President's Position

Last month in my "President's Position" I outlined the success AOPA and AOPA Legislative Action achieved with the General Aviation Revitalization Act, climaxing with President Clinton signing into law an 18 year Statute of Repose for new G.A. aircraft. The core reason that we won this legislation lies in the strength and size of our membership. I cannot emphasize enough the power of AOPA's 330,000 members who, as voters, support the positions of this organization with letters, telephone calls, and AOPA Political Action Committee contributions. In many cases AOPA Legislative Action doesn't even call on you for support. The mere threat of an organized general aviation group our size is often enough to avert onerous regulation and legislation.

Many of you are business leaders or own a business. Therefore, I feel I can be somewhat pragmatic in addressing the "business" of assuring the continued success of AOPA. Membership size is critical to one of our most basic missions: representation. Keeping the cost of our annual membership fee as low as possible therefore assures the largest membership, and helps to continue our strength, both nationally and locally. Many of you would argue that dues could be much higher, and you'd still belong to the association, still support the Air Safety Foundation, AOPA Legislative Action, and AOPA PAC. Yet, history shows that membership dues are a concern among pilots, particularly in light of the other rising costs of ownership or rental. The lower the annual fee for benefits, services, and Pilot magazine, the more members AOPA will retain and recruit.

As a not-for-profit organization, the Association still incurs escalating costs, just like your businesses.

In keeping dues low and maintaining a strong membership base, it is important to note that 57 percent of our annual operating expense comes from non-dues revenue sources. Stated very simply, your dues fund only 43 percent of our annual budget. Right now, every $39-dues-paying member receives an average of more than $90 in AOPA services and benefits each year. Services and benefits in addition to Pilot magazine and AOPA Legislative Action's effective representation in Washington — such as AOPA's Aviation USA, our toll-free Pilot Information Center, flight planning assistance, help in solving medical problems, AOPA Project Pilot and more.

Besides the revenue generated by the advertisements in this magazine, one of the biggest contributors to AOPA's bottom line are the funds from companies that provide products or services of interest to many aircraft owners and pilots. Often, members don't make the connection between the mail they receive on an optional product or service and how it is helping AOPA. What we're trying to do is offer you a product or service, most likely tied to aviation, that you might find useful. A small royalty or portion of the purchase comes back from the supplier to AOPA as revenue that we use to keep dues low and support our activities to keep G.A. strong. Many members ask why we're using their dues money to fund these mailings. Let me emphatically state that we are not. The vendor of the product in almost all cases pays for the mailing, so there is no out- of-pocket cost to the association.

When you fully analyze the equation, it's a win-win situation for G.A. The AOPA Credit Card, chart discounts, AOPA Aircraft Insurance Agency, Title and Escrow Services, rental car discounts, insignia merchandise, group and term life insurance, Aviation AD&D insurance, the Legal Services Plan, Air Power Loans, and more are just a few examples of these growing optional benefits.

In recent years our attempt has been to make offerings that relate closely to your flying interests, and the newly formed AOPA Aircraft Insurance Program is an example of this philosophy. On the other hand, when the product is more general in nature, like the AOPA Visa or Mastercard, we have attached bonuses such as "double the warranty" on avionics purchased with the Gold cards, or supplemental accident insurance to give you added coverage when flying. The credit card program is a perfect example of how dues can be affected by one of our products. Almost 25 percent of the membership carries an AOPA credit card, and the revenue generated by this program translates to a membership dues savings of $4.14 per year for each of you, whether you carry the card or not.

These programs are extremely important to the financial well-being of the organization, yet without explanation they are often misunderstood — "There goes AOPA trying to sell me something again." To better aid in identifying these services, we've branded all of them with a new seal: AOPA Certified. In the future, whenever you see this icon, with its distinctive checkmark, you should be reminded of the contribution the offered program makes to keeping our annual membership dues low, and helping to fund our work to keep general aviation strong. AOPA has endorsed the companies involved in our programs, based on their ability to provide the proper value and service to members.

Hopefully, this explanation has indicated a need for your considering AOPA Certified programs, but we also understand that they are not for everyone. If for some reason you do not wish to receive information on these programs, simply call or write us and we will remove you from the mailing list. Take note, however, that as we add new programs, you might miss out on information and announcements that might be of interest or benefit to you in the future.

As we enter the era of rebuilding the general aviation marketplace with the advent of product liability reform, AOPA resources will be heavily taxed by battling off excessive regulation; making sure the government continues to run our air traffic system — rather than turning it over to an airline-dominated federal corporation; continuing our very successful Project Pilot program; and most of all, trying to arrest the rising costs of flying. Your use of AOPA Certified products and services will help to offset the costs of these initiatives, while keeping membership dues at as low a level as possible, assuring the continued size and strength of the world's largest aviation organization.