As the New Year begins, AOPA's Airport Directory is arriving at the homes of members who have elected to receive the 692-page book, which contains a wealth of important aviation landing facility information. The new edition contains listings for 7,485 public- and private-use airports, seaplane bases, and heliports; 5,778 FBOs and airport businesses; and more than 26,400 nearby restaurants and hotels.
I have found the directory to be a valuable resource in the more than 30 years I've been flying and a member of the association. Its success is demonstrated by the growing size of the volume, larger than many small-town phone books. About half of you indicate that the book is used for preflight planning, and an equal number cite both preflight and in-flight use. Each year we examine ways we can improve the information in this free member benefit. AOPA's Airport Directory actually sells to nonmembers for $39.95.
Several years ago AOPA served up an electronic version of the directory in the members-only section of AOPA Online. Web access to the directory data has been a popular feature of our site and allows us to present more information than we can provide in the printed version. The online data is updated throughout the year—daily in some cases. As with any print product, there are entries in the directory that become inaccurate because of changes that occur after the book has gone to the printer. Take last year, for example, when Culpeper Regional Airport (CJR) in Virginia changed its unicom and pilot-controlled lighting frequencies right after we went to press. The change was made on AOPA Online, but it wasn't corrected in print until this latest edition. Yes, that's just one airport out of more than 7,000, but it's pretty important if you were using the printed information for CJR at night!
This year, entering a new millennium of member service, our management team decided to improve the product using the tools of the twenty-first century, focusing on the Internet edition of the directory. Everyone in the group was a pilot, using the book and Web site for almost every flight. It became evident that we needed to invest member dollars to better leverage the electronic nature of the product, thereby offering more information and greater pilot flexibility.
Many complained in the early 1990s when, for cost reasons, we dropped the AOPA's Handbook for Pilots, which was offered as an option to receiving the directory. Take a look—the handbook is online now ( www.aopa.org/members/files/handbook/) and provides more information than you could ever desire, including the most up-to-date Federal Aviation Regulations (FARs) and the Aeronautical Information Manual (AIM).
Another added feature that I find very handy is the ability to print out information from AOPA's Airport Directory Online in a kneeboard-size format. Critical airport data prints on one half, and FBO information on the other. A date stamp automatically imprints, to remind you when you last printed the most current data.
Taking a page from popular e-commerce sites, our directory listings now offer a place for AOPA member comments and reviews. From valuable updates on airport information, compliments or criticism of FBO service, to reviews of the food at an airport restaurant, this new section makes use of the huge membership of your association to share findings with fellow pilots.
Members will for the first time be able to use the data from AOPA's Airport Directory Online without being connected. Simply install the AOPA's Airport Directory application from our Web site, and then select how little or much of the airport data you want to download. There's no need to download the entire nation if most of your flying is only in one or two states. This same application allows the airport data and other information to be placed on handheld devices that use the Palm operating system.
Members who have already heard about these changes believe that our most important enhancement to AOPA's Airport Directory Online is the addition of all government (FAA, formerly NOS) instrument approach procedures (IAPs), standard terminal arrivals (STARs), departure procedures (DPs, formerly known as standard instrument departures, or SIDs), and all change notices. The approximately 9,400 instrument procedure charts will be updated according to the aeronautical charting cycle, meaning they are current for instrument flight. They'll be made available in Portable Document Format (PDF) for members to view online, download to a PC, or print. These charts are normally printed on newsprint paper, and the added clarity and legibility on white letter-size paper is fantastic. The charts will be part of each applicable airport listing. Naturally, they are not a full replacement for your IFR chart subscription, since no one advocates flying on instruments without the approach plates along your entire route, but they are a perfect complement for trips slightly outside of your region of coverage, student training, and proficiency flights.
All of these enhancements are available in the members-only section of AOPA Online, and represent a sizable expense for your association. To offset these resources, you may have noticed that this year's printed AOPA's Airport Directory is labeled 2001-2002. The printed directory will be sent to members every other year, in even-numbered years. Hopefully, you will find the AOPA Online enhancements useful in whatever type of flying you do—and you don't lose access to the printed publication. Even with these additions, AOPA membership dues in 2001 are the same as they were in 1990—$39.
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