Right after this morning’s members meeting RotorHub’s Gideon Ewers caught up with the Airborne Public Safety Association’s President Richard Bray for a few words.

GE: Thanks for spending the time so I’ll get right to it, The reports at the meeting indicated an Association in good health with membership growth and good financials. What then would say are the key challenges facing APSA of the next three to five years?

RB: It’s maintaining membership. Things are OK right now but there is a trend among the younger generation to not want to get involved with a professional association. It seems to me we see it everywhere. When I joined the police in 1980, I was in an Academy class with 24 others, everyone of us had wanted to be a cop for as long as we can remember, didn’t want to do anything else. It seems that today’s new hire sees it as just another job rather than a vocation.

GE: But surely there must be an allure to join a specialist occupation like an Air Unit?

RB: Not really, in my department in Gainesville, we find that getting young officers to volunteer for Tactical Flight Officer duty, and that’s the traditional pathway to becoming a pilot is hard work. There is some additional pay but when they see the additional training that happens outside of working hours, they lose interest. I paid for my own flight training and when I got my Commercial, I’d have beaten down any door to get into an Aviation Unit.

GE: Why do you think that is, is it just restricted to the Police or Fire services or a wider issue?

RB: I don’t think so, it seems to me that it’s a function of the instant gratification prevalent today. “the I got my licence last Thursday what do you mean I’m not the Chief Pilot by Tuesday?”  It’s an exaggeration but that’s what it feels like I compare that with the dedication of the volunteers that run this Association and all the work they do for their colleagues I mean I’m sure they enjoy it, I certainly do but it is a big commitment and I wonder where the next generation is going to come from.

GE: The Association does a great job with its in-house training programmes, I’ve seen that for myself this week. Surely that is an attraction?

RB: I’m really not convinced… I know our trainers are good and they have a lot of real world knowledge to share but it is a commitment in time and money for the members to attend which is why you look at the people that are attending and think “are you the one we can bring along to take up a leadership role?

GE: It seems pretty bleak

RB: It does seem that way but look at this week we’ve got nearly 16O exhibitors members attending from not only the US and Canada but also Australia so the immediate signs are good I want to make sure we maintain it.

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