AOPA Petition to Board of Trustees

Highflier

Highflier

Pre-Flight
PoA Supporter
Joined
Apr 12, 2022
Messages
48
Display Name
Highflier
AOPA Petition

I know AOPA is a 4 letter word around most pilot places, but things may be changing.
If you saw the news last week, the AOPA Board fired CEO and President Darren Pleasance after one year on the job using a bogus excuse he was out on the road too much.
Here is a YT to give more back story



The short version, AOPA Board is almost exclusively jet and turboprop owners/pilots.
Which is why they don't seem to be doing squat regarding the unleaded fuel future.

Darren Pleasance is a piston engine pilot, owns several airplanes.
He spent months in the field gaining trust of the community.
For some reason (I think hes a disrupter of the way things have been done) the Board fired him.

Two days later the AOPA Board paid $250,000 to a crisis management firm to handle the fallout...

Anyway, a petition is all we have at the moment to maybe get things changed.



AOPA Petiton


Vote, don't vote.
But if you don't participate, you can't complain with what we get
 
Highflier said:
AOPA Petition

Vote, don't vote.
But if you don't participate, you can't complain with what we get
Click to expand...
I voted. If I don't see meaningful change, I'll be the next one to cancel my membership/subscription. The money may be with the turbine crowd, but the numbers are with piston pilots. The organization can't exist without the numbers the little people bring to the table. Grass roots forever!
 
Agree, send a letter
[email protected]

[email protected]

I cancelled my subscription for 15 years, only rejoined last couple years after realizing they are our ONLY voice regarding 100LL
IMHO, this Board could care less about bug smashers.
Thats why we need to revamp the whole thing
 
Yes, I'm being nit-picky....it's the Board of Trustees. And more info from google:

People are generally put on the AOPA Board of Trustees through a nomination process heavily controlled by the existing board and a specific nominating committee. While bylaws may imply a member vote, candidates must be approved by this committee, often leading to a self-perpetuating board structure.

Key details regarding the AOPA Board of Trustees selection:
  • Nominating Committee Control: The Nominating Committee, which selects prospective trustees, is itself determined by the existing Board.
  • Selection Process: A small committee of board members (often selected by the president/leadership) vets candidates, making it difficult for outside, non-vetted candidates to join.
And I do find the AI addition very interesting:
In essence, the process is designed to ensure continuity through a curated selection process rather than a direct, open democratic election by the general membership
 
AOPA bit the big weenie way back when they sold their Baron and bought some kind of biz jet. Hey - what about NBAA? I think the next year was their rollout of all the commercial endorsements like wine and Enterprise RAC. They were pilloried unmercifully when a few people found out that the cost of Enterprise RAC was actually HIGHER when using the AOPA 'discount' promo.

No pistons, no money. EAA does more for the non-jet crowd than AOPA for 20 years.
 
I just got this petition sent from Mike Busch over at Savvy. I signed it, even though I cancelled my AOPA membership Friday. My biggest issue is with the Board of Trustees, how they operate, how they ensure their little fiefdom is protected, all while giving the impression they care about GA. Darren was a breath of fresh air, and gave me hope.
 
Last edited:
As much as I sympathize, reinstatement just ain't gonna work. The working relationship between Pleasance and the Board has been destroyed. If offered, Pleasance would be fool to accept reinstatement.

At this point, what we need is transparency and a way for the membership to elect the Board, so we can force the hiring of another CEO with similar goals and methods to Pleasance's.
 
I don't want to toss water on the petition program, but it's not about voices. It's about money. Ten years ago salaries were only about 30% of revenue. That's not bad, but it could be better. Today, salaries are very close to 50% or possibly higher(depends on how one trusts the vairous reports). No matter how it's sliced, this group is just a salary grab, to spend as much on personnel and as little on pilot advocacy as possible.

The game is HR/Senate voices, not ours. And congress voices cost money. A lot of money, because congress is in full-time, never ending campaign mode(ban me). I would say to buy a House member these days is over $75k/year and there are 435 of them. A senator is going to cost triple that.

AOPA is overshadowed badly in govt by NBAA, and is way, way, way overshadowed by the airlines ability to stuff pockets. Unless or until salaries go back under 30%, and advocacy goes up over 25% of revenue, we're screwed. Well - at least I'm not funding millions in AOPA pay, travel and benes.
 
My membership was up for renewal this month. After 39 years I decided not to renew and cancel. The system asks you why and I basically said they screwed up and that EAA’s priorities were more aligned with mine than theirs.
 
Barrett50 said:
EAA does more for the non-jet crowd than AOPA for 20 years.
Click to expand...
Agreed, I’m an EAA Lifetime Member

To be clear, I’m not promoting AOPA, I’m passing along an effort to maybe get things changed….maybe
 
I just read Mike Busch's panicked email. I haven't been following AOPA as closely as I used to but it sounds like it's going the way of business / turbine / jet aviation. Is all we have left now is EAA? I might cancel my AOPA and get with EAA. I'm transitioning from my last job and finishing my CFII so I can get hired at a flight school so I'm jobless right now and money is tight currently.

I'll sign the petition Mike sent out anyways.
 
Signed the petition, looks like it has 2,700 emails since I got the email from Mike Busch 6 hours ago.
 
Couldn’t he have moved closer to HQ to keep his job?
I thought that was why they let him go


When it comes to fuel, STCs and fighting for GA I have been a member of EAA, but never AOPA
 
Signed. I've also cancelled my membership after almost 30 years (there was a hiatus in there). EAA is more aligned with the average GA pilot and does more for introducing prospective pilots (Young Eagles, for example) than the AOPA has ever done. There is simply no benefit to my $80+ annual dues to AOPA whereas EAA charges me $60 for me and my entire family...should they ever want to be pilots.

I'd also like to admit that I'm loyal...to a fault. For me to pull my ticket after such a long time should scream volumes to the board. But I doubt they hear me over their turbines.
 
As far as groups go, EAA, 99s, RAF, NBAA, are very worthy groups.

I have volunteered at a few 99s let’s fly now events, very worthy while.
 
I’ve been an AOPA member for 25 years. I just looked over what I get for the, what is, eighty bucks a year now? A magazine full of ads, articles that are basically repackaged press releases and soft ads; safety and proficiency articles that are no better than any of the many other online sources (manynof which are free); a board that operates in secrecy and self-supervision; a medical assistance unit that isn’t comprised of AMEs and has a reputation for innacuracy; insurance that isn’t even the best available prices; and less.

They shut down the red board years ago, after running it increasingly heavy-handedly. The magazine is 90% on the way to being Flying II - it’s all about turbines and very little about basic aircraft, local fields, and recreational or personal travel flying. The one time I contacted their (I mean our) airport advocacy folks about restrictions put in place by a new airport manager (with no input from the pilots), I got a terse email in response saying they’d look into it, then got ghosted. They got rid of Expo, which had some great seminars, a good variety of planes, and sure looked to be well-attended when I went. They don’t even throw in a cheap hat anymore when you renew.

I think I’ll put those membership dues in my fuel tanks.
 
KE5BM said:
There is simply no benefit to my $80+ annual dues to AOPA
Click to expand...

$80! :eek::yikes:

wow, I'm out of touch with how expensive things have gotten.
 
I noted that we have 44k members here on this site. As much as I hate spamming people, a blast email to reach this many people might be of value. AOPA has been declining in membership for several years. I don't know how many people here are members, but between the various voices on here, as well as the Busch contingent, and maybe if we could sway EAA, it might put a big enough dent in AOPA to get their attention. AOPA has been acting like the whip handler for far too long. The only way I see it changing is to strangle the money spigot.

When I left, almost 25 years ago I was of an age that I would like to offer an alternative publicly, and I had an idea to start up a grass roots org that would focus on literally 'grass roots' type aviation. People who fly from grass runways, and some who fly from small concrete fields. It never got off the ground.

It seems strange to me that I haven't heard one good word about AOPA in the pilot community for a long time, but they seem to retain their membership mostly because there is no other alternative, and even a bad representative is better than no rep at all. I disagree with this, as my opinion AOPA has done actual damage to the small piston owner operator over the past 10 yearas. The ADS-B debacle is only the one glaring example.
 
KE5BM said:
Signed. I've also cancelled my membership after almost 30 years (there was a hiatus in there). EAA is more aligned with the average GA pilot and does more for introducing prospective pilots (Young Eagles, for example) than the AOPA has ever done. There is simply no benefit to my $80+ annual dues to AOPA whereas EAA charges me $60 for me and my entire family...should they ever want to be pilots.

I'd also like to admit that I'm loyal...to a fault. For me to pull my ticket after such a long time should scream volumes to the board. But I doubt they hear me over their turbines.
Click to expand...
I’m on the fence after being a member for 50 years. I’m inclined to take a wait and see attitude until my membership comes up again in August.
 
Those who choose to stay with AOPA might consider making sure their membership does not have a proxy in force so the current board can't use it for their purposes.
 
For grins and giggles I asked Grok to list the board members and what kind of plane they owned and got:

The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) Board of Trustees, as of February 2026, consists of the following members based on official AOPA governance details and recent announcements. I've compiled their known aircraft ownership or primary associations from available bios and public records; not all members have publicly disclosed specific ownership details.
Member NamePositionAircraft Owned or Primarily Associated With
James N. HausleinChairmanNo specific aircraft ownership publicly listed, but holds multi-engine, commercial, seaplane, Cessna Citation 500, and Cessna Citation CE-525 type ratings with over 2,000 flight hours.
William B.L. HudsonVice ChairmanCessna T210 and Pilatus PC12.
Lawrence D. Buhl IIITrusteePiper Malibu Meridian (based at New Haven, Connecticut). Also collects historical planes from the Buhl Aircraft Company (1930s era).
Matthew J. DeschTrusteeTBM 910 (based at Dulles International Airport).
Stephen ElopTrustee2007 Cessna T182T and 2019 Cessna Citation CJ3+.
Amanda C. FarnsworthTrusteeCirrus Vision Jet (flies regularly; attained type rating in 2019).
Dan OtisTrusteeNo specific aircraft ownership publicly listed.
T. Williams (Bill) Roberts, IIITrusteeCirrus Vision Jet G2+ (current); previously owned Cirrus SR22s.
C. Austin StephensTrusteeBeechcraft Baron.
William C. Trimble IIITrusteeTBM 950 (based at BWI in Maryland).
Luke R. WipplerTrusteeNo specific aircraft ownership publicly listed, but holds private pilot certificate with multi-engine, instrument, and single-engine seaplane ratings with over 1,300 flight hours.
Charles "Charlie" R. LynchTrusteePreviously owned a 1945 Grumman Avenger (used for performances). Type rated in F4U Corsair, P-51 Mustang, Supermarine Spitfire Mk I, and A6M Zero; has flown B-24 Liberator, B-25 Mitchell, and B-17 Flying Fortress.
Dale KlapmeierTrustee (joined February 2026)No specific current ownership publicly listed, but as co-founder of Cirrus Aircraft, he is closely associated with the Cirrus SR-series piston aircraft and Vision Jet (led their development and certification).
 
Can the board change the bylaws to allow “fair” elections? Do they have that power?

That’s probably what we should all be demanding. If the members have no power to elect the board, then as bad as it is, what’s the point of the organization? We probably SHOULD quit.
 
Last edited:
dans2992 said:
Can the board change the bylaws to allow “fair” elections? Do they have that power?

That’s probably what we should all be demanding. If the members have no power to elect the board, then as bad as it is, what’s the point of the organization? We probably SHOULD quit.
Click to expand...
On top of that if everyone kept or took back their voting rights, would it even matter? Or is it just advisory and the trustees are going to do what they want.
 
I see the table/list fine
 

Attachments

  • IMG_4880.png
    IMG_4880.png
    686.6 KB · Views: 23
Highflier said:
I see the table/list fine
Click to expand...
I think the text color is the problem. If you're browsing PoA using the original "dark text on light background" color theme, then the table looks fine, because the table text is dark.

But if you're browsing PoA using the "Dark" theme, which uses light text on a dark background, then you can't see the table because the text color blends into the background.

One easy workaround is to click somewhere in the middle of the table (in the original post, here), then type "Ctrl-A" for "Select All". The text will be highlighted and become readable. Or, here's a screen snip of what it looks like after you do that, here:
1770788460544.png
 
Who is gonna want this job going forward? Even with a big check.... look at the mess. No thanks.
 
I think there needs to be a concrete "ask" of the board.

My list would be;
- Institute term limits - 9 member board, three year terms, three on three off each year. Has continuity, but prevents calcification
- Revisit the mission. Get real clear on what AOPA does, and doesn't do. See Darren's letter for ideas.
- Revisit what the giant bank account is for. The foundation has a ton of $$, how are they used
- Member engagement - require board members to attend at least one fly in or other member event

That's my starter kit.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top