AOPA has posted ground rules for those attending the annual meeting of the board of trustees May 12 and they include a cap of 20 speakers who are limited to two minutes each. Attendees will also have to show ID and proof of membership and proxy authorization to be allowed in. After the checks are made, members are permitted to sign up for one of the speaking slots and they will be allotted on a first come, first served basis. The notice, which was only recently posted, says the restrictions are due to “time limitations.” AOPA staff will record the meeting but attendees may not record audio or video of the proceedings. The only public record will be official minutes based on AOPA’s recordings and notes taken by a recording secretary at the meeting.
The notice also warns members to behave themselves. “Anyone who disrupts the meeting, uses derogatory language, makes personal attacks, or refuses to comply with the chair’s rulings may be asked to leave the Annual Meeting,” the notice says. The chair of the meeting is the final authority on all rules and their interpretation and can adjourn or recess the meeting unilaterally or ask members not following the rules to leave. There will be an agenda and nothing but agenda items are open for discussion unless the chair allows it.
The meeting will be held at AOPA headquarters in Frederick, Maryland. The annual meeting rarely attracts any members, but recent controversies over the board’s conduct and the firing of CEO Darren Pleasance have prompted interest in the meeting. Two new trustees, Ryan Samples and Peter Burwell, will be confirmed as board members at the meeting. AOPA bylaws do not permit members at large to nominate board candidates.
“Attendees will also have to show ID and proof of membership and proxy authorization to be allowed in.”
I believe there is a typo there. On AOPA’s website, it says “proof of membership or proxy authorization”.
“…attendees may not record audio or video of the proceedings.”
Good luck enforcing that, though. I would be surprised if videos don’t eventually surface. I don’t know what the recording rules are in MD, but in my state of CT, it is a one-party consent law so anyone can record any meeting.
Banning Recordings at a Trustee Meeting in Maryland
In Maryland, you cannot simply “ban” recordings at a meeting — the state’s strict all‑party consent law applies to private conversations, including those held in meetings, regardless of the setting.
This means that no one may record a private conversation without the consent of every participant.
Why You Can’t Just Ban Recordings
100%. By saying your can’t record ensures that I definitely WILL record it!
In the name of transparency, why would Aopa limit recordings and for that matter not provide a live stream for their members all over the country? Traveling to Frederick particularly mid week can be a burden on some. That is the ones I don’t have jets.
Yup. All the board members have their own speedy Vision Jet, PC12, or other cabin class airplane.
It’s generally standard practice for official meetings to limit recordings, so that much isn’t unexpected.
Of course, the board seems to recognize that this could be a contentious meeting, so they are doubling-down on their opaqueness instead of doing what they should be doing and have a live-stream of it for those who can’t attend in person, or at least offer some highlights from the meeting. This, to me, signals that they know they are going to make some decisions that the general membership will not be happy about, and not have any good answers as to why they are making those decisions.
I had planned to attend, but these are ridiculous restrictions, but at least AOPA is consistent in being antagonistic to member involvement in governance of the organization. Looks like my best option is to let my 47 year membership lapse in June and move on.
My 8 year membership lapsed in March. My EAA membership is active.
I will keep my EAA membership for now, but I see signs that they are heading the same direction as AOPA, unfortunately.
I allowed my very long term membership to lapse several years ago for various reasons. It’s not an organization for “members.
Having attended EAA’s meeting on several occasions in the past, its a welcoming and friendly occasion, without the rules and warnings and threats. While AOPA’s “rules” may be legal – the question I ask is Why? -They should be open and forthcoming with the members and if it takes 3 hours to answer everyones questions, then so be it. And if someone gets pissed off, then let them vent, and move on. For AOPA allowing only 40 minutes of member discussions is a mistake, in a time where they need to do a better job with member engagement and transparency. They have forgotten that AOPA is a member organization and as such, answers to them.
Sigh, I renewed my AOPA membership this year just to have a chance to make my voice heard. With this strong arm tactics by the AOPA board, I am NOT going to renew my membership. I am glad I made the right decision to cancel my membership years ago.
I have assigned my proxy to Peter F. Bowers. (https://avbrief.com/guest-blog-aopas-may-12-annual-member-meeting-a-chance-for-transparency/)
Send an email to “memberservices@aopa.org” and supply:
Your full name:
Your member number:
The date:
Your email address:
A statement that you are revoking any and all prior voting proxies:
The full name (first, middle, and last) of the person you are appointing as your proxy:
Note: I need Peter Bowers’ middle name to comply with the letter of the instructions.
So much for increased transparency.
And it doesn’t seem like there is any new or better board representation for the ‘average, rank and file pilots ‘ that AOPA seems to be leaving behind.
I was a “rank-and-file” until the wine and cheese memberships, etc…
At about that time, it became painfully obvious to me that AOPA had lost any semblance of focus on grass-roots, small-town aviators like me.
Without fanfare, I let my membership lapse and have not missed it one bit….
Now—I’ve been watching this quagmire from the cheap seats—my popcorn is getting cold, so I think I need to go pop some more….
Think I’ll just continue to support EAA with my dimes and time…..
I have assigned my proxy to Peter F. Bowers. https://avbrief.com/guest-blog-aopas-may-12-annual-member-meeting-a-chance-for-transparency/
To assign your proxy to the person of your choice send an email to memberservices@aopa.org
AOPA rules require that your email includes:
Note; To fully comply with the letter of the instructions, we need to know Mr. Bowers’ middle name. What does the F stand for?
Fredric
Peter what do you plan to vote for at the meeting? I had planned to attend, but am sure I can’t get into the top 20 to speak so I am happy to assign my proxy, but would like first to know more about how you plan to vote/speak.
I support the two new nominees to the Board. I don’t think anything else is going to come up for a vote as the new bylaws will likely be later this year. In general, I think it’s mostly going to be a discussion and an update on where they stand with the bylaws changes.
I just sent an email to AOPA assigning my proxy for this year’s annual meeting to you. Please let us know how the meeting goes.
Done.
While I sympathize with the need to keep reasonable control over the meeting, this stuff definitely reads as treating meeting with members as an inconvenience. The changes proposed so far are improvement. But… there seems to be some indication the board still does not really get it. Watching with eyebrow raised. We need a strong AOPA.
“The annual meeting rarely attracts any members…” so naturally they need to restrict speakers to friends and family only and then perhaps only if they’ll willing to state what a great job the board is doing. I was a proud member of this organization for 35 years. How sad to see such gross, transparently secretive corruption happening right before our eyes.
I understand the limited number of speakers and time. Otherwise it would be chaos. But, this meeting should be livestreamed. It’s just too easy these days to do it, and at least gives the appearance of transparency!
AOPA’s Board meeting regulations are inflammatory and at a time when they must realize that transparency is the manner in which to proceed–not opaqueness.
Banning Recordings at a Trustee Meeting in MarylandIn Maryland, you cannot simply “ban” recordings at a meeting — the state’s strict all‑party consent law applies to private conversations, including those held in meetings, regardless of the setting.
This means that no one may record a private conversation without the consent of every participant.
Why You Can’t Just Ban Recordings
But if you ask for permission at the meeting of all attendees, the board members will not agree. Therefore, it’s a defacto ban.
AOPA BOARD HAS IT SEWN UP! VOID THAT CHECK! CACEL THE VISA AND MASTER CARD.EAA? TYPE CLUB?
CANCEL—
I am holding off on renewing (member since 1970) to see how this meeting goes. If they just “coincidentally” have 20 gung-ho, we-love-what-you’re-doing speakers sign up first, I’m out.
It appears they do not want to upset their country club get-together, but I would love to be proved wrong.
My membership was up at the end of April, and after thinking about it for a while, I decided to renew one more year to see how these bylaw changes and board members work out.
What a missed opportunity. If they really wanted to show they are ready to change they could have had a 2- or 3-hour comment period and heard people out.
Honestly, I don’t get all the Woohooo about this Association. Its been going down the pipe for decades. Why would anyone expect a happy fart out of a sad rear-end?
The association cannot (as in can not) and will not ever go back to its former glory. Its simply a old and rusted sinking ship. Out of touch with todays reality.
I wonder if some of the Capo’s will show up with their own personal security detail to keep these pesty annoying members away.
Even the chief honchos should be capable of appearing before their members without a set of silly rules. These rules sound like trying to dodge inconvenient topics on demand.
Not that I would refuse my proxy to Peter, I’d give this guy my credit card number and never worry about anything – but I think the storm amongst members online is a far cry from the number of people willing to show up in person.
Remember – its a one stop convenience store for most of those who believe that paying money into AOPA does something magic.
I remain behind my bet that the largest majority of members is blissfully unaware about any and all of it.
I’ve talked to a number of pilots that have auto-renewal turned on and don’t care about the drama. They considered AOPA a cheap legal advice retainer.
This situation will wake a couple lawyers up and they will start a straight-up Aviation Legal Advice Association. For one Benjamin a year you can call/text/email an Aviation Attorney and get Aviation professional support. Let another organization do the ‘Advocacy Thing’. Pilot’s are terrified of the FAA and feel absolutely naked without a 24/7 Aviation Attorney at their finger tips.
Heck, once there’s an Aviation Legal Association I’d join their Wine/Cigar Club just to show my appreciation for a most needed and valuable service. The more personal jets they have the more it shows their contribution to the Aviation Community.
I can see the frustration with AOPA however I’ll see what action they take. I’ve used their legal and medical resources that no other organization has to offer. Without AOPA we wouldn’t have Basic Med or Mosiac. I’m a member of both AOPA and EAA but AOPA has the clout in DC. I’ve been to Aviation committee meetings in Washington as a representative of the airline I worked for and was always impressed with the level of support GA had from AOPA.
Thanks for bringing all of this up. Let’s add in the Airport Support Network (I was a volunteer), which has kept dozens or more airports open.
They used to be great, now they’re okay. But no one else is doing the “okay” that AOPA is.
Put it this way: GA won’t be better if AOPA fails. Sigh.