Originally Posted by Fuji Abound
Who owns AOPA?
That's an interesting question, which prompted me to try to find out. According to the
AOPA web site:
The Association is a not for Commercial Gain organisation, owned and operated by its members.
and
AOPA ensure the view of pilots and aircraft owners are heard in all the appropriate places both locally and Internationally.
As a member, I feel that any representation is in a patrician style, whereby unelected representatives decide what's best, and only communicate with their membership retrospectively.
I think AOPA's inability to use their website to keep their members abreast of the issues they are tackling, and to post surveys to obtain feedback on the positions they should adopt does them no favours. You've only got to look at the AOPA US website to see how it should be done. An indication that AOPA US understand the most fundamental aspect of all is the following statement that they make
here:
In times of change it would have been easy to adopt a wait-and-see approach to setting organizational goals, but AOPA elected not to stagnate. Instead, because the association understands that there is strength in numbers, it decided to strive for membership growth.
I don't suppose it went about achieving that aim by alienating current and possible future members.