Tough Questions Need To Be Asked In Tough Times

By Bob Miller, CFII, ATP, Frequent ANN Aero-Cast Partner

Like many of you, I received a form letter recently from AOPA's CEO, Craig Fuller. He was writing in the capacity of chairman of the AOPA Political Action Committee (PAC).

His letter was masterfully crafted. In it, he appealed to the very heart of every card-carry AOPA member. Choking back tears, I read how Chairman Fuller began flying at the tender age of 17 and how he earned money taking aerial photos. Ahhh, it was a classic Horatio Alger story at its best!
 
Drying my eyes, I read further as Chairman Fuller told me how AOPA PAC dollars single-handedly saved countless airports, how AOPA prevented users fees from going sky high, and how the freedom to fly that we enjoy would have been outlawed.
 
Reading on, Chairman Fuller shared how AOPA's PAC built the Congressional Aviation Caucus by using our dollars to underwrite campaigns of AOPA members to the House and the Senate. By now, I could no longer hold back the tears.
 
Then came the pitch for my dollars... $25, $50, $75, $100, $250, or $1,000 or even more. I felt my arm searching vainly for my checkbook. Not to worry, he gave me a convenient telephone number to call where an AOPA staffer would no doubt graciously accept my credit card number. I could barely resist a minute longer.

But wait... I do have a brain. I pondered Chairman Fuller's emotional pitch a bit longer.
 
I read, and re-read, Chairman Fuller's words - "...not a single piece of general aviation legislation, or regulation, will advance without our input." It was here that I began to understand how AOPA could, in fact, be selling us down the river.

What Is AOPA's REAL Agenda?

If I believed for a minute that AOPA was about safety rather than building membership numbers, I might be inclined to write that check. If I believed that by selling insurance, credit cards, and California wines that AOPA was creating revenues to promote regulatory reform to prevent, among other things, poorly trained pilots from getting into the national airspace system, I would have found my checkbook.

If I believed that AOPA was working hard to heighten the training and experience requirements to become a certificated flight instructor, I would have happily supported the cause. If I thought that AOPA was promoting regulatory reform that required low time pilots to undergo an annual, rather than biennial, flight review, I would have been there with my dollars.

But this is not what AOPA is about. Instead, AOPA is a membership organization. Like a labor union, its purpose is to support member interests, right or wrong. Highest among these interests is to block any legislation that potentially represents a burden on its membership and to support any legislation that benefits its membership.

This is just the kind of thing we would expect from any membership organization, right?
 
But what if a piece of legislation comes along that potentially benefits general aviation but adversely affects member AOPA member pilots? Let's say that a bill is introduced that requires pilots with less than 400 hours of PIC time be required to undergo an annual flight review? AOPA would (and has) oppose such legislation claiming that it would represent a burden on its membership.

Similarly, if a bill is introduced that amends 14 CFR Part 61 to increase the minimum number of instruction hours for the private pilot certificate from 40 to 60, AOPA would likely strongly oppose on the basis of hardship to its members.

Let's say a bill is introduced that requires CFIIs to receive some portion of instrument training in ACTUAL instrument conditions, AOPA would likely oppose, again on the basis of hardship to its members.

The Missing Point...

AOPA seems to be missing the point that the greatest hardship on its members occurs every time that a fatal GA accident occurs in any community with a hyperactive media. That community gets "turned off" to GA for at least two to three weeks.

Multiply that single fatal accident occurrence times nearly 300 fatal GA accidents every year, year-after-year, and you can quickly see the total adverse impact on its membership. Neighbors demand that airports get shut down, politicians seek to restrict airspace, insurance premiums soar, spouses discourage flying, and so forth.

It seems so simple, yet AOPA (and EAA, the aircraft manufacturers, and even the FAA) works so desperately hard to "protect our pilot freedoms." They resist any legislation that purports to makes GA safer IF it creates a burden on us pilots.

Hence, the fatal accidents continue and communities continue to make GA their enemy.

Selling Us Out?

In the grand scheme of things, AOPA is a good organization. I've been a card-carrying, dues paying member for nearly 30 years. AOPA's strongest resource is its staffers. These dedicated individuals are committed professionals who are genuinely concerned about its members. I know some of these people personally and count them as my friends.

But it's not the people. Instead, it's about a corporate management philosophy that seemingly regards membership numbers above lowering our fatal accident rate. It's a management philosophy that apparently places more weight on protecting member interests than it does on keeping us alive.

In the grand scheme of things, AOPA likely believes that 300 fatal accidents a year is an acceptable loss rate to support the freedoms we have to fly. If that be true, then shame on us for paying our membership dues year after year.

Yes, AOPA could be selling us out.

Bob Miller, ATP, CFII

Aero-Note: Bob Miller, CFII, ATP is publisher of Over the Airwaves - The Journal for the Proficient Pilot and owner of Bob Miller Flight Training, Inc., a FAA approved Part 141 flight school located in Buffalo, NY. Bob is heard every Monday on the ANN podcast with Paul Plack and is a frequent contributor to various aviation publications. He is also one of the most passionate practitioners of the flight training arts that we know of... -- Jim Campbell, ANN E-I-C

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