One of AOPA's premier member benefits is the team of dedicated pilots and instructors who interact one-on-one with members. Together, they own 11 aircraft and have more than 53,000 hours accumulated over 321 years in aviation. Any member can reach the specialists by calling 800/USA-AOPA (872-2672), or through AOPA's World Wide Web site (www.aopa.org).
In front of me at work is a computer, and to my left is a fancy, button-festooned telephone. In overhead bins and in every corner are aviation books, manuals, and other references. Notes are pinned, glued, and taped on every wall. It's just a typical office workspace, arranged to help me work most efficiently.
My job at AOPA is answering your aviation questions, and I enjoy it thoroughly. My workspace probably doesn't look much different from yours, but when I poke my head around the corner, I can see a steady stream of general aviation airplanes taking off and landing at the Frederick Municipal Airport. If you have to work for a living, what could be better than this?
The trouble is, I rarely get to poke my nose around the corner and enjoy the view.
8:30 a.m. I'm on my third cup of coffee, and I've had my nose buried in the computer screen for more than a half hour, getting updates on airport, airspace, and policy issues; changes in FAA procedures; and new airworthiness directives that I'm sure to be asked about today. Four desks away, coworker Rodney Martz calls out, "We're up!" and immediately the toll-free member assistance lines start ringing. Mondays are heaviest. Weekend hangar flying produces some of the most complex questions we answer.
9:00 a.m. Until AOPA Online opened on CompuServe, telephones and an occasional letter or fax were the only avenues for members' questions. Now, while most of my coworkers are handling calls, I spend several hours cruising our electronic sites, monitoring member "chat" areas, and making sure that information is current and complete. Today's most interesting question: "What do I have to do to fly in Zimbabwe?"
10:22 a.m. As I monitor chat areas, it's obvious that few AOPA members realize what information resources are available to them as a membership benefit. Many answers that I provide every day can be found in the front of AOPA's Airport Directory, or on the AOPA Web page on the Internet (www.aopa.org). We offer dozens of free or low-cost booklets on complicated aviation topics, and we provide a growing number of free "topic sheets" that give full, complete answers to common questions or summaries of pilot reports on specific aircraft.
11:14 a.m. Electronic duties done, I open my telephone to ensure coverage while some of my 14 coworkers start lunch. The first call is from a member who is eyeing a 1978 Piper Archer and wants to know how much he should offer for it. Advice on buying or selling aircraft is one of our most popular services. Often we can help members to avoid expensive mistakes, such as paying top dollar for a 360-channel communications radio (now good only as a doorstop) or not knowing about an AD about to be issued on the airplane that he's considering.
11:53 a.m. A succession of members have other ownership questions. I'm happy to answer them, but often I can help best by referring members directly to AOPA's Web pages .
12:17 p.m. Just when I start thinking about lunch, I get a hot one, a member in trouble with U.S. Customs. "They're demanding $5,000 just because I didn't call ahead," he shouts. "Who do these people think they are?" U.S. Customs agents can (and do) levy heavy fines for seemingly minor paperwork infractions. It took a couple of hours, but I was able to help our member to negotiate a reduction to $500. Did I mention that AOPA has free and low-cost information on how to avoid such situations and that this members-only information works much better when applied ahead of time?
2:45 p.m. Back on the telephones. I brief a couple of members on international flights, one to Alaska and one to the Bahamas. Other members are asking about the legalities of logging simulator time, sales and use taxes on aircraft sales, requirements for importing aircraft, how to obtain advisory circulars, and what happened to Meigs Field in Chicago. Yes, we saved it.
3:16 p.m. The new simplified Customs procedure for U.S. pilots returning from Canada is available only at a few airports, and a member has asked AOPA's help in getting his favorite airport included. I write a letter to Customs on behalf of our member, drafting it carefully because I'm sure that it will serve as a model for future requests.
4:33 p.m. A late-afternoon lull allows me a few minutes to work on the training manual that I'm helping to construct so that other AOPA specialists may expand their knowledge of international briefings and better serve members. Also on my desk is another project, reviewing and updating several AOPA information packets.
5:09 p.m. Today alone, my coworkers and I helped nearly 100 AOPA members on the toll-free pilot assistance line and updated information on AOPA Online on the Web for thousands more. A few phone calls each day are true "crisis" calls, but they underline the value of AOPA membership. Thank you for paying my salary…and now, I think I'll go out and do a few touch-and-goes myself!
Dave Yinger, 33, has commercial and flight instructor certificates with instrument and multiengine ratings. After graduating in 1987 with a degree in aviation from Hawthorne College in New Hampshire, he flew Part 135 charters, instructed, and did traffic reporting. He joined AOPA as an aviation specialist in 1991 and specializes in helping members with international flights.
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