It was not until 1991, when I became AOPA's third president, that the notion of using a general aviation airplane as a vital business tool became a reality for me. As a longtime member of AOPA I never was aware that the association owned and often used a GA aircraft to travel throughout the United States. It quickly made sense when I saw the travel schedule of my predecessor, and I knew that my style of management would result in even greater emphasis on interactivity with members and issues throughout the country.
Prior to 1983 AOPA had owned or leased a variety of piston twins, but in late 1982 the association moved from a Cessna 414 to a Cessna Conquest I turboprop (N39A — the registration number denoting the year AOPA was founded). For almost eight years I have averaged 350 to 400 hours a year of business travel in the left seat of this 250-knot airplane. Many of you have attended one of the 24 to 36 Pilot Town Meetings I conduct around the country each year. These meetings and other appearances allow me to personally reach some 20,000 pilots a year. My multimedia presentations require about 200 pounds of audio/visual equipment, which is conveniently carried on board the airplane. With this load and itinerary, the week each month that I spend on the road — sometimes visiting several cities a day — would not be possible on airline schedules. Flying in the system gives me personal examples that I can use when testifying before Congress on our air traffic system or working with the FAA on airspace issues.
But piloting this type of aircraft on a busy business schedule is not as glamorous as one might think. Everything is by the book, and there is no time to sightsee. After my first two years in this job, I felt that I was beginning to lose the fun of flying, much of the reason for AOPA's existence. That's why in 1992 my wife and I bought a 1977 Cessna 172 (N734EY), to bring back the pleasure in flying that we had known for years, landing at airports just for the fun of it.
When flying in the business environment, the opposite applies, since one wants to go higher and faster. Higher means that you can top, or visually get around, most of the weather. I can't count the number of times when flying the AOPA turboprop in instrument conditions that I have faced the prospect of embedded thunderstorms. Only a few thousand feet higher and I would have been able to visually navigate around the cells. With my time constraints and a desire to serve members as far away from our Frederick home base as California and Alaska, getting there faster would be a great asset.
With the Conquest now more than 15 years old and maintenance costs beginning to rise, we have been looking for a cost-effective replacement "go higher and faster" aircraft. Of utmost importance to a membership organization, the purchase and operation have to make financial sense.
Finding an aircraft with these attributes has not been an easy task. Some turboprop alternatives either cost more per mile to operate than N39A, are larger in size than we require, or have a high noise signature that we wouldn't want identified with AOPA.
Hard to believe, but the genesis of our solution started with the cruise missile. This military weapon had to be powered by a lightweight and highly fuel-efficient engine that could be inexpensively produced. Remember, they fly only once! During the last decade, Dr. Sam Williams took his military technology and produced the Williams-Rolls FJ44 commercial turbofan engine. NASA is working with Williams to produce an even lighter-weight version that will someday power single-engine jets and Cessna 172-size turboprops. To its credit, Cessna was the first to recognize a market niche for a new breed of "light jets" using the FJ44. The first of this new category of aircraft, the Cessna CitationJet, was delivered in 1993, and more than 300 have been sold to date. A larger Citation or any other jet now available would be wrong for AOPA, but the CitationJet is different.
The CJ fits our demanding requirements. Against our present airplane it cruises 110 knots faster (360 knots) and flies 11,000 feet higher (as high as 41,000 feet). The approach speed is 15 to 20 percent slower (97 to 102 knots); it is simpler to operate (with two power-quadrant levers, not six); and it is actually smaller in number of seats and cabin size. Based on two typical years of actual flight logs, the new AOPA CJ will save 100 hours a year in flight time. Already the AOPA staff is questioning whether it's a good thing to have me around the office an additional two and a half weeks a year!
Fine, but what about the economics? We used a 10-year time frame for all of our financial analysis, looking at the projected aircraft value at the end of the period. Amazingly, with this new engine technology and Cessna's modern design, AOPA will save an average of $60,000 a year in total operating cost versus the expense of our Conquest I. The CJ cuts 25 percent off the per-mile cost of flying our turboprop, designed 25 years ago. Using the Conquest as a trade-in, we financed the balance through the AOPA Aircraft Financing Program at a very attractive rate. The total association expense increase, including net capital cost, for the entire acquisition and operation of the new airplane is just $21,000 a year — a small increase, considering the huge productivity gains.
When we upgrade one of our business tools to better serve members, I normally do not provide you with so much detail. In the case of the CJ, however — since airplanes are close to us all, and the heart of what we are about — I thought it best to inform you of this decision and all the facts behind it. Don't think for a moment that this new business tool changes our image, or in any way affects my personal goal of representing the majority of us who own or rent single-engine piston airplanes for our personal flying. As we increase our outreach to pilots, owners, and airports throughout the United States, this business tool will prove invaluable.
Appropriately, we plan to retire our N39A registration. When the CJ is delivered in August, it will boast a new tail number — November Four Golf Alpha (N4GA). We will proudly use our new call sign with ATC because it epitomizes what AOPA is and always has been all about: For General Aviation.
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