Aero-Analysis/Commentary By ANN E-Media Producer, Paul Plack

Is it just me, or is AOPA out to deforest the planet? 

It seems like the last year and a half, the amount of mail I'm getting from Frederick, Maryland is getting a little silly. Some of it is clearly from AOPA, but some of it has come dressed in anonymous envelopes. 

One came emblazoned with a red warning that read as if I was about to lose my pilot certificate. I can't remember now whether that was the one pitching the pre-paid legal services, or the one warning me of the pending obsolescence of paper certificates. 

I got an invitation to join the AOPA Wine Club. At least that one taught me something new. I had never known that aviation advocacy and alcohol sales were an appropriate mix. 

Some of these read like they come from sleazy political action committees.

Oh wait, sorry - they do! 

I got one a few days ago warning that the time before the mid-term Congressional election grows short, and that unless I donate generously to the AOPA PAC, some of AOPA's friends in Congress could be at risk. Apparently the assumption is that all AOPA members are single-issue "sheeple" who care only about user fees, and as long as my reps vote against that, I should be perfectly OK with their support of federal healthcare or the GM bailout.

So, as I'm pondering all this, a pitch to renew my membership arrives in my mailbox Saturday. My membership doesn't expire till March of next year. There's a cheezy simulated check for four dollars signed by the president and CEO, and the offer of a free headset bag, both of which are mine if I'll just give AOPA my credit card number and sign up for automatic renewal. Presumably, they'll charge my card months before I'm due. And the regular dues have gone up to $45. 

But the topper? There, on the front page of the letter, underlined and highlighted in yellow, it says I should sign up for auto-renewal to "Help AOPA spend less money on mailings, more money on you."

Really? The AOPA Accidental Death & Dismemberment Insurance is advertised on the website as providing, "...supplemental protection for all pilots, guaranteed." But a few lines down I'm excluded, because I fly Experimental Amateur-Built rotorcraft. Same with the renters insurance. 

Another paragraph holds a promise from the CEO that "every dollar I can save on operating expenses will go directly to promoting and protecting general aviation." Forgive me if recent, conspicuous expenditures by AOPA make me skeptical. 

Guys, be careful urging us to save the trees. I'm already thinking about how I might stop all the junk mail next March, and it's not the tactic you seem to have in mind.

FMI: IS AOPA Losing It? What Do YOU Think?