I'm proposing a new name for EAA

Problem is....no one is experimenting like they use to. They're just building kits....:cheers:

I have an idea for an experimental training plane. Retrofit a 152 or 172 to deploy asymmetric flaps at altitude in landing configuration. Student starts to setup as an approach to landing stall, instructor pushes a button that either disables one flap prior to extension, or retracts one flap completely at the instructor’s whim (like an engine out exercise).

I think I should get a free year EAA membership for the idea (even if someone else already came up with it).

I am older than 40. I am not a member yet.
 
I have an idea for an experimental training plane. Retrofit a 152 or 172 to deploy asymmetric flaps at altitude in landing configuration. Student starts to setup as an approach to landing stall, instructor pushes a button that either disables one flap prior to extension, or retracts one flap completely at the instructor’s whim (like an engine out exercise).

I think I should get a free year EAA membership for the idea (even if someone else already came up with it).

I am older than 40. I am not a member yet.
great idea....make sure the video captures the event....I want to see when it doesn't quite work like designed. :D
 
What made you think I’d be the pilot of my own design? :)
Oh....you're just the idea guy.

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Hmm, the old folks have hard time running it as it is, let alone if you threw a name change at them. I think we'd see a lot of heart attacks, you don't want to change that.
Though you know what? I might be completely wrong.
I recall that nowhere on their webpage or in their panhandling pamphlets do they explain what EAA means. So maybe changing the meaning of the 3 letters which have no officially recorded meaning won't do any harm? :)
 
EAA should feature bikini girls in their publications and go with Erotic Aviation Ass-ociation. Or, after reading through all this sh*t, I'm thinking Effluent Aviation Association.
 
EAA should feature bikini girls in their publications and go with Erotic Aviation Ass-ociation. Or, after reading through all this sh*t, I'm thinking Effluent Aviation Association.
That sounds too much like Quiet Birdmen to me.
 
Nah leave it alone. And I'm still po'd about changing the Confederate AF. This country's too PC.
I voted in favor of the change because the purpose of the organization is to honor and commemorate military aviation and military aviators, not The Confederacy, and the old name was making it harder and harder to raise funds.
 
The name was a little misleading anyway. How many airplanes were there during the Civil War? ;)
One of my instructors also instructed in B-17s during World War II. His attitude at times might have been honed during the civil war? But overall he was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed his stories.
 
A new name for EAA?

If you want the name to reflect what they’re really about, just rename it Airventure.

Airventure is how they make their money, so it defines what they are. The other stuff like promoting kit-building is just to get you and the kit vendors to go to Airventure and pay some fees.
 
I call it the Eagles Aviation Association because 90% of the meeting time is devoted to planning young Eagles events.

I prefer Commerative Air Force, much more descriptive.

I remember a comedy movie called The Pope Must Die. Some newspapers would not carry ads for the movie because of the title, so they changed the title to The Pope Must Diet. Much better and funnier title.
 
There's hardly a member under age 40 who thinks it isn't broke.
There's hardly a member under age 40.

Can you expand on this? I don't see the organization as broken. I do believe the internet has largely obsoleted EAA chapters for anything more than social activities, but that isn't a condemnation of the parent organization. I also realize that aviation demographics are void of young people, but I'm not sure EAA can do much about that...
 
I also realize that aviation demographics are void of young people, but I'm not sure EAA can do much about that...
With the popularity of the EAA Young Eagles program, it's not for lack of trying.
 
With the popularity of the EAA Young Eagles program, it's not for lack of trying.

Young Eagles is a feel good thing. I don't see that we gain a lot of traction by giving a bunch of 8-17 (?) year olds rides. They aren't potential customers for 5-15 years, which is too long of a horizon for a flight to have much influence. If we targeted 22-28 year olds, we'd at least be working a crowd that has a real possibility of showing up at a flight school a few weeks later.
 
Can you expand on this? I don't see the organization as broken. I do believe the internet has largely obsoleted EAA chapters for anything more than social activities, but that isn't a condemnation of the parent organization. I also realize that aviation demographics are void of young people, but I'm not sure EAA can do much about that...

I'm not sure should answer this since I'm 44 myself, but my experience is that EAA, both nationally and locally, struggles to connect with the younger generation. FWIW, I think AOPA struggles with that too. Obviously money is an issue for the younger generation, but that's not the only thing stopping younger folks from getting involved with EAA.

Honestly, I think general aviation and EAA could be a good fit for the millennial generation. Think of all of the maker spaces that are the rage these days. Millennials tend to be less interested in outright ownership, so having access to a plane, either through a club or something more widespread like Open Airplane works well for them. They can get started in unmanned aircraft and work their way up to self-piloted aircraft.
 
What I've seen as the biggest and only real barrier to someone being a pilot is that they don't think they can. Maybe there was truth to it once upon a time, but practically everyone I've met thinks that airplanes are held in the air on a razor, balanced and kept there by the superior skill of the pilot. So, they say "oh, I could never do that", when in fact almost everyone can. That is true no matter what the age is, although I think it probably dwindles a little as you get older.

It's their own beliefs that hold them back.
 
Young Eagle talking to friend after flight. "It was almost as much fun as a Halo Wars."
 
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By the way. is EAA losing funding because of the name?
 
Young Eagles is a feel good thing. I don't see that we gain a lot of traction by giving a bunch of 8-17 (?) year olds rides. They aren't potential customers for 5-15 years, which is too long of a horizon for a flight to have much influence. If we targeted 22-28 year olds, we'd at least be working a crowd that has a real possibility of showing up at a flight school a few weeks later.
I don't know about that. By the time they're in their 20s I think you're too late -- they have other career plans, and no disposable income for recreational flying. By getting the younger kids exposed to flying you play the long game. Even the ones who don't become pilots are at least aware that there is such a think as flying aside from airliners and the super-rich with jets.
 
How involved in the experimental scene are YOU? Why would it matter to a 182 owner?
 
Young Eagles is a feel good thing. I don't see that we gain a lot of traction by giving a
I don't know about that. By the time they're in their 20s I think you're too late -- they have other career plans, and no disposable income for recreational flying. By getting the younger kids exposed to flying you play the long game. Even the ones who don't become pilots are at least aware that there is such a think as flying aside from airliners and the super-rich with jets.

bunch of 8-17 (?) year olds rides. They aren't potential customers for 5-15 years, which is too long of a horizon for a flight to have much influence. If we targeted 22-28 year olds, we'd at least be working a crowd that has a real possibility of showing up at a flight school a few weeks later.
It's not likely to ever yield huge numbers of pilots but, we get some every month of every year and we won't stop. Just as important, it demystifies GA to more of the general public, they have some fun and we gain allies and eliminate some future GA enemies.
 
Next thing they call the Boy Scouts just 'Scouts'....
 
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