While in procedure things remained the same—for now—the special meeting in Frederick, Maryland, called by the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association today felt like a calm, collected answer to the general unrest that has plagued the association in recent months. Probably the greatest drama came from the fact fewer folks could fly in, with a Presidential TFR centered around Camp David and covering KFDK in place from Friday to Sunday morning. It served as a poignant reminder of why we need a strong AOPA to advocate on behalf of pilots.
The crisis in leadership at AOPA came to a head earlier this year with the departure of former AOPA CEO Darren Pleasance and shakeup of the Board of Trustees in place at the time. The past four months since the “regular” annual AOPA membership meeting has proven at least part of the message from a dissatisfied membership went through.
However, one top question remained unanswered: Who will take the left seat at AOPA?
Unlike the meeting on May 12, the scope of the special meeting tightly focused on enacting the much-needed bylaws changes drafted as a result of that session, which featured wide-ranging commentary from the members who showed up. Notably, only half the number of folks attended in person on Saturday, though the date and timing of the special meeting—and the fact it was on livestream—demonstrated at least in part that AOPA could take immediate action on feedback as to the way things run. Probably the most immediately transformative change still lies ahead—and it will render showing up in person nearly mute: Electronic voting will be adopted with the bylaws changes.
Board Chair Luke Wippler welcomed all and updated on the CEO search, which appears to have entered its final round, with “a very short list of candidates” still in the running. Interim co-president Katie Pribyl provided more color on the latest “wins” for the association, including nearly 300 flying clubs in its network, 15,000 new Rusty Pilots back into flying, and $2 million in scholarship funds available to deserving aspiring pilots—and now for maintenance technicians and those who’d like to pursue a career in aerospace manufacturing.
Pribyl also highlighted two significant airport “saves” of late: Cleveland’s Burke Lakefront Airport (KBKL) and Boulder Municipal Airport in Colorado (KBDU).
Also unlike the May meeting, when more than a dozen folks hit the mic to have their say, only three members stepped up to speak, and most were appreciative of the changes in motion. However, one cleanup item lingering from the round of bylaws changes was asked by member Dan Milliken. “With the advent of electronic voting—which is phenomenal—to me, that fulfills the need of proxy voting. So I would request that we eliminate proxy voting.”
AOPA General Counsel Fernando Campoamor reported the results after those cast in person were counted—about half of the hard ballots counted in the May meeting. “After all ballots and proxies were counted, we have a total of 40,282 members voted at a special meeting, with 40,218 votes being submitted by proxy and 64 votes submitted by ballot today, in terms of the votes for the proposed bylaws. 40,282 have voted in favor of those bylaws, and there are zero votes against.”
Amongst those in attendance—a large percentage of whom were AOPA staff who are also members—the general mood felt a lot steadier than back in May. Several folks off the record praised the leadership of the two co-presidents, Pribyl and Jill Baker, but that more needed change would come with the upcoming leadership transition at the top. Pleasance also reported a similar response on Facebook following the meeting.
Indeed, now, the real work begins.
From the picture, it looks like a small neighborhood HOA meeting. How many people showed up?
It sounds like 64. The follow-up question is, how many of those 64 were AOPA employees? It sounds like more than half, which is not surprising if they held it on a day where there was a VIP TFR…
The rules changed: voting got easier, but the board still controls who gets on the ballot. Member control barely changed.
So, just more window dressing.
Kinda.
No victory until we have voting access for ALL members and no moreproxies.
And also a strong reminder why electronic voting and livestreaming of these events are so important. You can’t have a strong AOPA without Bylaws that support good member involvement. AOPA also needs to do a much better job of advertising when these meetings are taking place.
I also agree that if they are going to electronic voting, they need to get rid of proxies. What good does it do if the majority of votes are just going to a couple individual board members.
Agree proxy needs to go away or at least limited to something substantially less than majority. Candidate approval is a hanging chad, as well as whether there will be more candidates approved than openings or do we end up with a Soviet style vote of one candidate per opening.
As a fifty-year AOPA member until last March, this has all the appearance of slapping an Earl Sheib paint job on a jalopy. What AOPA needs to do is 1) rewrite their bylaws to give its members a greater stake in the organization, 2) move to an airport more accessible to its members (or go virtual), and 3) cap management salaries to something more appropriate for a organization that actually focuses on its members’ needs.
All of their problems are indicative of an organization that lost its focus on its 40 thousand members. There are a quarter million members of EAA. Perhaps they should petition EAA to become a Special Interest group.
200+ % Agree !! (as a ‘former’ 30+ year member)
What/where did you have in mind?
KFDK is reasonably accessible to me, so unless they move it closer to New England, anywhere else would be less accessible to me (and I suspect a large number of their members). Moving it somewhere towards the midwest would likely only make it less accessible to those of us in the northeast, but no more accessible for members on the west coast.
The one thing they can legitimately claim is that FDK is reasonably close to DC, which is important for lobbying efforts.
For the reasons above, I think having their governance meetings being virtual is the only real way to get more members directly involved.
And while not directly related to governance, I miss the days when they had their Summits (and its various other names) in different locations each year across the country. Their current Fly-Ins are a bit underwhelming, and for the one that I did attend, I didn’t feel it offered me the same opportunity to directly interact with their leadership.
Perhaps KGAI in Gaithersburg, MD, just 18 nm SE of FDK. It’s outside of the P40/4009 FRZ and that much closer to DC to boot. I doubt that it would affect your flight at all.
FDK shouldn’t be directly impacted by P40/R4009, unless a TFR is now created that is much bigger. I don’t recall it being that big a deal when I used to frequent area.
GAI is within the DC SFRA, though, and I do recall that whole airspace occasionally being closed for even those approved for access to the FRZ.
Unfortunately the last few “expanded P40” TFR’s have been full 10/30 nm rings vs the old set up that didn’t affect FDK.
The most frustrating TFR’s are when an administration can’t forecast, hold or not bounce sked left/right…add in already constrained airspace, convection or IFR and it gets really “entertaining” when things change on the fly.