Membership Services
AOPA unveils new look to celebrate seventieth anniversary
AOPA reaches a new milestone this year as the association turns 70, or “seven-zero” in aviation speak. To help celebrate that achievement, AOPA has compiled a short history and unveiled a new look, and logo, that you can expect to see throughout the anniversary year.
Despite the new look, AOPA’s fundamental mission remains unchanged—to provide its members with representation, education, and information.
While AOPA’s advocacy efforts have risen to prominence in the years since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, they actually go back to AOPA’s founding in 1939. From its earliest, pre-World War II days when some in Washington were calling for significant restrictions--if not an outright ban--on personal and business aviation, AOPA has defended the interests of general aviation pilots and aircraft owners. Whether it was onerous equipment mandates or heat-of-the-moment reactions that went too far in the wake of a tragedy, AOPA has provided a voice of experience to help Congress and the agencies governing aviation understand the implications of their actions.
AOPA President Craig Fuller on AOPA’s seventieth anniversary in a short booklet compiling the history of the association. Click here to download the booklet.
In terms of providing general aviation pilots with the continuing education they need to maintain and improve aviation safety, AOPA’s sister organization, the AOPA Air Safety Foundation, is second to none. The foundation has built on the success of its in-person safety seminars, free and available to all pilots, and now offers more than two dozen interactive online courses that in 2008 reached nearly 200,000 individual pilots. Expect to see more new offerings for 2009.
And when it comes to information, there’s no better source than AOPA Pilot, the world’s most widely distributed aviation magazine, in publication for more than 50 years. For the past decade, the association has also published AOPA Flight Training, the only magazine especially for student pilots, new pilots, and flight instructors.
AOPA staked an early claim on the Internet in the 1990s with AOPA Online, providing members with industry news, research materials, and information about government actions that could affect their flying. In addition, AOPA created ePilot and ePilot Flight Training Edition, weekly electronic newsletters that now reach approximately 250,000 readers.
Thanks to hard-won experience, broad expertise, and strong member support, AOPA is well positioned to continue the mission and defend general aviation pilots’ interests, whatever challenges may arise.
January 15, 2009
