In 1962 a 280-page book was produced by AOPA for its members. The cover price of the AOPA Airport Directory was $7.50, and it contained simple listings of airport data and some fuel information. "The Book," as we commonly refer to this annual publication inside AOPA, came up in last year's annual member survey as our second most important service, right behind Pilot magazine. Fifty-two percent of AOPA members feel this directory is a "very important" part of the services provided by your association.
Whether flying for business or for pleasure, The Book is never more than an arm's length away from me in the cockpit. Obviously, I'm in the majority, since other surveys have shown that 57 percent of our members carry it in their airplanes. The Book can be a valuable time and cost-saving resource for flight planning, as well. For those on business, it consolidates in one place all the needed services for a stop: fuel, hotels, rental cars, and restaurants — not just the names, but telephone numbers and distances from the airport. The information also includes data on runways, such as length, width, surface, lighting, alignment, availability and type of instrument approaches, latitude/longitude, magnetic variation, obstructions, frequencies, and much more. Many airport listings contain small runway diagrams, as well. On those infrequent occasions over the years when an in-flight maintenance problem has cropped up, I have often looked up airports with the proper repair facilities and made my landing accordingly.
However, throughout my almost 30 years as an AOPA member, the greatest usefulness of The Book has come when flying for fun. More times than I can count, when nice weekend weather dictates putting aside those household chores and flying somewhere, my wife and I turn to AOPA's Airport Directory. It was renamed AOPA's Aviation USA in 1990, but for 1997 it will be retitled AOPA's Airport Directory — The Pilot and FBO Flight Planning Guide.
For our "$150 hamburger" flights, we'll decide where we want to fly and then look up airports in that vicinity. First and foremost is finding in the listings a restaurant on an airfield. But if you've eaten at all those in the area, don't forget that The Book indicates FBOs with crew and courtesy cars available. Sometimes we will use the "local attractions" section to expand our knowledge and enjoyment of an unfamiliar area. I have to be careful, though; my wife, Lois, has discovered that this section often lists shopping malls. On these occasions the flight and hamburger can run more than $150.
The 1997 edition of AOPA's Airport Directory will contain 712 pages listing some 7,215 public and private-use landing facilities. All of this is assembled by a small staff in our Publications Division. It's no small task, since 20,000 questionnaires are sent to airports and FBOs, and hundreds of telephone calls follow to managers who don't respond or to verify information. You are very important to this process. If during your travels you find something missing or incorrect, drop us a line so that we can check it out and correct or add this data in our next scheduled publication.
But the information base doesn't stop with airports and FBOs. In the front of The Book are all sorts of valuable data: international customs airports; addresses and phone numbers for important government aviation agencies, aviation associations, and clubs; and a host of other useful information. As many of you have noted, a few years back we removed the "Source Book" section, mainly because research showed us it was being used by fewer than 13 percent of our members. While I believe I have personally heard from all 13 percent, the cost of printing and mailing these added 200-plus pages to hundreds of thousands who didn't use them became too great for us to bear for this small group.
While I am on the subject of member feedback, last year we decided to prepare for a time when printing technology might allow the directory to be published on a quarterly basis, rather than annually. Therefore, AOPA fulfilled your request to receive AOPA's Aviation USA shortly after your membership renewal was processed. In great numbers, many of you who were in the habit of receiving The Book early in the year expressed displeasure with this new process. In response to these reactions, your association will return to the process of shipping this membership benefit as soon as it's printed. The 1997 edition of AOPA's Airport Directory is at the printer now and will be delivered in November to AOPA members who requested it.
Many members have told us that they would like to access the airport and FBO data electronically. For the past two years we have produced a CD-ROM version available through Sporty's Pilot Shop. In addition, the database is also within the "members-only" section of AOPA Online on CompuServe and will soon be available on the Internet (www.aopa.org). Much of this information is updated on a more frequent basis than is possible for the printed directory.
The Book even has made its way into the presidential fleet at Andrews Air Force Base. In November 1993, the director of special air missions, Office of the Chief of Staff, U.S. Air Force, wrote us: "As the dispatching agency for the presidential fleet at Andrews AFB, we require the most current airport information available to ensure safe, reliable, and timely support of the administration. Your books are already in use here in the office and at the individual squadrons of the 89th Airlift Wing...."
Whether you are flying the president in Air Force One or off for fun in a rental Cessna 152, AOPA's Airport Directory is another valuable benefit of membership in the world's largest aviation association.
