Sport Flying With In Flight USA - November 2010
AOPA and Sport Pilot
By Ed Downs
This column needs to start with an apology to those who may look forward to reading about airplanes and sport flying. But, given the timing of our November edition, many will be reading this at the 2010 AOPA Aviation Summit, having just voted in a mid-term election involving the most toxic political environment since the Civil War. Let’s chat about what AOPA is doing for the Sport Pilot/LSA movement, given a political and security background, which has shown outright hostility towards the private and business use of personally-owned aircraft. To be sure, these are only the opinions of this writer, but they are based upon an AOPA affiliation that began over half a century ago.
Most folks who have followed the Sport Pilot/LSA phenomenon will agree that the EAA has been at the forefront of developing ASTM consensus standards and promoting the existence of a Sport Pilot certificate. As an active participant in formative activities that took place between 2000 and 2004, this writer was aware that AOPA was quietly participating in the process. I did wish that they would become a bit more vocal and supportive. Early 2004 presented this writer with an opportunity to meet privately with the incredibly busy Phil Boyer, then President of AOPA.
We shared a great breakfast as he prepared to catch a plane for his next speaking engagement and a candid conversation followed. My concerns were gratefully acknowledged and Phil explained that the relatively unsuccessful Recreational Pilot certificate and Primary Category airplane had absorbed a lot of AOPA time and money, with poor results. While expressing enthusiastic personal support for everything related to the Sport Pilot effort, Phil felt that AOPA could best contribute by working quietly in the background. As we rose from breakfast to shake hands, Phil offered the following thought: “You (meaning the many working on Sport Pilot) concentrate on bringing new pilots and airplanes to America and AOPA will make sure they have airspace to fly in and airports to fly into.”
And with that closing remark, the light in my head came on. Sure, AOPA holds a great convention each year and their annual open house is a “no miss” event. But AOPA is not a social organization, with chapters, fly-ins and meetings with stale (but tasty) donuts. AOPA is a powerful, effective, political force that has a long history of doing exactly what Phil said they do, “Make sure you have airspace to fly in and airports to fly into.”
AOPA’s influence “inside the beltway” is even more important during these times of political hostility, when technical law making is often set aside for TV sound bites. AOPA works for Sport Pilot (and all pilots) behind the scenes, commenting on NPRM’s, writing legal drafts, working with congressional committees and doing the grunt work that keeps good laws good and sends the bad laws back for another look. Airports around the country have benefitted from AOPA’s proven techniques to combat “hate the airport” movements.
AOPA is able to stand up to the FAA or congress and talk about the many fine, privatized safety and security programs in effect that work better than restrictive law making. At the same time, AOPA does the best it can to keep flying fun and remind our elected representatives (both federal and local) that the federal act that formed the FAA in 1958 mandates that the FAA “maintain the right to navigable airspace.”
AOPA recognizes that many of its members pre-date “baby boomers” and want to keep flying without participating in the medical certificate bureaucracy. AOPA knows that student starts are down and that a high percentage of those who do enter Private Pilot training end up dropping out. Sport Pilot cuts the cost of learning to fly and time involved in half, if not more. More pilots mean more AOPA members, leading to greater influence in the great halls of our argumentative democracy. Sure, many involved in flying as a Sport Pilot or flying LSA aircraft belong to the EAA. The EAA is just plain fun, and they do a great job in regulatory matters affecting recreational aviation. But AOPA is often the “800-pound gorilla” that we need to have representing private aviation when our elected representatives will not.
Like Phil said, AOPA is in the business of giving us airspace in which to fly and airports at which to land, a tradition being carried on by current leadership. While AOPA’s undeserved reputation of catering to the “upper crust” of private aviation may lead recreational pilots to exclude membership from their budgets, think again. AOPA is working on behalf of America’s national airspace system, and everyone who reads this column is a part of that system, be it as a Sport Pilot, G-5 driver or airline passenger. Visit www.aopa.org and learn more about what this historic organization can do for you and your love of flying.
