I am receiving constantly in the mail and emails, offer about joining AOPA.
I get almost daily emails and, at this point, what I would consider junk mail. Joined a long time ago, was a member for a few years because "they advocate for GA" and it made me feel nice to be part of an Aircraft
Owner and
Pilot Organization (cool!).. but I eventually found no value to it.. did not renew, and haven't in probably a decade or longer.. and I still get hounded by them. The amount of money they spend sending me mail has surely outweighed the 3 years of membership I paid them. I haven't received any real discounted goods from them, and their resource center, while helpful, is not something that a competent person can't live without
I would like to know what’s the advantage and disadvantage of carrying a membership.
The big picture thing they stand for is admirable.. "advocating" for GA, which I support full heartedly. But I put "advocating" in italics as I have done a fair bit of research (have for years) and cannot tangibly figure out what their avocation actually accomplishes or does with the $30,000,000 they collect (rough estimate based on membership count)
Remember, aviation and general aviation is not some taboo "right" or "thing" like gun ownership, medical marijuana, medically assisted suicide, religious freedoms, etc. It is a successful commercial and federally regulated extremely forgiving environment to operate in. A competent person can get their license in 40 hours, their instrument shortly after, and be a commercially rated pilot yet shortly there after, and in two years be flying an airliner. Think about that! That's nuts. Any time I want I can get in my car, go to the airport, and go flying.. the only thing the government asks of me is that I go to the doctor every 5 years, do a flight review every 2 years, and to stay proficient. I find these extremely forgiving laws to operate under. There isn't any strong political push to take those privileges away from me (like you might have with gun ownership, etc.). And admit it, regardless of how big AOPA gets, if AvGas eventually goes away, or the laws shift, there is little that we can do about that. There is also very little AOPA can do about how slow new plane sales are, or do anything to help lower the costs on aircraft ownership. That's where, if you're going to join something, at least EAA advocates for that more directly. More thoughts below
AOPA is a strong advocacy group for GA.
What do they actually do though? Their advocacy page
https://www.aopa.org/advocacy lists things that seem to be already under way, or started by local airports, town's officials, etc. AOPA would have you think everyone hates GA and their is some evil force acting on it to close, but in reality, outside the occasional click bait media article most people by and large think it's cool, don't want it gone, and most towns understand that having an airport does provide a vital commercial and logistical hub.. many politicians fly GA anyway.. but looking at that page here is what their putting front and center as their advocacy
-BasicMed, still front and center two years later. Ok, maybe this helped some people out, but frankly, lowering the health standards to me is ill advised. If you cannot pass a third class medical once every 5 years you have no business flying as a PPL
-ADSB rebates nearly gone. Ok, not really sure what a rebate status has to do with advocacy.. and from my understand the delays and push backs in ADS mandates are more to do with gov bureaucracy and resource available than AOPA asking them to delay it or not do it. Most of us have actually found tremendous benefit in ADS-B from inflight weather, etc.
-Mistakes and mitigation study. They reposted an article about an FAA study on human factors and performance. Again, cool, but how is this them advocating for us? Did they help fund the study for the FAA?
-Montana airport funding bill passes. Reading this article it sounds like this was a decision that financially made simple sense for the state, and, will be funded at least in part by an increase in tax on aviation fuel and would have passed agnostic of AOPA. The only real claim to ownership in the article is that "AOPA members in Montana overwhelmingly supported this" <- of course they did.. it sounds like most voters and lawmen would have based on the financial math
-Maine seaplane usage.. okay
-Virginia county aircraft property tax cut.. supported by AOPA, obviously, but seems the state acted on the regional airport's director anyway
*they also randomly picked a fight with FBOs recently.
https://www.aopa.org/advocacy/airports-and-airspace/airport-advocacy/egregious-fbo-pricing which was remarkably misleading. They will have you think that flying your 182 and stopping at Signature or Atlantic will cost you upwards of $1,600... WHAT?! Starting a battle within the GA world is not going to help us. Plus, it's a free market. If Signature can get away with charging those rates to the Gulfstreams and big boys.. then have at it! I've been to many Signature and Atlantic in single engine piston (PA28, C172, SR22) and if I buy some gas I won't even pay any kind of fee... so what gives AOPA?
-how about instead they help keep airports open later and longer, help improve staffing and training for ATC, work to update the training and airman standards to fit with 2019 technology, work with the FAA for aicraft certification to help reduce costs on the consumer, etc., things like that which we would actually tangibly notice
**Ultimately they're a group.. you have my worthless, but fee, advice. Cheers and happy flying!
