Charting the membership's growth
As any company president will tell you, growing a business in a declining market is a most difficult challenge. But in 1993 AOPA did just that. Last year more than 320,000 aircraft owners and pilots signed on to AOPA. In fact, we ended the year with 321,300 members, the most ever and some 17,500 more than a year earlier, itself a record year. Equally as impressive, 56,156 new members joined AOPA, the most since 1989, our fiftieth-anniversary year.
Think of that, 56,000 new members. That might be an easily attained count in a growing marketplace, but we earned a vote of confidence from those new members at a time when the number of pilots is dwindling at the rate of more than 10,000 a year. In 1993, almost 18,000 pilots dropped from the roles.
But last year, a record number of AOPA members, 87 percent, renewed their memberships. That's a renewal rate nearly unparalleled in any association.
To each of you, thank you. But we do not take any membership for granted. Each is important to the overall strength of your association. It is through your collective voices and votes that we can be so successful in all that we do, whether it's buttonholing a congressman on Capitol Hill, urging the Federal Aviation Administration to reconsider some onerous regulation, educating a local city council about the importance of general aviation airports, or negotiating with one of our Partner Service vendors.
Members have helped AOPA not only by being members, but by being active members. After AOPA sent each member a national Pilot Alert last year outlining President Clinton's plan to assess new taxes and fees on general aviation aircraft owners and pilots, some 45,000 members took pen in hand and wrote letters to Congress opposing the plan and instead advocating AOPA's Four for Four plan to reduce the federal deficit without raising taxes. The legislative successes throughout the year saved individual pilots hundreds of dollars in future expenses and further enhanced AOPA's reputation as the leader in general aviation advocacy.
The association's Government and Technical Affairs staff was particularly busy in 1993 as it worked with the new members of the Clinton Administration and the many new members of Congress elected in 1992.
The President's proposals to impose an energy tax and a new $300 annual aircraft registration fee on general aviation dominated much of the staff's efforts. The lobbying effort was as intense as any in Washington, D.C., in recent years but was eventually successful. General aviation also obtained additional relief from the President's proposed energy tax. Rather than the nearly 10-cents-per-gallon BTU tax on avgas that was originally proposed by the Executive Branch, Congress adopted a 4.3-cents- per-gallon transportation fuel tax that is imposed uniformly on all modes of transportation.
AOPA also secured many important successes at the state level. Often-tackled subjects include proposed new fuel taxes and unreasonable personal property taxes on aircraft.
In Indiana, AOPA helped stop a proposed new fuel tax of 15 cents per gallon. In Montana, a longstanding effort to improve airport funding paid off when the state legislature adopted a modest fuel tax increase that was supported by the pilot community. Additionally, legislation was passed in Connecticut to replace burdensome personal property taxes with a more modest aircraft registration fee.
Legislative activities are probably AOPA's most visible form of advocacy, but much of our efforts take place quietly behind the scenes in meetings with the FAA on regulatory reforms.
For example, after three years of pushing by AOPA, the FAA in 1993 issued a greatly modified airworthiness directive on all high-wing Piper aircraft, saving our members nearly $40 million compared to the original proposal. Aerostar owners will save about $1 million because the AOPA staff was successful in altering an AD that would have required mandatory replacement of landing gear torque links. Our proposal advocates periodic inspections and the use of a non-destructive test instead. For Cessna 210 owners, we were instrumental in having an onerous fuel system AD suspended.
We were also successful in convincing the FAA to implement improved 121.5-MHz emergency locator transmitters instead of mandating a satellite-based 406-MHz replacement. In another effort to reduce costs for our members, AOPA petitioned the FAA to extend the interval between third- class medical examinations from two to four years for non-instrument-rated private pilots and recreational and student pilots. We plan to continue pressing for further reforms in medical certification.
On other fronts, we were finally able to delete the annual fight review requirement for recreational and non-instrument-rated private pilots with fewer than 400 flight hours.
Many of the projects AOPA tackles take years to complete. For example, the staff filed strong opposition to a Federal Communications Commission proposed rule that would require the replacement of one third of the VOR/ILS receivers in general aviation aircraft by 1998 and the balance by 2005. We estimate the cost of the outfitting would exceed $780 million. This is an issue we expect to be dealing with for some time.
Although many issues we take on have national implications, some are more local and regional. Pilots in the Midwest will once again have use of the St. Louis Automated Flight Service Station because AOPA stepped in and protested an FAA plan not to rebuild the station after all its equipment was destroyed in last year's floods. VFR pilots in Asheville, North Carolina, will find it easier to navigate around that area if a user-designed Class C area is implemented as advocated by AOPA. Seven and a half years of effort by our staff and the Long Island Pilots Association went into reducing the size of the Islip Long Island Class C area and using visual landmarks to designate its boundaries.
In Boston, Massport, the owner of Logan International Airport, once again attempted to limit general aviation activities as it did back in 1989. This time, AOPA, in an unprecedented move, went on record opposing Massport's application for passenger facility charges. That, along with support from the FAA and pilots and aviation businesses from throughout New England, forced Massport to back down, just as it was forced to the last time it tangled with AOPA.
The Massport issue is just one example of dozens where AOPA's regional representatives and headquarters staff on a day-to-day basis head off proposed regulations that would limit the activities of general aviation at airports across the country. One of our most important tools in such instances are local pilot organizations. During 1993, AOPA's regional affairs department completed production of the revised Organizing Community Support for Your Local Airport book. This important new publication provides a member with all the information necessary to implement a comprehensive program demonstrating the value and benefit of an airport to the local community.
One thing that sets AOPA apart from other associations is that we work for our members not only at a governmental level, but also on a one- to-one level. To answer members' technical questions, AOPA employs a staff of pilots, flight instructors, and mechanics. These professionals answers hundreds of calls daily on our toll-free assistance lines. In fact, the Membership Services Division responded to more than 300,000 requests for information and assistance during 1993, an increase of more than 15 percent over 1992. To assist in some of the most often asked questions, the staff recently wrote a new booklet on co-ownership of aircraft and another on owner-performed maintenance.
Besides participating in AOPA's petition for a 48-month medical, our medical department staff assisted members in obtaining medical certificates that had been denied by the FAA. Working with others from within AOPA, the flight operations staff tackled the new Mexican air traffic control and enroute fees. Eventually, the Mexican government agreed to restructure the fees in a more favorable way. The flight ops staff also attempted to smooth the way southward for AOPA members by participating in "friendship meetings" along with U.S. Customs and Mexican officials.
Recognizing that public opinion plays an important role in protecting and growing general aviation, AOPA's Communications Division staff spends considerable effort supporting the trade press and in trying to educate the general media. The division issued nearly 400 press releases last year on behalf of AOPA, the AOPA Air Safety Foundation, the International Council of Aircraft Owner and Pilot Associations, and the Seaplane Pilots Association. The staff also participates in many professional media associations and works daily with reporters from small weekly newspapers to major national magazines and the television networks.
Providing all these benefits and services on behalf of general aviation requires far more investment than is possible with the revenue from member dues alone. AOPA relies on a number of sources to augment our finances.
One of the biggest sources is the advertising revenue from AOPA Pilot. The magazine generated a record $6.2 million for the association in 1993. This is just one of many areas where the strong AOPA membership numbers play an important role. The record number of members gives AOPA Pilot the largest subscription base of any aviation magazine, providing advertisers with the best buy anywhere.
Likewise, the growing membership gives AOPA negotiating clout with companies that want to participate in our Partner Services programs. These programs offer AOPA members valuable and carefully screened products and services while returning revenue to AOPA, yet the contracts are all written so that the provider incurs all costs associated with marketing and advertising the program. No AOPA dues are used to support these programs. Among the most successful Partner Services are the AOPA- affiliated credit cards, the legal services plan, rental car discounts, chart sales, aircraft loans, and life and accidental death and disability insurance. New in 1993 was the AOPA Insurance Agency, which offers aircraft hull and liability insurance.
As you can see, our success in growing AOPA larger pays off for each and every member. The larger membership helps us generate more revenue, which keeps dues in check and allows us to provide more and more services. Most important, it makes us a more effective advocate for general aviation (the number of voters we represent really does matter to those on Capitol Hill).
But I'm proud to report that no matter how big that membership number gets, around here we treat every membership not as a number, but as a person. Call or write us, stop in, or speak to me or an AOPA employee at one of our many public events, and you will see that we know that our success depends upon serving every member, one by one.
Sincerely,
Phil Boyer
President
AOPA's role as the most influential advocate of general aviation requires that staff members regularly testify before congressional committees on Capitol Hill. Particularly important in 1993 were our FAA funding priorities for fiscal year 1994, which began last October 1. Among the priorities in 1993 were preservation of the DUAT computerized weather briefing service, ensuring continued publication of world aeronautical charts as well as other aeronautical charts, and enhanced funding for future satellite navigation and communication services. We were successful on all fronts.
In recent years, AOPA has taken a more active approach to working with the FAA. For example, AOPA for a number of years has advocated a faster transition to satellite-based navigation. In 1993, we participated with the FAA in GPS approach test and demonstration flights. Early in the year, we wrapped up a series of nonprecision approach tests at the FAA Technical Center in Atlantic City, New Jersey, using AOPA's specially equipped A36 Bonanza and pilots from our staff. The tests were instrumental in ushering in the era of IFR navigation via GPS. In fact, when the FAA announced guidelines for IFR GPS receivers last June, it commemorated the event by presenting AOPA with the inaugural U.S. GPS approach chart, a (GPS) VOR-A approach to Frederick (Maryland) Municipal Airport, home to AOPA. Later in the year, AOPA once again used its specially equipped Bonanza to fly demonstration flights of precision differential GPS approaches to Frederick. AOPA's Communications Division staff flew numerous reporters from the trade press and general media while the Government and Technical Affairs staff flew congressional staffers and other government agency employees on familiarization flights. The flights generated many positive reports about general aviation and GPS.
In 1993, the most exciting new optional member benefit and one of the most important sources of future revenue for the association was the introduction of the AOPA Aircraft Insurance Program. Developed in response to members' requests for affordable, high-quality aircraft insurance, this new program has been extremely well received by members. Working with AOPA, leading aviation underwriters developed a policy that meets members' needs. Among the benefits are: premium credits for flying experience, proficiency courses, and enrollment in the AOPA Legal Services Plan; family coverage without sub-limits; a wide range of liability coverage without per-person or per-seat limits; and additional premium credits available at renewal time.
AOPA Online, the association's electronic bulletin board and messaging system, continued to grow in 1993 after its introduction in 1992. Many enhancements were made to the system last year, including a new classified advertising section and an electronic mail gateway to Internet, which means members may exchange messages with each other and with the AOPA staff from nearly anywhere in the world.
One of AOPA's most visible projects in 1993 was our Good As New 172 aircraft refurbishment and sweepstakes. The first-class refurbishment of the 1974 Cessna 172 was the subject of six feature articles in AOPA Pilot. Many of the products and services for the refurbishment were donated or discounted by companies from throughout the aviation industry. Members who renewed their memberships last year were eligible to win the prize. Early this year, the dazzling airplane was delivered to the winner, 20-year AOPA member William E. Teschner of Fort Pierce, Florida. The project was so successful that for 1994, it spawned the Better Than New 172, which you will read about throughout the year in AOPA Pilot. It too is the subject of our annual membership sweepstakes.
AOPA Expo '93 in Orlando, Florida, was a great success by all measures. The number of attendees, nearly 7,200, and the number of exhibit booths, 267, both set records. The 90 hours of seminar programs also set a record. A post-Expo survey to exhibitors and members indicated a very high level of satisfaction. Some 95 percent of the exhibitors said they would exhibit in Palm Springs at Expo '94, which is scheduled for October 20 through 23. And more than 98 percent of those who attended Expo '93 on package plans said they would come to the event again in the future.
1993 saw the AOPA Fly-in grow into a major regional aviation event. More than 40 exhibitors shared a tent in the parking lot behind AOPA headquarters on the Frederick (Maryland) Municipal Airport, and some 33 aircraft were on display, including new airplanes from about every manufacturer. Attendance records were broken with 2,500 people visiting and the arrival of 325 transient aircraft. The 1994 AOPA Fly-in is scheduled for June 11.
AOPA Air Safety Foundation: Sharing Safety
A record year for reaching out to pilots
1993 was an outstanding year for the nation's most active general aviation safety organization. On various fronts, the AOPA Air Safety Foundation broke new ground and experimented with several projects while continuing to maintain and improve the traditional services that have been its trademark.
At the beginning of 1992, ASF went through a significant downsizing to cut expenses and overhead. 1993 was a crucial year to test that concept and see if we could deliver our message with a much smaller staff. The results are clear. We were able to put significantly more dollars into program development and far less into payroll and expenses. The accompanying financial information shows the positive results.
Safety seminars are the most visible product of ASF. As the industry's largest supporter of the Federal Aviation Administration's Accident Prevention Program, we put a major effort into this key public service.
In 1993, ASF petitioned the FAA to streamline the flight instructor refresher courses by reducing the length of time required but still retaining the quality. The proposal was put into a prototype "fast track" program for FAA rulemaking, and although the results were still pending at press time, we are confident that this will be a major step forward in improving CFI education.
On the subject of CFI refresher training, ASF celebrated its second best year ever with more than 8,000 instructors attending. A partnership was formed with the Texas Department of Transportation to offer more CFI refresher training in the Lone Star State. This brought the total number of clinics held this year to 90, up from 82 last year. We experimented with some new audiovisual techniques using more videotape, which allowed the use of an ASF/FAA-pioneered concept known as the trigger tape. The audience views an accident in the making and then has an opportunity to discuss how the faulty decision chain could be broken. It's an effective technique for group involvement and learning that we will be expanding to all CFI refresher clinics in 1994.
The tremendously popular Pinch-Hitter program, which ASF designed for flying companions more than 30 years ago, was revised, with new graphics and a completely new textbook. A ground school version of the course, which runs about four hours, was offered in more than 30 cities this year and will be available again in 1994. Judging from the comments of both pilots and their companions, we prevented a lot of stress and anxiety in the cockpit and possibly on the home front, as well.
1993 was the first full year for the "Safety Pilot" column in AOPA Pilot. We covered a broad variety of topics, ranging from shoulder harnesses to pending regulatory change, airspace, and IFR procedures. Your letters were most appreciated.
Promoting the safety agenda is a time- and energy-consuming process. Several long-term initiatives were started in areas such as airspace, air traffic control procedures, and next-generation technology for light aircraft to make flying easier and safer. Some will have an immediate payoff or as quickly as the FAA can respond, and others are focused on the long-term growth and viability of the industry. It is vital that decision-makers in both government and industry receive practical input from the user community, and ASF was there to do that.
Financially, ASF had an excellent year. As stated earlier, more money went directly into the programs, products, and services. As in 1992, we were able to make a contribution to the foundation endowment, which is the nonprofit equivalent of a savings account. ASF is a nonprofit charitable organization, but only a small portion of its funding comes from AOPA member dues. This year's success was the result of donations and grants of several foundations and the generosity from the pilot community. ASF receives the majority of its contributions from individual pilots, much like public television, and the number of donors increased slightly over 1992.
The ASF headquarters staff and contract instructors did an outstanding job with fewer resources and more ingenuity to deliver the superior results we achieved this year. During 1994, we hope that our programs are on target and worthy of your continued support. As always, your thoughts and ideas on where the focus should be are welcomed.
Sincerely,
Bruce Landsberg
Executive Director
On September 16, 1993, the United States changed to a new internationally accepted airspace system. Although there may have been differences of opinion in the user community about the benefits, the need for education was clear.
ASF put together a completely new seminar program known as "Operation Airspace." Recognizing that some innovation was needed, we changed almost everything from the traditional seminar. Rather than go with several short topics, we felt that airspace understanding was so important that an in-depth review was needed.
Promotional advertising was changed, and the audiovisuals were completely revised. We developed an exercise where pilots could take a practice cross-country trip in the new airspace, using a sectional chart excerpt, and provided a workbook that they could review at their leisure. Finally, an interactive game to "test" volunteer contestants and the crowd was offered to further reinforce the new airspace concepts.
The results were spectacular. There's nothing like a major regulation change to bring people out. (It doesn't hurt to have a quarterly drawing for a hand-held radio transceiver, either.) By the end of the year, more than 31,000 pilots came to learn. This is the highest number of participants to ever attend ASF seminars.
The Air Safety Database, the largest nongovernment collection of general aviation accident information, grew to more than 20,000 records. Information was provided to companies, educational institutions, state and local governments, the FAA, the National Transportation Safety Board, and AOPA. In several cases, AOPA requested safety data on a particular airport to counter opponents' claims that general aviation airports are unsafe.
Aircraft-specific safety reviews for the Cessna P210 and 182 were popular, as hundreds of pilots and at least one insurance company purchased the books. These detailed reports identified where pilots were having difficulties and what training techniques could be applied to prevent them.
A five-part program to help pilots understand automated weather observations was begun in 1993. This was developed with support of the National Weather Service and the FAA. With automated surface observing system and automated weather observing system units becoming the rule rather than the exception, it is essential that pilots understand both their capabilities and their limitations. ASF produced a videotape, a decoder card, a slide presentation, and other support materials that will be disseminated during the coming year.
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