A few days after announcing a new chairman and promising changes to AOPA’s bylaws, AOPA has sent thousands of email form letters to members who wrote them protesting the dismissal of former CEO Darren Pleasance and issues of governance and process that arose from that controversy. Last week Trustee Luke Wippler was named chairman of the AOPA board, replacing Jim Hauslein, who will not run for reelection. Former Chair Bill Trimble is also leaving his position on the board.
In the form letter, which is copied below and signed by Hauslein, the board says it’s been looking at bylaw changes since 2024 and will invite feedback from members before those changes are made. Among the most controversial existing bylaws are those involving the nomination of new members. Currently, the bylaws allow only those selected by a nominating committee of two to run for election, and the chair chooses the members of that committee. The letter also acknowledges the outpouring of criticism in the wake of Pleasance’s departure. “That level of engagement reflects how much people care about AOPA and the future of GA and we appreciate it and take that seriously.” It also invites further comments directed to BoardofTrustees@aopa.org. The full letter follows:
Its rare that I have to admit a sudden and complete loss of interest in this sorry circus, but at this point, I find the various hapless attempts to put fresh lipstick on a obviously expired pig, fascinatingly boring.
After realizing that DP isn’t mentioned by name and that nobody is admitting to any error in handling this whoops, my mind went like:
DING!
Blahblah!
Signed.
Next.
Jason, I don’t know what you’re saying…. This short paragraph is so meaningful:
That says it all, they are going to continue doing what they’ve been doing. Now reset your auto-renewal and proxies for the good of the “Long Term”.
If you don’t we’re kicking you out of the Good-Ol’-Boys Wine/Cigar Club.
Klaus, should we not write a book?
Think anyone would buy it?
Back 20 years ago the pilot community believed AOPA’s story line every time over the people who had interesting experiences with AOPA’s “Advocacy”.
I was just looking over the nomination list for the 2026 National “Arrogance Award”.
No response as to why Donald Pleasance was canned. The loss of trust is almost complete…
Donald was never his name. 😂
True. It was really Earnest Stavro Blofeld.
Ha! Interesting typo. Thanks for pointing it out.
Correction: Darren Pleasance, not Donald!
TL;TL
This is called appeasement. We need repentance and reform. My upcoming decision to let my membership end in July after 47 years gets easier every day.
I rejoined AOPA after a long absence when DP was fired just to have a chance to make my voice heard. I am pessimistic of the changes by the AOPA board. Needless to say, I am not sticking with AOPA for the long term.
What if your vote only counts 50%?
Obviously you are reluctant to swallow the Kool Aid and maybe your vote isn’t quite as valuable?
🤔
the main point is if you a want to change an organization, you have to show up.
“That level of engagement reflects how much people care about AOPA and the future of GA and we appreciate it and take that seriously.”
Empty words. Show us some real action, like at least admitting they should have handled the situation differently and less abruptly. Maybe at least keep Pleasance on as a spokesperson and consultant or something. And if such an offer was made and he declined, just say so.
The level of poor communication from the board is astounding, and makes me wonder if they can’t communicate with their own members, how can they be an effective lobby group for said members?
The irony is, this empty form letter feels like the most substantive response they’ve had so far. Maybe after another half-million dollars in PR expenses, they might get to a real response.
I read today’s “board’s note” carefully and I believe it danced around with a lot of platitudes and sugar-coated phrases while trying to say the following:
———-
We’re still busy and relevant on policy.
We are changing how the board is structured and selected.
We are reshuffling leadership and trying to present it as renewal, not fallout.
Everything is fine, we’re evolving, please trust us
We’re stepping aside under pressure, but framing it positively.
——
Why did you not just come out and say that members are very dissatisfied and are demanding change? And there was no member input on the selection of a new board chair, You acted top-down.
My take:
The AOPA press release was a sanitized-language classic “good news sandwich” written by a crisis management firm and it did not address the fact that many AOPA members are unhappy with the current state of management of the organization and are frustrated by your ineffective attempts at communication over the last month. We have come to feel like subscription customers, not voting-enabled members. Firing of Darren Pleasance and AOPA board’s poor damage control in response to feedback has backfired on AOPA and is causing many members to leave an organization that they once loved.
Gale Jacobs
#898516
Agree on all points. I received the same form letter. Here’s the response I sent to Jim ( jim@hauslein.com ) and the board ( BoardofTrustees@aopa.org ):
Thank you for your reply. While your description of planned changes to the bylaws sounds encouraging, it’s also rather vague for an effort that started in 2024. The failure to provide communication about this action, and the failure to seek member input, for the last two years disproves your claim that you “know that trust is built through transparency and action.” The AOPA has been losing members for a long time now, and the buck stops with you and the Board of Trustees. You and the other Board members should have laid out a detailed plan long before now and solicited member feedback, rather than waiting for members to kick open the door.
Over the years, the AOPA has undergone an unfortunate transition, and today it is run as a de facto subscriber-based services company. It no longer operates as a true membership organization. If the AOPA is to grow, or even survive, that must change.
In my opinion, there are some very specific items that must be addressed:
1) Members must be able to vote online or by mail. If this is done by assigning proxies, then there must be an independent third-party proxy agent who will vote the proxies in accordance with member direction. No more assignment of proxies to the Board. This is a sine qua non requirement as far as I’m concerned, and it needs to be in place before the May 2026 meeting.
2) Members must be able to select the Trustees. No more Board members selected by the Board itself, or nominees requiring approval of a Board committee. I realize it may take some time, but we need to reach the point where all Trustees have been elected by the AOPA membership, and we should set a date by which that will be achieved.
3) Board members must have defined terms, at the end of which they must stand for reelection by the membership. Setting up a rotation, perhaps 3 years, so that only a portion of the Board turns over each year and continuity is maintained, might be a wise approach.
4) Accessibility to the Trustees needs to be improved. I recommend that each Board member have an @aopa.org email address. When I asked AOPA staff for contact information for you and other Trustees, I was told they were not allowed to give that out. That is absolutely unacceptable.
I sincerely hope you and the Board of Trustees will consider these things and implement them into the bylaws.
Regards,
I wonder how many more boxes in the outside PR firm’s playbook need to be checked.
My guess is that none if this latest monkey show- tell was penned by the outside PR firm. This is true to the bone comments and responses penned by people who could not tell a member of AOPA from a hole in a wall.