What is Contrail?
Write for Contrail
Have you got a story, memory or opinion that other RSA members would enjoy?
We are always pleased to hear from members with recollections of events and people, the lighter side of working for CAA, NATS or HIAL, or thoughts on the future of aviation in the UK.
Please get in touch at contrailpete@caa-rsa.org.uk.
We Can help shape your ideas into something for publication - it is easier than you might think.
Contrail 167 – Incoming
Contrail 167 is on its way.
If you receive Contrail online, your download email was sent on 1 March—so it should already be sitting in your inbox (or possibly hiding somewhere more mysterious…).
If you receive a printed copy, it was posted on 10 March. Arrival times will, as ever, depend on the moods and mysteries of the postal system.
A Quick Note on Email Delivery
Our updated email system seems to have cured the long-standing issue for Gmail users, where Contrail had a habit of disappearing into spam or junk folders.
If your copy is missing, won’t download, or never arrived at all, just contact:
Peter Haigh
📧 contrailpete@caa-rsa.org.uk
…and help will be at hand.
However (and here’s the small print), if you were previously a non-subscribing member and haven’t upgraded—and don’t plan to—then even the Editor has his limits.
What’s Inside This Issue?
Alongside the usual Branch News, Activities, and Obituaries, this edition includes:
The RSA26 AGM calling notice
Updates on recent membership changes
The latest on the planned move to a fully digital Contrail (June)
News on the CAA Pension Scheme
Keeping in Touch
Receiving Contrail online relies on us having your current email address—and we all know how often those can change.
So if your details do change, please let us know. Your information is held securely and will not be shared with any other organisation.
Contrail is the magazine of the CAA/NATS Retired Staff Association, bringing together news, memories and views from across the RSA.
Delivery is normally by e-mail unless you have made arrangements with the editor for an alternative method.
Read Contrail Online
You can update the RSA about your Contrail delivery by using the form at the foot of this page.
Recent editions of Contrail are available to RSA members via the link below. Access is password-protected and requires the current RSA password.
(Please remember, you have to subscribe to the RSA to be a member)
For help, or if you have any problems accessing Contrail, contact Peter Haigh at contrailpete@caa-rsa.org.uk
Contrail delivery news……
Delivering Contrail to you
We have been undertaking a review of Contrail delivery, and the RSA is grateful to everyone who has already agreed to receive the magazine electronically. Receiving Contrail by email will help us to reduce costs, improve content flexibility and enable you to receive the magazine quicker.
From June 2026, Contrail will become electronic only. If your email address changes, you can use the form below to update us with your details.
(if you already are receiving Contrail electronically to your correct email address, then you do not need to do anything).
If you find you cannot receive Contrail by email, then perhaps we can arrange to send it to a friend or relative for you - let us know via the form below.
If for some reason you still cannot accept an electronic copy then please also use the form to tell us. We will endeavour to send a printed version to you, however, from June 2026 it might not be in the same format.
External Links
No further editions of NATS Pulse have been produced. However you may wish to use the links below to follow what’s going on in NATS, the CAA and HIAL.
Reminders - the small print
The RSA use a third party organisation to carry out the e-mail distribution of Contrail in a similar way as we have, for years, used Creeds to distribute the hard copy version. One of the benefits of the electronic distribution is that the distributor sets a flag in their system when Contrail is downloaded by the recipient. This allows a reminder to be send after a short period of time to those who have not made the download.
A very small number of members (less than 0.4%) raised this reminder process as a nuisance or a misuse of their personal data. As a consequence the reminder process was discontinued pending an investigation.
The result of the investigation, by reference to the Data Protection Act 2018 and the UK General Data Protection Regulations updated to 2021, is as follows:
Purpose Test
The data, individual e-mail address, is provided by members to the RSA to facilitate communication between the RSA and the membership of both a general and a specific nature and to allow the distribution of Contrail either quarterly or yearly depending on the type of membership.
Necessity Test
The RSA needs to monitor the success in delivering Contrail to members.
Balancing Test
The monitoring of the downloaded status is entirely within the distributors system and does not involve any form of monitoring of individual e-mail addresses. The alternative would involve asking members to confirm delivery individually
It is therefore within Article 6(1)(f) Legitimate Interest.
However, The RSA acknowledges the right for members to object to the process.
Members may opt out of the Reminder Process by sending an e-mail instruction to membership@caa-rsa.org.uk
The RSA has a duty to remind the membership of the legal obligations to protect the personal data of members that is held in order to keep in touch. The data held is the minimum required to maintain the communication path.
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