat accusatory finger gets pointed at us (or mainly me) with a “COPA should” or “you guys are not doing enough about” or another classic: “but AOPA and EAA in the States”. We would love to be able to answer all of your questions and address all of the issues that concern us here in Canada, but with our limited aviation staff, we need to prioritize. And if we want to compare to these great associations to the south of us, they have about thirty or more times our budget and staff for about twenty times our membership. And other than general information and nice magazines, are they really doing something or advocating for members here in Canada? No. Absolutely not, only COPA does. COPA and you.

You, because COPA has a broad range of talent within its membership and a lot of it is untapped. We are reaching out to all of our members in search of knowledgeable folks that can, from time to time, provide guidance, advice and assist COPA with its member services. This can range from answering questions or giving opinions to full-fledged participation in committees or focus groups where your expertise can benefit all of our membership. For example, we have had help in information technology for the web site, environmental questions, medical questions and insurance just to name a few. All of this is coordinated through the head office and the help of other professionals or board members. Only we can do it best for ourselves and we’re counting on you.

The Magazine
Are there safety experts, mechanics, instructors or others in different areas of interest that wan to share in written format? Opinions, points and counterpoints or some other analysis? A page or just a bit more, we’d like to have some in-depth look at various subjects. For example, following its investigation (A15Q0120) into the fatal floatplane crash that occurred in August 2015 near Tadoussac, Quebec, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) is recommending that Transport Canada require all commercially operated de Havilland DHC-2 (Beaver) aircraft be equipped with a stall warning system. Have we got a point and a counterpoint on the subject or any other that would be worth sharing? Even a philosophical view of what it is to have such a freedom to fly in Canada. It’s all yours. Contact me at bgervais@oldcopa.org.