Plan Reportedly Calls For Renaming, Repurposing

ANN April 1st Special Edition: The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association has changed position again on the future of the AOPA Wine Club, according to an organization insider who has requested anonymity. As ANN reported yesterday, an e-mail to AOPA Wine Club members, attributed to association CEO, President and Exalted Poo Bah Craig Fuller, announced that the club would be shutting down, and notified members to expect one last shipment.

It now appears the club will simply go on hiatus, and make a major debut again at EAA AirVenture at Oshkosh with a slightly different name and completely different purpose. ANN has learned that instead of selling alcoholic beverages to AOPA members, the renamed "AOPA Whine Club" will instead provide a heightened social networking experience for critics of AOPA.

The change was reportedly easy and cheap for AOPA, as it will be accomplished by opening dedicated accounts on Facebook and Twitter, and simply employing a graphic designer to add the letter "H" to signs on the kiosk which was already familiar to attendees at AOPA Summit last year. Nevertheless, an "emergency fundraising campaign" is reportedly planned, with a letter expected to be sent to AOPA members from Fuller explaining the urgency of obtaining contributions totalling $375,000 by April 30, 2011.

AOPA President and CEO Craig Fuller

There are apparently no plans to repeat any of the collected criticism of AOPA on the main aopa.org website, only to "allow the whiners to ferment in their own juices until they reach maturity," according to our source. The underlying purpose is said to be to allow AOPA executives to get an immediate heads-up on their wireless mobile devices as soon as any new criticism of the organization is in its early stages.

When the project is launched, AOPA reportedly plans to recruit members from the organization's existing "Do Not Return Phone Calls" list. Calls to AOPA to confirm this story have...um, not been returned.

FMI: www.aopawhineclub.org