Phil Boyer, AOPA's president since 1991, has been a member of the association since 1967.
Two recent events may seem quite unrelated, but with a bit of reflection it becomes apparent that they really are tied together.
First, AOPA membership, at the end of March, closed at an all-time record high. For the first time in history, your association logged more than 370,000 pilot/members. Second, as president of the International Council of Aircraft Owner and Pilot Associations (IAOPA), I returned from Europe, where pilots shared with me their frustrations in pursuing a love of general aviation within a structure that creates high cost and low utility.
The link between these two events lies in the ability to combat GA's ills in Europe and elsewhere in the world compared to the strength in membership numbers we enjoy in the United States. Ten years ago, 299,669 pilots belonged to the association. Our new milestone represents a membership gain of nearly 24 percent. This has occurred during a period in which the total U.S. pilot population has declined from almost 700,000 to less than 620,000 — a decrease of nearly 11 percent. Your annual membership dues during the same period have remained constant at $39. Through inflation alone, dues should have risen to $56, but the support of our advertisers and AOPA Certified products and services has allowed us to keep dues low.
In 1939, five individuals gathered together to form AOPA. Our association's founders predicted that with war on the horizon, general aviation might need a voice — especially because aviation was such a growing part of the military effort. They wanted to ensure that private flying would remain viable during this unsettled period.
The basic premise remains the same today. As individual pilots we each have a voice that, in our democracy, should be heard by those who we elect to run our government. At our inception 62 years ago, five voices combined to be heard as one. Today, 370,000 individual voices, united under AOPA, cannot be ignored. With almost 60 percent of all U.S. pilots as AOPA members, we take seriously the trust you place in the organization to represent your collective voice when it comes to general aviation legislation and representation.
In dramatic contrast, my trip to Europe showed what happens when too few voices are brought together. General aviation, as we know it, has never really had a chance to develop in many parts of the world. Hence, the number of pilots is insufficient in many countries to form a group large enough to be heard by the politicians and regulators. Don't get me wrong — there are IAOPA affiliates in 55 other countries around the world, including 33 in Europe alone, dealing as effectively as they can with the aviation environment that has emerged. But pilots there have nothing like the freedoms we enjoy.
Our number one concern in the United States is airports, as is the case in Europe. Airport curfews, however, abound across the Atlantic. Often they are only open daytime hours, and some are beginning to close on Saturday and Sundays. Local communities are stating that their weekend days are for leisure, and should not be interrupted by the noise of a Cessna 172. Some airports in Europe close completely when the tower closes, as is the case for two GA facilities just outside Paris.
All of Europe is being united and the new European seat of government is Brussels, Belgium, where I was for three days of meetings. Those who flew GA to this meeting faced a landing fee of up to $170 (U.S.), and several had to leave by 5 p.m. — when the cost of a departure increased. It was almost zero-zero when the airliner I was riding touched down at Brussels' main airport, and the area's only GA option was a short grass runway with no instrument procedure.
One day of meetings was conducted at Eurocontrol, which oversees and manages air traffic control. This is where those dreaded "user fees" are billed, and management of the airspace and equipment requirements are imposed. In recent years, to fly IFR in Europe a GA plane must be equipped with area navigation equipment (RNAV), an expense that would be difficult to bear in our U.S. fleet of some 180,000 aircraft. In the communications area, radios with 8.33-kHz frequency spacing (ours are 25 kHz) are already mandated for the upper flight levels, and it's only a matter of time before they must be installed in every airplane. Preflight services, comparable to our flight service station network, vary from country to country, but access usually is not a simple phone call. Once a flight plan has been filed, there is a good chance that it will be kicked back because the route is unavailable. Busy areas require reserving precious "slots," which are nothing more than arrival or departure fixes that are metered to limit traffic flow.
Pilot licensing and medical regulations are not only tough now, but a whole new set of rules is being adopted. In the countries that have accepted these new regulations, it has been reported that flight training has dropped 60 percent!
Everywhere I visit outside of our country pilots say, "You are so lucky in the United States." All it takes is a trip like this to confirm that statement, but it also shows the critical role that membership in AOPA plays when it comes to giving a voice to general aviation in the United States — and keeping it strong. Thank goodness, now more than 370,000 of you form the voice of AOPA, making it easier to keep and build upon what we have.
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