Membership Services
AOPA, Sporty’s: Dynamic partnership benefits GA
This year marks the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of Sporty’s Pilot Shop. What’s more, this year also marks the fiftieth anniversary of Sporty’s Founder and Chairman Hal Shevers becoming a flight instructor. Shevers’ dedication to quality flight training has guided Sporty’s growth and success over the years. AOPA caught up with Shevers to ask him about Sporty’s long-time relationship with the association.
Do you remember when you first heard about AOPA?
As a matter fact, I do. I had just gotten my pilot’s license. This was in 1959 and I was working at Cincinnati Milling Machine—now Cincinnati Milicron. I needed some charts and didn’t know where to get them and asked some pilot friends. They told me AOPA, and I’d never heard of it. I had to be one of the few pilots who had never received anything in the mail from AOPA to recruit me, probably because I kept changing addresses. I remember Ray Herr, who owned a Cessna 170, put me in contact with AOPA, and they got me the charts and sold me the membership. My AOPA number is 183872.
Some people may not know that you were the catalyst for AOPA’s popular three-day ground schools.
The forerunner to that was an old-fashioned filmstrip course to teach pilots what to do if they ran into instrument conditions. The course was very short, and I later started teaching a three-day instrument refresher course that AOPA offered. I did that from 1964 to 1966. I suggested an AOPA three-day ground school and was told AOPA would advertise it, but if I didn’t get 10 students, it was over. The first one was held at Tilford Aviation in Palm Beach, and we had 60 students, and we weren’t sure what to do so we broke them out into three classes of 10 over two weekends.
That kicked it off, and this was my first real success in business. The three-day programs lasted until about 1990 when video became more popular, and then later DVDs. Luckily, all of Sporty’s video had been shot in broadcast quality video so we were able to make the transition to DVDs easily.
Sporty’s has long partnered with AOPA on logo merchandise.
We started that program in 1988, with a goal to provide AOPA members with quality items. We wanted to have products that pilots could show off to their pilot friends and give AOPA members the prestige they deserve. Because of Sporty’s buying power, we have always been able to get good prices for AOPA members. Of course, these sales benefit members as well in that the revenue is used to continue AOPA’s work in Washington, D.C., and elsewhere.
What do you think AOPA does best?
General aviation needs Washington representation for the personal aviator—the guy who flies, owns, or rents himself an airplane. There are associations that represent other segments in aviation—business aviation, FBOs, helicopters, charter operations, manufacturers—but AOPA has always been for the person flying his own aircraft.
You’ve also been tireless in your work with the Air Safety Foundation, now the Air Safety Institute.
I’ve been on the Board of Visitors since 1988.
Any other connections between AOPA and Sporty’s we haven’t mentioned?
I have been extremely active in trying to expand the Boy Scouts of America’s Aviation Exploring program. Exploring is for both young women and young men to provide them with access to aviation as a possible career choice. As part of my efforts, we have created an Aviation Exploring Scholarship fund and we award annual scholarships. AOPA has been very generous in donating $5,000 for the past several years in support of this fund. It is terribly important that we all do what we can to bring young people into the aviation community.
Check out all the products proudly displaying the AOPA Wings along with other items specifically selected for AOPA members at the AOPA Store online.August 31, 2011
