Rogue AOPA Employee Would Have Caused Aircraft To Display The Rival Organizations' Logo, Messages

Aero-News April 1 Special Edition

A plot has been uncovered to hack the drones scheduled to fly as part of the EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2019 night airshows by an AOPA employee.

The plot came to light when an employee of Great Lakes Drone Company, which puts on the AirVenture show, noticed some unusual activity on one of its servers while they were working on a practice display. A Great Lakes employee traced the activity to an IP address in Fredericksburg, MD.

The plot does not appear to have been officially sanctioned. An AOPA IT employee was working in his parent's basement on a scheme to take control of the Great Lakes drones during the show and have them create an AOPA logo above Wittman Regional Airport. There were also drawings showing an EAA logo morphing into the words "Elderly Aviation Association".

AOPA president Mark Baker said that the plan was not officially authorized by AOPA or any of its executives. "We had absolutely no knowledge this was happening," Baker said in an emailed statement. "If we had, we would have been a LOT more creative."

EAA Spokesman Dick Knapinski was dismissive of the report. "There's so much RF flooding this place during EAA AirVenture Oshkosh that there's no way anybody would be able to get control of anything like that. We can barely get cell signals and wi-fi," Knapinski said. "Besides, old guys RULE!"

EAA Chairman Jack Pelton said the EAA does not intend to press charges. Baker said the employee would be "disciplined and possibly terminated."

FMI: www.eaa.org, www.aopa.org