Winter 1995/96
From the Secretary
Your President has arranged an aero medical day at Heathrow for you. He tells me that the exact arrangements for simulated flight are still fluid. The dates for the Norwich meeting are 30th, 31st August and 1st September. I am able to tell you that Carey and Mary Shaw have already arranged an exciting weekend's events for you.On a less joyful note, 35 of our membership of 150 are still in arrears with their subscriptions. The treasurer will be very pleased to hear from them. He also says that Chilean red wines are his new discovery of the year (honestly!).
As your President says, I have been going through all the material that I have been given and produced some draft replacement documents which I will have on display in March for comment and constructive criticism, before any changes can be approved by the AGM on August 31st.
Andrew Clymo
From the President
It is difficult to believe that so much time has passed since the Scarborough meeting; I am discovering that it is a truism that the older one becomes, the more quickly time flashes by! It is a great privilege to have been elected your honorary president, particularly as I joined the BMPA as a humble medical student all those years ago and am now following in the footsteps of so many eminent colleagues. As we approach our quarter century as an association it is timely to examine our aims and review the way we do things. I have been delighted that our new honorary secretary, Andrew Clymo, has been bombarding me with questions and suggestions and is looking at everything, right down to the wording of our Articles of Association. The Norwich AGM promises to be a good one and I hope to see you there.Before Norwich though, we have the March meeting courtesy of British Airways at the Department of Medical Training at Heathrow. The well publicised coat hangar incident makes topical a session on in-flight medical emergencies, the medical equipment carried by BA and the training of cabin crew. Oh and by the way, I've managed to arrange the availability of some flight simulators and instructors (but I know that you are really coming for the academic content of the visit!) We have several hours of time on the 767, 747-200, 747-400 and 747-Combi, all at no cost to you (but don't tell your friends!) Just remember to book with BA whenever you fly. For reasons of staff availability this meeting has to be on the Friday but I do hope you will stay over on the Friday night and make a weekend of it.
On a sad note, you will know that Doug Bain, a former president who gave me much good counsel, has died. Ron Campbell, one of our honorary members, has also died; Ron and I co-authored a book on human performance and limitations, he was chairman of the panel of flying examiners and his death is a great loss to general aviation. He was very proud of his BMPA membership. I miss them both.
On a brighter note, David Rowe has been working hard putting the finishing touches to Alan Gardiner's history of the BMPA. We hope to make a copy available to all members. I look forward to welcoming you to Heathrow on St. David's day.
Michael Bagshaw