Pleasance out at AOPA

I might suggest that we demand free and fair board elections… or we all resign.

They may not be able to re-instate Darren, but they CAN step down.
 
I
dans2992 said:
I might suggest that we demand free and fair board elections… or we all resign.

They may not be able to re-instate Darren, but they CAN step down.
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Id say bring the torches and pitchforks to Airventure or Sun n Fun. But the trustees don't show up to either one.
 
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Piperonca said:
My comment is based on certain information in the Russ Niles article:
avbrief.com

Rebellion Brewing at AOPA - AvBrief.com

Some of aviation's best and brightest want change and they want it now.
avbrief.com avbrief.com
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I re-read the article (I'll admit I just scanned it the first time), and i hope you're (and Russ) are right. I'd love to have an AOPA that I actually want to be a member of. I'm just cynical because generally removing those entrenched in power involves destroying the entire organization. AI tells me that AOPA board is a volunteer position, which surprised me. I assume there are plenty of nice dinners and travel involved however. It is possible (as Russ says) that they'll decide the juice isn't worth the squeeze any more and vacate. Power and status are a helluva drug though.
 
If they don't get this resolved quickly, it'll get really ugly by the time SnF and especially Airventure happen.

Doing things in a vacuum and in the dark are easy, but when there's a human (or thousands of humans!) standing in front of you asking "What would you say you do here? Why aren't you really doing what you say you do?" it gets considerably harder.
 
Here is the statement I sent to James Hauslein, Chair of the AOPA Board of Trustees. Copies went to all other Board members. This may add to your understanding of the issue.

Dear Mr. Hauslein and the AOPA Board of Trustees:

After 53 years of continuous AOPA membership and support for the organization, I'm appalled by the Board's power grab, announced February 4 in a poorly written and mendacious press release. My credentials for commenting on that release include 15 years as a (mostly) valued AOPA employee, starting as Director of Public and Media Relations. I'm now the editor of the highly-regarded SAFE Strategies newsletter, which goes to more than 10,000 aviation education people every month, mostly CFIs.

Your crisis management firm won't fix your core problem. Fortunately, I still have AOPA friends 'on the inside' and they keep me informed on the day-to-day drama. At least now I know why that press release was so amateurish and mendacious, and why the staff is so disheartened.

Here's the core problem: Every - EVERY - Board member flies turbines, unlike ordinary AOPA members who fly mostly piston singles and light twins. Why are you trying to turn the focus AWAY from lower-end GA, which has been the primary focus of AOPA since 1939? Is it just for 'fiscal prudence' as you claim in your first public response written by your crisis management firm? If so, you're missing the whole point of AOPA. Association leaders I've known like Max Karant, Charlie Spence and Andy Pew must be rolling in their graves.

When I was first hired by Phil Boyer, he took me aside and pointed to a photo of an average guy in a ball cap, grinning, with his arm over the cowling of his older 172. "That's our core member," he told me. "That's who we're serving."

I'm prepared to resign my 53-year AOPA membership in April if you do not take substantial steps to restore AOPA's vital place in the GA ecosystem. I'll be watching closely between now and April. Here's what I hope to see:

* AOPA Board of Trustees apologizes to members for its huge mistake and immediately re-hires Darren Pleasance.

* Reorganize the Board, replacing at least some of those turbine pilots on the Board with people who have an appreciation for lower-end GA piston aircraft pilots.

* Let a competent CEO like Darren run the place; that's why you hired him, right? He was doing an excellent job. A Board's responsibility is to find the right person, watch Association finances and otherwise not interfere.

Mr. Hauslein, please bring AOPA back to the membership.

Kevin D Murphy
Commercial, CFII-MEI, AGI, IGI
 
Wonder how much a tent specs next to AOPA sells for these days. Not a much as a CYA Retainer I would guess.

I am bringing a sandwich board to AirVenture and wearing it with the following wording:

AOPA Board Sucks (front)

Vote to Replace
AOPA Board (Back)

If somebody wants to print T-Shirts with the same or similar sentiments, I’ll buy one.
 
Setting up a booth to collect proxies from members with the sole intent of outing the board right next to the AOPA booth would be bold! Just have a proxy form, with notary to make it as official as they come and just collect them all day long. Lets list Darren as our proxy to vote!! Really drive the message home.

The more I learn about the AOPA board, I'm just like 'Man...what in the hell are we doing???' Its time for change. Real. Significant. Change.
 
My cynical hat is thinking it might get worse before it gets better. That's based on nothing except some familiarity with the way some charity groups work, and some clubs work. My bet is that out of the board there are some that are running things day to day, and some that are there because they want to help but they don't have much time for it, and there is a third group that are somehow indebted to the first group and are their proxies. Or in other words, invested leaders, assistants to the leaders, and other board members.

If that's the demographic, if things do shake themselves up, those who realize it's a bit of a dumpster fire and who either aren't all that invested in it or who genuinely want to make things better will be the first to leave. They might be great people but will assume they might be part of the problem, so they'll do the thing they view as what's best for the group and depart. Those that stay will be the ones that are absolutely certain that they're doing the right thing, and they, almost by definition, are the root of the problem. The follower of the leader group could split either way. It depends on what they think they're going to get out of it or what they're owed.

Part of my reasoning is that there doesn't seem to me to be any real power or benefit from being on the board. My thought is that most on that board are doing so to try to help, or to try to get their vision realized. Of that, the spooky part is the later group.
 
BigghHauss78 said:
Setting up a booth to collect proxies from members with the sole intent of outing the board right next to the AOPA booth would be bold! Just have a proxy form, with notary to make it as official as they come and just collect them all day long. Lets list Darren as our proxy to vote!! Really drive the message home.

The more I learn about the AOPA board, I'm just like 'Man...what in the hell are we doing???' Its time for change. Real. Significant. Change.
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I don't have the AOPA bylaws nor am I motivated enough to go research state law for the state where it is based to determine what procedural options might exist to remove members from the Board. What I've seen written by credible sources is that only the current Board (or Chairman?) has the ability to designate a Nominating Committee for Board nominees. As long as this is the case, no amount of proxies can prevent a Board (Chairman?)-approved nominee from being elected, nor can said mass of proxies be used to nominate a different candidate for the Board.
 
I see a lot of demands to reinstate him, but I have not seen any comments from Pleasance about wanting the job back or anything. Has he made any public comment? Would he even want to come back with a likely hostile board? Although I think his salary is something over $1.6m , so there is certainly motivation there.

AOPA has done little for GA piston in meaningful ways to grow GA. From what I understand it’s a club for board members with no accountability, and a close relationship with legacy manufacturers and FAA which they want to stay in favor with. I cancelled my membership years ago when I learned how much they paid themselves and organization had a citation jet …and then receiving constant junk mail asking for more $ or applying for a credit card or putting them in my wil, etc…

Their magazine increasingly covered more small jets than everyday pistons, and advocated for that segment. Jet owners have a far more effective advocate in Washington with the NBAA, we should not be supplementing efforts that don’t directly affect vast membership. Simple AOPA long stated missions as getting more DPEs appointed went nowhere, further adding cost, and time to participating in GA ….no shortage of DPE types in the jet or turbo prop segment. My last CFI student had to fly 5 hours away for a checkride or wait over 2 months locally….he was near broke after having a ride cancelled for weather after a 2 month wait and went went back on the list…. so loaned my plane. This has been the norm.

GA for the small guy is near dead and the high cost is not likely to see any resurrection, and AOPA has done little over the decades to force change. It’s obvious with Pleasance firing that the board has a long time agenda to keep a good mediocre thing going.

Hoping a more piston focused AOPA comes out of this, with clear advocating to make GA cheaper and more accessible for next generation. Or maybe another new organic association with more want to drive change…. Say general aviation association (GAA, has a ring to it actually) that could draw former AOPA members and others that left AOPA. Either way, we need some voice in Washington or we are even more screwed.
 
AlphaPilotFlyer said:
I cancelled my membership years ago when I learned how much they paid themselves . . .
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Everything I've read says the Board isn't paid. What have you heard that's different?

And complaints about the Citation are mere class envy. God forbid the GA organization should engage in GA. What do people want them to use when they fly four people to, say, Joplin Missouri to meet with lawmakers? It wouldn't do for them to extoll the virtues of GA while missing meetings because the AOPA Cessna 210 didn't have the weather capability to get there. For the kind of dispatch reliability we want them to have, it's jets, airlines, or zoom. Which of those options casts GA in the best light?
 
OneCharlieTango said:
And complaints about the Citation are mere class envy. God forbid the GA organization should engage in GA. What do people want them to use when they fly four people to, say, Joplin Missouri to meet with lawmakers? It wouldn't do for them to extoll the virtues of GA while missing meetings because the AOPA Cessna 210 didn't have the weather capability to get there. For the kind of dispatch reliability we want them to have, it's jets, airlines, or zoom. Which of those options casts GA in the best light?
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My recollection is that they went to the CJ from a Conquest, but your point is largely still valid.
 
Heck, even the board members all being jet setters doesn't bother me that much. The problem I see is that they had a well-liked ceo, who they fired for no apparent reason and are obviously lying about why. That tells me that they think telling the membership the actual reason seems worse to them than the ****show they are currently enduring.
 
Jim_R said:
I don't have the AOPA bylaws nor am I motivated enough to go research state law for the state where it is based to determine what procedural options might exist to remove members from the Board. What I've seen written by credible sources is that only the current Board (or Chairman?) has the ability to designate a Nominating Committee for Board nominees. As long as this is the case, no amount of proxies can prevent a Board (Chairman?)-approved nominee from being elected, nor can said mass of proxies be used to nominate a different candidate for the Board.
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No, but enough proxies (an unreachable number) could amend, or even suspend, the bylaws.
 
I'm heading out to the AOPA Air Fair in Buckeye, AZ this weekend. Pleasance was scheduled to speak - it will be interesting to see if there are any AOPA Executives in attendance...
 
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I have to admit I'm struggling to figure out what AOPA is doing for me, a recreational GA flyer. I did my private/instrument and flew out of FDK until 23 when we moved and while there was in club with a hangar close enough to throw a rock at the AOPA headquarters and thus met quite a few folks who worked there over the years. They were pretty much all nice folks (with a couple exceptions) but very few were actually flying GA that I saw. In fact, one had the hanger next to ours with a Bonanza shaped sculpture that will never fly again and a hangar that was used for anything but aviation. But he was AOPA so no one said boo despite a 5+ year waiting list for hangars there.

As I'm here recovering from a knee replacement I've had a chance to catch up with a lot of magazines that have piled up and reading AOPA Pilot I really don't find much useful. It's also interesting that as you read articles, like the recent one about the VT hangar rent case, they covered it but there is no evidence that AOPA had any role in it at all. As you start to read the articles with that in mind they're informational but I can't figure out what the role is AOPA has. What have they done about FBO monopolies and prices? Complained is all I see.

Let's put a more forward leaning spin on this. What could AOPA do to keep us as members?

1) Push events that gets the public engaged with GA and builds a demand from non-pilots to become pilots - Fly-ins and events that are not just advertised to pilots but to communities. Airports are facing a lot of pushback and getting the public more engaged with facts and understanding GA isn't a bunch of rich guys with toys is a start.

2) Clubs - The club folks at AOPA have been pretty good when I've contacted them (and at one point the head club guy had a hangar across from ours) but other than maintaining a list of clubs on the site they are not proactive. There are plusses and minuses to clubs and there are good clubs and less good but when you find a good one then it becomes a social circle as well as enabling a person to fly at much lower cost their owning their own plane. Even though I now own part of a SR-22, I'm staying in my club because I enjoy it and flying the Archer is fun around New England. What can AOPA do to help?

- Document repository of club formation and management documents to assist in forming and running clubs
- A way to help potential new club members find each other - Sure, there are social media partnership groups out there but AOPA could easily leverage one to run a discovery service.
- Help clubs build cost models that make them sustainable.

3) Hangars - there is a hangar crisis of both cost and availability - they need to advocate states, airport owners and managers to help them understand the demand and figure out ways to meet that need. Likely this is a futile effort as they couldn't even figure out how to do it at FDK.

4) Engage with flight schools - Not everyone getting their PPL these days is airline bound and getting those students into AOPA and AOPA looking at what they can do to help the new PPLs move into being regular pilots from being freshly minted PPLs is a good role. How many folks do you know that got their PPL and then never flew again? Rentals are less available and more expensive than ever before. See #2 as part of the solution.

5) Engage with EAA. These should not be adversarial relationships. Both have roles and together they could do more than apart.

My membership is good until Dec but I've turned off auto renew and we'll see if I do. I also went into my EAA membership and turned on auto-renew.
 
OneCharlieTango said:
And complaints about the Citation are mere class envy. God forbid the GA organization should engage in GA. What do people want them to use when they fly four people to, say, Joplin Missouri to meet with lawmakers? It wouldn't do for them to extoll the virtues of GA while missing meetings because the AOPA Cessna 210 didn't have the weather capability to get there. For the kind of dispatch reliability we want them to have, it's jets, airlines, or zoom. Which of those options casts GA in the best light?
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In my case, not class envy at all. I agree that a a fully capable light jet arrival to meet with lawmakers or business associates casts a positive and professional impression. My beef is remembering that the new Citation was, to the best of my knowledge, not being used by AOPA for lobbying or entertainment of lawmaker's, or their staffers. It had become fairly obvious that the Citation seemed to be mostly used for personal travel of AOPA leaders to holiday resorts. This charge was never denied, or discussed by AOPA.

Instead, observations by members who began tracking and inquiring about use were met with heavy-handed new policies for continued participation on their "Red Board", which quickly went from censoring non-aviation talk (including no discussions about the association's various non-aviation activities, i.e., the Wine Club, etc) to elimination of the Red Board. Plus, the ability to track the Citation soon went dark.

After researching AOPA's lobbying efforts (which to me appeared lame) during the time following 9/11 when GA was under major attack, I didn't think moving up to a Citation and using it for lobbying key lawmakers was a mistake. IMO, use of the Citation would be an aggressive and great reason of having this expensive association asset.

We all know that Washington runs on influence and donated money. AOPA never commented, refuted, or bothered to explain anything (that I saw) about the intended or actual use of the Citation... they only ignored questions about it by remaining silent. IMO, who exactly was working for who?

The AOPA motto of "Fighting to Save Your Freedom to Fly" didn't ring true to me, and that was my main reason for being a long term member (joined in 1979). Sometime around 2008 I quit renewing annual membership dues, and have no idea what (if anything) happened after that (except for the elimination of the Red Board and many previous member benefits / discounts that I read about here at POA).

It's a shame AOPA has lost so many members and is definitely on the down cycle. I hope they can pull off a "Hail Mary" with some new leadership and direction more appropriate for the times and shared interests of the diverse piston engine members of aircraft owners and pilots.
 
OneCharlieTango said:
Everything I've read says the Board isn't paid. What have you heard that's different?
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I just looked up the latest available IRS Form 990 for them (2024). Board of Trustees is not paid. Mark Baker was paid $1.8M.

Pugs said:
What have they done about FBO monopolies and prices? Complained is all I see.
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What else can they do?

Pugs said:
Let's put a more forward leaning spin on this. What could AOPA do to keep us as members?

1) Push events that gets the public engaged with GA and builds a demand from non-pilots to become pilots - Fly-ins and events that are not just advertised to pilots but to communities. Airports are facing a lot of pushback and getting the public more engaged with facts and understanding GA isn't a bunch of rich guys with toys is a start.
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Yes! I remember in the late 90s/early 2000s there was a cable channel called the Discovery Wings Channel that was all about aviation, and AOPA pushed $49 discovery flights there. Sadly, that channel became something else and AOPA no longer specifically promotes discovery flights.

There are still plenty of ways they could help. There are TONS of people out there who would love to learn how to fly but don't know where to get started, or it just isn't on their radar enough to go do it. Local events at the airport that were well promoted should garner plenty of people.

Another one I heard of that was wildly successful: An FBO pulled the wings off an LSA and took it to a boat show, and sold a ton of discovery flights, and created a bunch of new pilots.

Pugs said:
2) Clubs - The club folks at AOPA have been pretty good when I've contacted them (and at one point the head club guy had a hangar across from ours) but other than maintaining a list of clubs on the site they are not proactive. There are plusses and minuses to clubs and there are good clubs and less good but when you find a good one then it becomes a social circle as well as enabling a person to fly at much lower cost their owning their own plane. Even though I now own part of a SR-22, I'm staying in my club because I enjoy it and flying the Archer is fun around New England. What can AOPA do to help?

- Document repository of club formation and management documents to assist in forming and running clubs
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I think they do have this - youcanfly.aopa.org/flying-clubs/downloadable-resources but you have to be a member to get to it.

Pugs said:
- A way to help potential new club members find each other - Sure, there are social media partnership groups out there but AOPA could easily leverage one to run a discovery service.
- Help clubs build cost models that make them sustainable.
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Definitely.

Several years ago when I was still in flying club management, AOPA had a big gathering for flying club leadership at Oshkosh. It was cool to share ideas and experiences with others.

Pugs said:
3) Hangars - there is a hangar crisis of both cost and availability - they need to advocate states, airport owners and managers to help them understand the demand and figure out ways to meet that need. Likely this is a futile effort as they couldn't even figure out how to do it at FDK.
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Unfortunately, a lot of this stuff is very local in nature... And most local types aren't going to invest in their airport without either state/fed assistance or a pretty quick ROI. And it's also very difficult to change things that are local in nature because you have to do the same exact fight thousands of times.

Pugs said:
4) Engage with flight schools - Not everyone getting their PPL these days is airline bound and getting those students into AOPA and AOPA looking at what they can do to help the new PPLs move into being regular pilots from being freshly minted PPLs is a good role. How many folks do you know that got their PPL and then never flew again? Rentals are less available and more expensive than ever before. See #2 as part of the solution.
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Absolutely. Unfortunately, this isn't a new problem. When I was a lineman nearly 25 years ago, one of the things that I noticed was that I'd see people take their private checkride, and then I'd never see them again. :(
 
flyingcheesehead said:
Yes! I remember in the late 90s/early 2000s there was a cable channel called the Discovery Wings Channel that was all about aviation, and AOPA pushed $49 discovery flights there. Sadly, that channel became something else and AOPA no longer specifically promotes discovery flights.
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This is exactly what hooked me during that time period, and I wish there was something like this still around. I watched that TV channel, did a quick internet search to see what this discovery flight thing was, and the next thing I knew I was flying a plane that weekend. This is absolutely something that should still be done. Outreach to high schools, trade schools, universities, etc. should be part of AOPA's mission (if it's not).
 
again, question remains, as many making efforts to get Pleasance's job back ..has he stated anywhere that he wants it back?
 
AlphaPilotFlyer said:
again, question remains, as many making efforts to get Pleasance's job back ..has he stated anywhere that he wants it back?
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Would you go back to a job where the board had just fired you?

I have a hunch that the reason we haven't heard anything directly from Pleasance is that they're keeping him as a "consultant," a polite way of telling him that they'll pay him $X thou as a fee, but it's conditioned on him not making any comments about the board or his firing.
 
When an organization's board is that far gone, there is no hope for the org.
This is sort of a mini "boeing" in which they didn't fire Calhoun for over a year....

Contrast that to the firing of Rod Hightower by the board. He has sold seats in the tents west of 36/18 to the fat cats (blocking the view of the rank and file). It only took two weeks and he was gone.
 
Must have been a lot of proxies lost (I never signed mine). The website now prompts you to sign the proxy upon login and it never has before...
 
he would likely really want to clean house if he came back and perhaps rewrite some bylaws RE board appointments. That's a huge undertaking and likely legal battles ...he would really need to be in it to win it. either way the board will have to make concessions
 
Half Fast said:
Would you go back to a job where the board had just fired you?

I have a hunch that the reason we haven't heard anything directly from Pleasance is that they're keeping him as a "consultant," a polite way of telling him that they'll pay him $X thou as a fee, but it's conditioned on him not making any comments about the board or his firing.
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I think based on what his wife posted he'd very much like it back, but of course not with this board.

bbchien said:
Contrast that to the firing of Rod Hightower by the board. He has sold seats in the tents west of 36/18 to the fat cats (blocking the view of the rank and file). It only took two weeks and he was gone.
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That was EAA, this is AOPA. Score some more points for EAA.
 
Half Fast said:
I have a hunch that the reason we haven't heard anything directly from Pleasance is that they're keeping him as a "consultant," a polite way of telling him that they'll pay him $X thou as a fee, but it's conditioned on him not making any comments about the board or his firing.
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A severance agreement usually includes a non-disparagement clause.
 
This video discusses how AOPA is structured to minimize membership control over the organization, explains how members can cancel their proxies, and recommends other steps to take. It's pretty depressing.

 
SkyHog said:
Must have been a lot of proxies lost (I never signed mine). The website now prompts you to sign the proxy upon login and it never has before...
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At least it's good to know that they do expire. I was wondering if perhaps someone signed one 20 years that it might still be in force without them knowing. Perhaps we should all copy the wording and replace the names with Darren Pleasance and mail copies to AOPA and Darren. Wouldn't it be cool if he could walk in with enough proxies to alter the board, even if he didn't want his job back. If the only ones that can vote are the ones in attendance, then it shouldn't take that many.
 
This is the most depressing part of the video above (from the transcript):

3:54
let's just vote in a new board. Well,

3:56
the thing is when you read the bylaws,

3:58
which I have right here, there are some

4:01
significant issues. Did you know that

4:04
besides not having term limits, so you

4:07
can be in there for 33 years and be out

4:09
of touch and nothing can be done? Do you

4:12
know who can be elected to the board?

4:15
Only candidates that are selected by the

4:19
board. So they have a committee of no

4:21
less than two people in the bylaws and

4:24
that's who selects the candidates who

4:27
can then be elected by the members. So

4:31
you don't get to pick as a member of the

4:33
AOPA. You do not get to pick who can be

4:36
on the board of trustees. So that's a

4:39
huge red flag. You know [lack of] term limits are

4:41
a huge red flag. There's so many huge

4:44
red flags here. So, and and we'll get to

4:47
what I think we have to do, but it it's

4:49
not looking good. So, as voting members,

4:53
there's not a lot you can do.
 
bonefishpete said:
Is the AOPA the NRA of the sky?
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I was thinking the same thing. The NRA got caught with the CEO (LaPierre) soaking the association for hundreds of thousands for many years with excessive travel claims, mega-expensive custom-made suits, and more. The board was totally put of touch and had long ago ceded all oversight to him.

I would’ve canceled my membership, but I was already a paid-in-full Life Member (initially joined in 1986).
 
bonefishpete said:
Is the AOPA the NRA of the sky?
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Maybe - but the NRA's (and I'm a life member from way back) lack of a actually taking on gun issues in the court and just asking for more money to "fight" has led to the formation of some other vert active pro-gun organizations that really are taking on issues at multiple levels. I kind of wonder if AOPA not doing what we expect may lead to formation of some other good organizations that will address the AOPA shortfalls?
 
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