2019 ASRA Nationals

[RickE]

I regret to inform all ASRA members that the 2019 Broken Hill Nationals has had to be cancelled due to an inadequate level of insurance cover being available for the event.
The organizers, ASRA and our insurance broker did everything we could to try and make the event happen but it appears to be a sign of the times that no insurance company is prepared to take on these type of events anymore.
As this decision was only made on the weekend we are unable to stop the promotion of the event in our Gyronews which had already been printed, please disregard any reference to the event in the magazine.

I can only apologize for any inconvenience caused.

[Brian]

Thats really sad news Rick. Doesn't sound good for future gyro events like the Nationals !

[RickE]

Sign of the times Brian, and not a particularly good one.

[Justin]

Sounds to me like a lot buricatic B.S . Where's people's sence of adveture gone? Sad news? But lets hope asra can get over this hurdle and hold the nationals again.

[tonydenton]

what is the difference between a club event , any affiliated club having their monthly get together and the nationals. ????? [ I wasn't going to BROKEN HILL ] but just generally speaking. Is the insurance thing making it complicated more than necessary just because it seems to be the norm ???
is it a numbers thing. 20 is a club event but 21 needs insurance ???
is it because there is money paid for registering at a nationals event. ???
I really cant see the complication.
on a brighter side , the GYRO NEWS is a hi quality publication again RICK. thanks to everyone from me that puts that together.

[cjeremie78]

Oh crap. Well, can't ASRA or an individual just send an open invite then to Broken Hill and invite everyone for a tag-along without it being an official event? Will you publish the dates that you've arranged for Central Australia? I have 18 days off and won't be wasting them at home. Informative online Gyro News publication as always.

[RickE]

For those that want to do some flying in the Broken Hill area over Easter you will be allowed to use the Stephens Creek airfield as long as you email the club with your intentions as per the information on the cancellation email sent out today.
There will be 8 or 9 of us flying into Broken Hill on Good Friday and leaving Sunday morning for a trip out to Uluru. It would be great to catch up with some other pilots out at Broken Hill as well.

[Justin]

That's it fella's bore it up the buricats! If enough people express their opinion they mite just mite listen?

[chook]

I'm guessing that the recent spate of Gyro accidents have the insurance companies running.
The next step is the impact on your annual licence fees.

Regards..........Chook.

[RickE]

[chook]

Rick fortunately we are blessed to have some excellent negotiators within our ranks.
The misunderstanding occurs when the laws of man are generally negotiable whereas the laws of physics aren't.

I am saddened to think of the preparation done by the Broken Hill locals and the booked flights and accommodation by the visitors has been wasted.

Regards........Chook.

[waraton]

A quick clarification on the insurance issue with the Nationals. It was not a matter of not having "appropriate" or "inadequate" insurance to cover the Nationals. There was NO insurance for the event available - period. No insurance for the ASRA flying events and no insurance for the non flying activities, both separate polices. The advice to ASRA and SCRAC by the ASRA broker was that the hosts would (not could) have been liable should there be an issue. As hosts we had an obligation to make sure our ASRA guests, members of our local community, our volunteers (some club members and some not) as well as (ours and your) family and friends were covered if something went wrong. It would have been irresponsible not to have taken this position.

Of course the SCRAC has its own insurance which covers our operations but this does not extend to hosting an event such as the nationals. This was identified from the start and formed part of our agreement from day one that without insurance we could not proceed. The SCRAC set several deadlines which came and went based on positive indications from ASRA and their broker. I have seen comments which are critical of the brokers involvement but I wanted to state publicly that he did more than could be reasonably expected under the circumstances.

The members of the SCRAC (which incidentally, is a very small club) are bitterly disappointing at the outcome.

Please refer to my letter on this website on behalf of our club for a further explanation of the insurance issues. Regards Warwick

[tonydenton]

hello WARATON, as one of the above I certainly wasn't critical of your club or asra or the broker, mine was understanding the requested legalities compared to a normal weekend club event.. .
very sorry to hear of the wasted time and effort that I can only guess that went into going as far as you guys did..