SAFA Skysailor Magazine

4 SKY SAILOR September-October-November | SPRING 2026 From the CEO I’ve been in the role for a month now, and one of my biggest observations is just how much SAFA does. The breadth of the organisation is enormous, and what really stands out is the passion the team has for keeping us all flying safely. At its heart, SAFA is ‘pilots working for pilots’. Our Board, committees and opera- tional team include pilots who are involved because they love flying and care about our sport. Another early observation is the balance we need to strike between being a free- flying community and operating in the very serious, process-driven world of aviation regulation. Maintaining our Approved Self-Administering Aviation Organisation status with CASA is critical, it’s what allows us to continue administering our sport and, ultimately, keeps us flying. A big focus for me will be timely, open, and respectful communication with members and stakeholders, so we all have a better sense of what’s happening across our sport. You may notice a few changes in that space over the coming months. President’s Update by Alistair Dickie It’s been a busy start to the financial year for SAFA, with plenty happening across our flying community and within the organisation. As part of keeping members better connected with what’s happening at SAFA, for this update I thought I’d let our new CEO, Gavin Hanlon, share some of his early observations and priorities with members. I’m sure you’ll be hearing more from him as the year progresses. Photos: PG – Godfrey Wenness; HG – Craig Taylor; ML - Anthony Batson