AOPA membership

OK, so that would save us the hassle and fa couple hundred bucks every few years. Not a bad cause. Less regulation is a good thing too. Finally, something to get behind!
 
Stewartb said:
Hey, I'm a dues paying member of the USA, too, and it's the government that's holding up medical reform. Assign blame where blame is due. AOPA is the best tool we have to advance it but they can't fix a broken congress.
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Maybe, but broken tools still should be fixed or discarded.
 
Come up with something better. How about the Bob Noel pilot's advocacy group? What have you done for us lately?

My personal history with AOPA has been the difference between me having a medical certificate and not. I know, most of you live in the dark and reach out to Dr. Bruce when it's convenient. I prefer to fight my own battles. AOPA is a very valuable ally for me and I appreciate their assistance greatly.
 
txflyer said:
I'll get beat all to hell, but I do like AOPA's training modules on their website.
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Those and the magazine are easily worth the modest membership fee. Are they perfect? What organization is? But they're worth what they ask for, at least to me. If you feel bombarded, opt out of their mailings. It's not that hard to do.
 
For the little I pay I get the air safety courses, vref, legal support, insurance discounts. They have been effective pushing back user fees that although might start with turbines will eventually affect pistons. They have been effective in calling to light the unlawful CBP stops and searches and reducing the number of occurrences by virtue of that light.

Your mileage may vary.
 
I like the AOPA magazine, but mostly I like that they are the most effective voice GA has in Washington.

I really don't think Congress would even be considering the possibility of eliminating the 3d class medical for amateur pilots were it not for the AOPA.
 
I don't believe they are a formidable lobby. For issues "under the radar", congress can be swayed by an email/phone call barrage from AOPA members but for any significant issue, GA wants usually conflict with the other 99.9% constituent wants and we will be squashed like bugs, AOPA or not. I keep my AOPA membership for the possibility that it'll do some good cause it's all we have.
 
Harass you incessantly with at least 100 different monetary hustles. Send your dues money to the Cancer fund and earn a legal tax deduction.
 
Having been a member for many years, I dropped my membership. After reading about planes, trips, outgoing salary payments, and current salaries, while I support GA I can not contribute and support what they pay their top executives.

Add in the junk mail, continual requests for money, and when I see the bank balances they are carrying while asking for a dues increase, they have lost touch.

There is a declining pilot population, yet AOPA doesn't seem to want to cut their expenses.
 
GLMS_NC said:
Having been a member for many years, I dropped my membership. After reading about planes, trips, outgoing salary payments, and current salaries, while I support GA I can not contribute and support what they pay their top executives.
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My situation exactly.

I would rejoin an AOPA that is financially responsible in hopes that they were effective advocates, but the other problem is that we really have no independent assessment of their effectiveness. It is only the puff pieces in the magazine that support their claim.

Though JoseCurevo's fulminations about NRA are out in far left field, it is not totally unreasonable to compare AOPA with NRA and with NBAA. Here is some data from 2012 tax returns, which I believe was the last "normal" salary year for Craig:


  • Annual Revenue: AOPA - $37M; NBAA - $32.5M; NRA - $256M
  • CEO Salary: AOPA - $687,978; NBAA - $884,485; NRA - $974,867
  • Financial Reserves: AOPA - $71M; NBAA - $23M; NRA - $46M
  • Reserves % of Income: AOPA - 192%; NBAA - 70%; NRA - 18%
  • Jet? AOPA - Yes; NBAA - No; NRA - No (as far as I can tell)

The salaries are not a huge issue for me, although the nests are well feathered. (The long-departed Phil Boyer still collected $373K in 2012 and $274K in 2013. Craig collected almost $1.3M in 2013, which I assume was some kind of good-bye kiss.)

My biggest hot buttons are the reserves and the jet. Reserves are essentially overcollections of money from members. With AOPA's gargantuan cash horde, there is no reason for them to be repeatedly raising dues. In the event that expenses exceed revenue, the excessive reserves should be drawn down to cover it. AOPA's revenue, like NRA's, is steady and predictable, so large reserves are unnecessary.

Reserves at almost 200% of revenue are a symptom of greed and a magnet for stupid or illegal financial dealings. (One of the last things I remember seeing before my membership expired was the brain-dead idea that AOPA would use some of its reserves to become a venture capitalist!)

So, when they stop raping the members, I'm back in! But, of course, given AOPA's governance that is a little like saying "when pigs fly." Too bad.
 
I keep my AOPA membership for the possibility that it'll do some good cause it's all we have.
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You got that right, John! I am in there with you. Some just don't understand what we are up against.
 
Some of us know full well what we are up against, and consider dues to a bloated 'crat infested snake-pit to be counter-productive. There is that possibility that a pig will fly, but I'm not investing in the chance in my lifetime.
 
airdale said:
My biggest hot buttons are the reserves and the jet.
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No issues with an aviation organization owning and flying aircraft. They should use the reserves and buy some more.
 
Stewartb said:
Come up with something better. How about the Bob Noel pilot's advocacy group? What have you done for us lately?

My personal history with AOPA has been the difference between me having a medical certificate and not. I know, most of you live in the dark and reach out to Dr. Bruce when it's convenient. I prefer to fight my own battles. AOPA is a very valuable ally for me and I appreciate their assistance greatly.
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And when I needed help with my medical, AOPA was the first org on the bus out of town, despite being a member of their top-level "Pilot Protection Plan".

Never again.
 
OkieAviator said:
No issues with an aviation organization owning and flying aircraft. They should use the reserves and buy some more.
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The general population considers GA airplanes, particularly jets, to be rich men's toys. For AOPA to further prove that point by maintaining a jet-toy does not help. Granted, Baker is said to be reducing use of the jet, but all that does is prove the point that they should ditch the jet and use fractionals where a jet is cost-effective.

When Warren Buffet finally broke down and had Berkshire Hathaway buy a jet, he named it "The Indefensible." He told shareholders: "'Whether Berkshire will get its money's worth from the plane is an open question, but I will work at achieving some business triumph that I can (no matter how dubiously) attribute to it.''

If AOPA has needs where GA airplanes would be cost-effective I am all for them owning the tools needed to do the job. The jet is not such a situation. If anyone should own a jet to "show the flag" it is NBAA. And they don't see the need.
 
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