Seaplane Pilots Association Australia

David Skinner - Vice President

David Skinner will be taking on the position of Vive President for 2023-2024. David has been flying for about 10 years having started with RAAus and moving into the GA world. He has aerobatic and tailwheel endorsements and mainly flies tourist flights in his Sirrus at the moment. David considers himself very lucky to have done his water endorsement with the venerable SPAA member Kevin Bowe before Kevin’s retirement and David joined the Committee in 2021 as a Committee member.

While David is at present a non-current landlubber, he is excitedly awaiting delivery of his Vickers Wave in the next 12 months, having put his name in very early on the brand new aircraft and we are very much looking forward to hearing all about it once it finally arrives. Working as a Civil Engineer, you’ve almost certainly seen some of his handiwork having worked on all of the major airports throughout Australia.

Martin Peters - Secretary

Marty is very well known in the aviation community for his amazing aerobatic displays in association with the Paul Bennet Airshow group. Marty’s first flight was back in 2004, progressing through private and commercial qualifications before taking over the operations role in a commercial charter outfit in Wagga Wagga. With the charter company Marty flew all throughout Australia including freight and passengers which gave him valuable experience and insight into all aspects of aviation. Since joining the Paul Bennet Airshow Group the operation hours of their main aircraft have risen from 200 hours to 1300 hours, 90% of which is credited to Marty instructing.

Marty has always been interested in sailing and his love of water is what led him to seaplanes. Since moving to the Hunter Valley, he has pivoted into flight training rather than flying with the restrictions on movement imposed by Covid. Living in such a fantastic area for seaplanes, Marty is excited about opportunities for related business ventures. He has good relationships with both RAAus and CASA and is looking forward to creating a closer relationship between these bodies and SPAA moving forward.

David Geers - Committee

Needing no introduction to many of our members is David Geers, having settled into a committee position  after two very productive years as our President and one years as vice president. David has been behind many of the Associations leaps into the peak body space including the seaplane ownership and incident databases, his seaplane touring guide, building relationships with the commercial sector as well as running the digital back end of the Association. David runs an IT business and is looking forward to a little more time to concentrate on this after throwing himself into the role of President over the last two years.

David began flying in 1982 and his Searey XWW is known far and wide for its around Australia marathon and a fully documented rebuild after getting bogged on Lake Eyre in 2015. David is looking forward to concentrating on waterways access and social events for the Association.

Rohan Whittington - Committee

Rohan has been a long time member of SPAA and is known to many of our members having given presentations at multiple events, most recently the Whitsundays splash-in and AGM in 2021 outlining his work with some associates on new propulsion systems for aircraft. He has also helped with writing parts of the water syllabus for RAAus after coming across knowledge gaps in what he calls a “very short” endorsement resulting in him teaching himself many water techniques. Rohan has been flying for about 35 years all told, however returned to flying 12 years ago after a post-pilots strike hiatus.

Based on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Rohan owns a Super Petrel and maintains a commercial and instructors rating. He owns and operates Super Petrel Australia and acts as the sale and import agent for Scoda Aeronautica, manufacturers of the Super Petrel. He’s trained about 9 new seaplane pilots including our very own Shane Finney. Rohan is a great advocate for seaplanes and we’re very pleased to finally welcome him into the fold.

Ivan Lizarralde - Committee

Ivan is a Whitsundays local and is reprising his role on the Committee for another year. He’s been a valuable and committed committee member through 2021 and 2022 and has highlighted areas of interest to the Association regarding regulations in the region. He obtained his degree in Marine Biology in the US and gained his private pilots license having been unable to resist the temptation of the flight school on campus. Upon arrival in Australia, Ivan began hang gliding which evolved into powered hang gliding then onto microlights and ultralights.

He currently flies under RAAus and SAFA where he obtained his instructor level 2 certificate. Ivan owns two amphibious aircraft, one microlight and one ultralight as well as a sky ranger and land trike which he uses for cross country and teaching. When Ivan goes abroad he does flight reviews in Cessna S and Cherokees to keep his GA skills polished. Keep an eye out for his fantastic “flying bathtub” at future Splash-ins!

Graham Bunn - Committee

Graham started in the flying game as a teenager in the UK, first going solo in gliders. After an engineering career in the oil and gas industry which gave him the chance to fly both gliders and powered aircraft in several different countries, he took up instructing in both GA and RA. He plans to instruct in Seaplanes too after getting a few more hours of water ops in the log book. He is a relatively recent member of SPAA, having joined in 2022 before obtaining a floating hull endorsement with Dan Bolton.

Graham is based in Victoria at Lilydale airport where works as a part time GA/RA instructor. He owns and operates a Twin Comanche (not on floats!) which he has flown with his wife around most of Australia and NZ, and separately flies Tiger Moths, mostly in formation, for a local joy flight operation. Graham considers himself particularly privileged to be able to fly a friend’s Super Petrel, also out of Lilydale. 

Some of you may have come across Graham if you are an AvPlan user as he is part of the customer support team there.