Submitted By Jonathan Porter
On Tuesday (8th June), a group of MoMmers met with the representatives of Battorkope, Ghana Civil Aviation Authority and Ghana Maritime Authority. It was a fruitful meeting with much active discussion and a passionate heartfelt presentation from the girls (text below). For the authoriiteis it was the first time they had to meet face to face the people 'with need' and the people 'wanting to help' who were being seperated by the lack of approvals. It all comes down to understanding, encouragement and working together....
The regulatory authorities were fantastic and very encouraging....As a result, on Thursday the 10th June, WAASPS were presented a letter allowing Amphibian operations, at last! Only 8 months since the first demonstration - safety always being the catch word. Sadly, during the 'grounded time' the battery has failed on the WAASPS Amphibian X-Air Sparrow, but the girls are working on fixing that right now as I write (the new battery is a different size, so a new battery cradle is being made too, then we will need to add balast to match the weights). We are so blessed to have such dedicated young ladies who see the bigger picture!
Of course, this is not the end of the struggle, we are still working on approvals for humanitarian strips that can be established without massive fees and long delays... but this is a big step forward. You can also download the PDF of the new MoM/WAASPS operations booklet, which you may pick up the 'sentiments' as to how we are working towards solving problems within a regulatory framework that is very different to Europe and America!!! Clay will be adding the pdf to the new MoM public site too.
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