Despite Protests, AOPA NOT Interested In Changing Schedule

Imagine that a major organization, one that touts itself as being one of the most prominent (even the most prominent), in their field, decided to hold a major event gathering... during Easter?

Or any other major religious holiday?

Not smart... right?

Well... that's the position being taken by a number of Jewish flyers who have contacted ANN when their protests to AOPA apparently fell on deaf ears.

The 'new' AOPA has scheduled the biggest of their recently announced series of revitalized member events, the one that will pick up where the of AOPA Fly-In (discontinued under the Fuller Presidency) left off, for October 4th... right smack dab on Yom Kippur.

'It's like scheduling it over Easter weekend,' noted one complainant... "I mean, wow -- at a time when AOPA memberships are plummeting and they're talking wanting to do a lot of membership outreach, this seems a silly way to snub so many of their members..."

Unlike a number of religious holidays of varying importance, Yom Kippur is a pretty big deal in the Hebrew faith. Yom Kippur is otherwise known as the Day of Atonement, and is THE holiest day of the year for the Jewish people. It's kinda like announcing your biggest get-together will be held over Christmas, Kwanzaa or Eid Al-Fitr (celebrated at the end of Ramadan). In other words... not exactly a sign of respect to those you are attempting to woo as members. The population of Jewish flyers -- while a definite minority in the US Population, much less aviation -- is still organized and prominent enough to have their own organization, Jews in Aviation, with a solid history of outreach and pro-aviation activity.

Despite a number of emails and calls reported to ANN, and acknowledged by AOPA, the once-mighty GA organization is adamant about holding its home event on October 4th and reiterated its intent to stay with the announced date. AOPA's Steve Hedges noted that, "We sincerely regret that we could not avoid Yom Kippur when scheduling this year's Frederick Fly-In. We were faced with considering everything from other aviation events already scheduled in the area to the dates of the Frederick County Fair. After taking those issues into account, October 4 was the weekend for this year's event. We assure members that we will do everything possible next year to avoid any conflicts."

Hedges added that, "In addition to the Frederick Fly-In, we also have 6 other fly-ins around the country that we announced.  We encourage our members to meet us at one of the other locations in 2014.  On July 12, we'll be in Plymouth, MA - the home field of air show pilot Michael Goulian. Indianapolis, IN on May 31 and Saint Simons Island, GA on Nov. 8 are also possible alternatives to the Frederick event."

Be that as it may, many Jewish aviators are not amused and several, who indicated past support or membership in AOPA, reported that they were rethinking such support for the future. While a few commenters noted that it was hard to schedule any event, these days, without a conflict of one type or another with religious or national holidays and observances, the general consensus appeared to be that running an event on Yom Kippur was about as negative a sign of respect for the Jewish aviation community as they could imagine.

ANN will continue to follow up on this story as it develops...

FMI: www.aopa.org, www.jewsinaviation.org