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Boyd Munro's Navajo, Complete With Shark's Mouth And A Collection Of The Owner's Aeronautical Accomplishments Adorning Its Silver Flanks. (Randall Krebs)
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Dick Smith Elected As President Of Aopa
Dick Smith has become the new President of the Aircraft Owners & Pilots Association following its AGM in Adelaide on April 1. Smith was voted in via the overwhelming victory achieved three weeks earlier in the annual election of half the sitting committee when the Boyd Munro team ticket trounced their opponents by a wide margin. Boyd Munro (who spends much of his time living in London attending to his large communication/computer business) and Dick Smith had been working closely on forming a more aggressive AOPA for some months. However, to achieve this they first needed to gain control of the committee via like minded people and consequently Mr Munro led his ‘Freedom to Fly Responsibly’ team of himself, Mike Kalinowski, Arthur Pape and David Wright to victory with a promise of tackling the CAA head-on on a wide range of issues affecting GA. While Dick Smith has taken the Presidency, Boyd Munro has been elected into the position of Senior Vice President, Mike Kalinowski as Junior Vice President while Arthur Pape assumes the role of Treasurer.
This is the first surprise result in the Association’s 47 year history and sees the departure of Peter Patroni who has been at the helm of AOPA since the early eighties. Meanwhile, Tony Wilkinson, AOPA’s Chief Executive Officer is likely to resign. AOPA presently has over 10,000 members, most of which are private pilots and small GA organisations. The operation is headquartered in Canberra which is also close to Dick Smith’s recently purchased farm at nearby Gundaroo. For the first time since his departure from the CAA chairmanship in 1992, Dick Smith will again have an ‘official’ voice in aviation, something that should make for interesting times.
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