Just so there is no confusion: yes, I have been volunteering on NATFLY and also finishing off the main site (some work by sub contractors paid for) and while there will always be a degree of that (i.e.: there will be no 6-minute lawyer style billing for my advice and help), from now on there will be a commercial agreement between RA-Aus and my company. This is the result of a competitive quote process; the competition was presenting in Canberra on Saturday too. There is both too much work for anyone to do this voluntarily and RA-Aus also wants to make sure a company is supporting them, which I think you will all agree. Imagine the chaos if systems failed and there was nobody there to make them work again because the volunteer lost interest? And of course, as a passionate member, I will also have more than just a commercial interest in this project. The best way to have a successful product is to make something you want for yourself. And while it is rare for a consultancy to get that opportunity (you just make what the client wants you to make) it is also the case here; I *want* it to be easier for me to deal with RA-Aus online and make the organisation more efficient!
Hello Bas, I hear what you are saying and agree 200 percent. We (RAA) are in a real win - win situation because not only do you have the necessary skills to do... I use the word 'engineering' but you also have an intimate knowledge of the subject and this is something that a general computer programmer would not have in their skill set. By this I mean when you are setting up the database you will know the format of the information because you have been exposed to what is required to many years. An example would be that another company with no aviation experience would set up the database and would not know that aircraft had different serial numbers for the different parts like the airframe, the engine, the propeller, the ballistic parachute etc etc with your already thorough understanding of aviation we are off to a massive head start ! I know first hand limitations with the current system, when Rotax recently had a couple of airworthiness notices we did everything we could to find out if any of our customers were affected. We went through all of our records ourselves, we checked with Bert flood imports to see if any of our customers had registered their engines and they were part of the affected batch and then we went to the RAA to triple check everything we were doing and ask them to search on engine serial numbers for our customers. A simple query to the database but surprisingly the system they have does not allow this ! because they are limited to searching on only a couple of fields like aircraft owner and registration number. I hope you can start with a clean slate and get the aircraft database up and running, to me, I see this more important than the website because it is a serious safety concern. It would be great to be able to do things online. An example would be interactive registration forms for aircraft, renewals etc. With one of the existing forms out there you have to fill in the owner's name in three separate places on the same form ?? that does not really make sense. It is great you are going to be looking after this for us and I hope you charge a fair price for a fair job which I am sure you will. Like others, if there is anything we can volunteer to assist you with please let us know !
