Phil Boyer assumed the duties of president of AOPA in January 1991.
In this job as president of your association, along with the emotional highs of winning on general aviation issues, there is plenty of frustration, as you might imagine. But probably one of my greatest challenges lies within the AOPA organization and its membership: How do we communicate to members the many benefits that all come prepaid by annual membership dues? Your association is much more than general aviation's strongest political and regulatory advocate and a world-class magazine.
We're a bargain at $39 a year when you add up all the services that accompany your membership. Since I was named to this position in late 1990, our dues have remained the same, yet our many services and member benefits have dramatically increased. Considering inflation alone, the $39 in 1990 should be $55 today. And, before you begin to read between the lines, let me assure you that I am not setting you up for an upcoming dues increase. This hasn't happened because of some magic, but because our membership has grown by more than 100,000 pilots, and the association's nondues revenue has almost doubled. The latter contains the advertising in AOPA Pilot and AOPA Flight Training magazines, plus the AOPA Member Products that many of you support such as the MBNA credit cards, the AOPA Legal Services Plan, the AOPA Insurance Agency, and a host of other aviation-related products.
Probably the foremost benefit is the early and continued investment we have made in AOPA Online (www.aopa.org). Every pilot should mark this as his or her home page; it is continually updated, yet backed up by historical content that should answer almost any question 24/7. We know all active pilots must receive an FAA medical periodically, so why is our TurboMedical form, allowing you to precheck answers to the medical questions before you get to the aviation medical examiner's office, such a well-kept secret? Our weather information, AOPA's Real-Time Flight Planner, and the dozen or more AOPA Air Safety Foundation online safety programs all are available with a few keystrokes. While AOPA ePilot, our weekly GA newsletter, is quite popular, 25 percent of you are still not subscribers. Also, this is the only aviation e-publication that allows you to personalize the content to the type of flying you do, your interests, and your geographical area ( https://www.aopa.org/apps/epilot/). How many new pilots realize there is also a special training version of ePilot?
Your Membership Assistance Center (MAC) is your one stop for service issues that might arise. Some of you tell me at Pilot Town Meetings that you get duplicate mailings from AOPA. MAC can figure out why and save us all valuable resources. Changing your address or e-mail address, wanting to be taken off our call list, signing up for Automatic Annual Renewal, needing your magazine sent to one address in the winter and another in the off months, registering for ASF CFI refresher courses, or using our Aircraft Title Services are just some examples.
Closer to your everyday flying, calling 800/USA-AOPA (872-2672) or e-mailing ( [email protected]) also puts you in touch with the AOPA Pilot Information Center, a dedicated group of aviation technical specialists who can help on almost any question. If they don't know the answer they will research it for you. Recently an 86-year-old member called our three-person Medical Certification area upset that he had just failed his medical. The AME said he was too old to obtain a second class medical. Needless to say, it didn't take long to fix that one. Unfortunately we deal with more and more questions on FAA enforcement actions, such as a member who wanted AOPA Pilot to do a story on what he called an "out-of-control FAA." He had been flying for more than 20 years in his own Cessna 182 and landed at a controlled airport without a clearance. In the enforcement action, the FAA learned that the owner had never had a pilot certificate or medical. AOPA's technical specialist had to explain to him why this was a big deal, even though the member thought it wasn't because he never had an accident! Obviously, there are lots of questions on buying and selling aircraft, assisted online or by a tech specialist with our Vref pricing tool ( www.aopa.org/members/vref/). In one case, however, the pilot had purchased an aircraft four years ago but never sent in the aircraft registration form. He was calling because the pink registration form (the temporary form, good for 90 days) was deteriorating and he wanted to know how to replace it.
Surf the Web site, give our Pilot Information Center or the MAC a toll-free call, use the many educational products for all pilots from the Air Safety Foundation, read AOPA Pilot or AOPA Flight Training magazines, and benefit from AOPA's advocacy at the federal, state, and local levels. It's your association — use us — all for only $39 a year.
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