Genghis: I think you're being a little unfair. AOPA retains engineers to resolve members' problems. The current issue of its General Aviation magazine gives the example of a member for whom AOPA negotiated a £15,000 rebate on a major engineering job. It also retains lawyers and medical experts. The same issue contains letters from two members thanking AOPA, one for getting him off the hook with the CAA when he infringed Class A airspace, another for winning him back a full medical. Ask those guys if they think they got value for the price of their membership. AOPA also administers the NPPL, and is usually the first GA organisation to flag up problems coming out of Europe, like the proposal for a compulsory £68 million third party insurance. AOPA fights airfield closures and helps those who want to establish strips. I know some of the people involved, and they are committed aviators who work terribly hard. I pay about £45 a year to be a member partly because I support everything they do, and partly because I know they'll be there when my chestnuts need to be bailed out of the fire.