I know some are going to have fairly strong views about the organisation concerned
but here goes:
I would recommend everyone joins
AOPA (UK). It has the following helpful advice on the back of the membership card:
If you are involved in any incident which requires a statement, wait 24 hours before giving one, but contact AOPA as soon as possible.
That, along with the advice that will follow from their Legal Advice Line, may save both your licence and bank balance (often the CAAs expenses in investigating can run to multiples of the fines imposed).
In addition AOPA does valuable work representing GA:
- Against the interests of the big commercial players in areas such as Mode S
- With the govt. / local councils as they try and build on the "brown field" sites, so conveniently located close to many towns
I know there are other organisations doing similar good works, such as the LAA and BGA, but AOPA seems (to me at least) to be the most appropriate for my powered flying. (I am also a member of the BGA).
OC619
P.S. If anyone wants a debate about "should AOPA / BGA / LAA / ... combine" may I suggest a new thread?