A total of 177 AOPA members attended the annual meeting of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, held near the association’s headquarters in Frederick, Maryland, on Tuesday morning. A mix of AOPA staff past and present joined the mostly longtime members who made the journey specifically to weigh in on the current state of and future of the organization. A meeting that normally lasts about 15 minutes each year turned into a three-hour review of AOPA’s current status, including recently filed financials for 2025, and a forum for feedback by the members in attendance.
The foundational problem across our industry leads us to wonder why there was not a full house here in the AOPA National Aviation Community Center. Is it because we’ve become too accustomed to expressing ourselves in the safe online space and not in person?
Aviation requires you to show up. You have to fly into the air and land yourself to be a pilot—and that has been the general bar for membership that AOPA has held out since the beginning.
Chairman of the board Luke Wippler kicked off the meeting carrying “a heavy weight,” gaining trust of the membership.
The results of the vote to confirm the current board members and board elect led to 41,227 total in-person and proxy votes, constituting a quorum. Most of the votes to affirm the incoming board were made by the more than 41,050 proxy votes, by our estimation.
Is this apathy or a product of location and timing? One proposed change is to move the annual meeting around the country, and turn it into a celebration of GA, with more members encouraged and presumably able to attend.
The folks who voted in person were effectively shouting in the void, but maybe they can be the tip of the iceberg. There were very real points brought up, and several were pointedly not answered, including the biggest one: What happened to 200,000 members? In 2008, AOPA had rocketed up to more than 410,000 under Phil Boyer’s push to make that metric. With the rationalization of membership dues and certain aging attrition during the past 10 years, a drop (even a significant one) makes sense. But Wippler would not provide the current number (and surely any board member should know it) when asked directly several times.
One of the 17 speakers at the mic commented that he had historically based at least part of his membership on the timely and on-point news published by the association’s publications group. This time around, he felt he received more info on AOPA from other outlets. The point was made in the financial presentation made by CFO and acting co-president Jill Baker that the drop in advertising revenue has been mitigated by contributions made by the association’s reserves. Continuing to invest in new ways to communicate with the membership will include career-focused forums specifically targeted to reach young people, according to Katie Pribyl, SVP of membership strategy and growth, and the other acting co-president.
The departure of former CEO Darren Pleasance was raised several times by the members presenting. And those assembled heard perhaps the most honest answer so far about the board’s silence regarding Pleasance’s removal. “It’s a legal matter and we’re not going to talk about it publicly,” said Wippler. Pleasance was not in attendance, and he’s been vocal in his recent support of the board, and against his own reinstatement, which likely kept some members who have sought his return from attending.
The vote was held at the meeting’s end, probably the least interesting part, as the board’s election remained a foregone conclusion, with the most votes against any one member measuring in the high 60s against more than 40,000 “for.” After reading the bios of the candidates, most do indeed fit the new concepts of leadership that the board has managed to gather and convey over the past four months.
It remains to be seen if the responsiveness and transparency vowed by Wippler and the board will take hold for the changes needed to continue the new course at AOPA.
The meeting was at 9 am on a Tuesday. The fact that anyone showed up at all was a small miracle in and of itself, even after all that has happened. That’s kind of a difficult time for anyone who doesn’t live within about an hour or so flying distance of Frederick, weather depending. Any distance longer than that and you’re looking at an overnight stay just to attend a board meeting. If you’re a working stiff like me with an inflexible work schedule, then you can forget about it.
I’m sure that the time and day of the week of the meeting have been strategically chosen by the AOPA board to ensure that basically nobody does show up. At any rate, they wouldn’t have let me in even if I did try to attend because I let my membership lapse at the end of April. Best of luck to everyone who’s sticking with it trying to fight this David v. Goliath battle with the Board.
Agreed. The AOPA board seems to have arranged things to separate the board from the membership. The most telling was having a board member call us “subscribers”. I like the magazine, but that’s not why I paid for a membership. The board comes off as claiming to fight for GA, but not wanting to actually associate with GA pilots.
They downplay the annual meeting instead of using it to rally pilots and get people excited about GA. Worse they take a significant amount of donations and focus on growing the investment rather than spending it promoting GA. This harms the programs that could use fundng and undercuts other organizations that trying raise money to do what AOPA won’t.
If there were meaningful reforms to the board selection and tenure process, I’d join again; I don’t expect they can bring themselves to do it though.
It’s too bad, we could really use a good AOPA.
I had planned to attend, but when I saw the restrictions imposed, decided not to waste my time and just let my membership lapse in July at renewal time.
I don’t think the attendance is related to apathy. It is related to intelligent members knowing that attending makes no difference. It would take more than 25,000 members in attendance to get enough votes to overcome the trustees proxy and that isn’t going to happen, particularly on a weekday.
AOPA needs to institute online voting for trustees so that every member has a voice. Failing that, I predict a continued decline in AOPA membership until AOPA is no longer relevant.
AOPA is dying. Not making member numbers available says a lot. It is likely down significantly.
AOAP has done nothing for me recently. I say this as a member for more than 30 plus years.
Because of this board fiasco, I elected to make a large donation to EAA instead of AOPA. EAA is grassroots aviation. AOPA has lost its way. I will not be renewing my membership in August.
Perhaps the board should read Max Karrant’s book “My Flights and Fights” to learn what AOPA should be all about.
The organization, which has such a rich heritage, is now in a flat, inverted spin. It takes a lot of experience to recover from that, and I hope it does, but while watching and waiting some will just punch out rather than watch it auger in.
How about on a weekend and in the middle of the Country – or better yet during air venture? I bet that would get attendance! A Tuesday @ 9 AM is not designed to get any attendance… How about zoom or the like? If you want to listen to folks, you find a way…
Sounds like things are totally entrenched – no change of significance likely.
Time to start a new organization from scratch.
I agree, but that is a very big lift and we would need a few people with time and money to get it started. If I wasn’t 66 years old and well behind the current technology, I’d be interested in being part of that team. We need some younger folks with enthusiasm and current computer skills (I last programmed in F77 and C).
I thought the mailing list that formed for a few days might have been the spark for such a competitive organization, but the AOPA lawyers got that squashed in a hurry.
Set it up via a chapter system. Local affiliates can pool local resources. Coordination at the national level. Power is spread out intrinsically and codified in the bylaws.
Since I was unable to attend in person I assigned my proxy vote to another representative. I followed the instructions on AOPA’s website (https://www.aopa.org/about/governance/aopa-by-laws/voting-by-proxy)
Just in case AOPA changes the link above, here are the instructions:
To designate another person as your voting proxy, send a written notice to the Secretary of AOPA by email to memberservices@aopa.org before the annual meeting takes place. Your notice should include all of the following:
Your full nameYour member numberThe dateYour email addressA statement that you are revoking any and all prior voting proxiesThe full name (first, middle, and last) of the person you are appointing as your proxy
I sent the e-mail on May 6th. I received an automated confirmation that my e-mail was received a few minutes later, but nothing else. Today my meeting rep said while he did have some proxies assigned to him at the meeting, several others (including mine) did not come through. Now I’m hearing of others complaining about their lost proxy votes as well.
I’m reminded of Hanlon’s Razor, which states “Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.” But based upon the AOPA board’s recent behavior I’m not so certain that both don’t apply here.
To AOPA’s credit, I received a reply today. A member of their legal department called me directly and apologized for the mistake. Not surprisingly, it was a manual process to have staff read all of the proxy request e-mails and enter them into a spreadsheet next to the designee’s name. And not all names (like mine) made it into the spreadsheet.
They did offer a null ballot that I can fill out to have my vote on record. Since the election is already passed this would have no effect on the outcome (even if the math was close). As for the future, they didn’t have specific details but did say it would be some form of on-line process.
General Aviation desperately needs a voice… Today AOPA showed everyone that they are not able to rally members. They have showed congress they’re weak and irrelevant. Just a bunch of old guys arguing with AOPA membership. … Oh, the drama 🙁
The good news is that the Social Media Aviation Groups are getting things done. They’re writing letters, posting information and making videos. They’re giving the people in the know an audience. Members of aircraft specific clubs and forums are getting the word out and exposing problems. Independent Media such as AvBrief are the past and future of Aviation Advocacy. The Journalist today monitor these forums and comment sections to find their next story. The YouTube personalities are getting our congressmen’s attention and keeping us informed. These people deserve much more credit then they’re getting. Donate your cancelled AOPA membership funds to these hard working folks.
“General Aviation desperately needs a voice…”
There is, my friend…and a good one.
It’s called the “EAA”.
Everyone here is screaming for a solution, an alternative to the AOPA, that already exists…
I don’t believe EAA has the same Washington advocacy as AOPA and NBAA. I also think they are a 501(c)(3) and “can’t” engage in direct political advocacy. They do advocate, but nowhere on the scale and effect as AOPA.
They could stand up a (c)(4) and wade into that area. Or, even better, they could partner with AOPA and coordinate advocacy inside the beltway and out…
The refusal to release member numbers speaks volumes.
My AOPA membership expires this month. I plan to let it expire. Their reforms are, at best, wallpaper over a big hole. Little more than symbolic hand waving gestures to give the appearance of responsive reform. Allowing members to make “suggestions” for board members is a real “let them eat cake” moment. All the power rests with the board and the board intends to keep it that way. Fine. Keep it that way. Ride this puppy all the way down. I’m just not going to sponsor the ride anymore.
Ms. Boatman,
Two issues:
I disagree. Journalists have different opportunities to question those in authority and AvBrief has used them all in this case. This was a time-and-access-limited opportunity for members to question the board. For Julie to “treat the setting as an impromptu news conference” would have taken a slot away from someone who did talk to his or her partner, spent the money and took the time to attend. We’ve already had plenty to say on the subjects at hand. We were there to record what others had to say.
Russ Niles
Editor-in-Chief
The floor was open to unlimited questions from those present. I don’t see your premise as valid. No slot would have been taken by Ms. Boatman’s participation.
Aaron, I appreciate your comments and questions regarding AvBrief’s coordinated efforts at the meeting. Different journalists deploy different tactics based on the situation. I had the opportunity to pose direct questions to half of the board members one on one during the meeting, as well as several members of the AOPA team. All of this will inform further reporting on what happens next.
Thank you for reading and sharing your assessment.
Julie
Why didn’t people show up?!?!? When they said only 20 people would be able to give their views, and only for 2 minutes each?!?!?
Then to look good by retracting it. The secret mission was already accomplished, dissuade participation.
Sorry, I have work to do. I can barely afford to take vacation, much less flying across the country in the middle of the week and vote. Other national organizations have ballots to allow members to vote. This is vote rigging. This will be my last year of membership in AOPA
It is absurd in this day and age that the meeting was not streamed online. There would have been a lot more people in attendance that way. Coming from Wyoming, it would have meant a least three days of my time to travel there. Not only lost income but a signficant expense.
The AMA has done the same thing. They alienated their physicians, who dropped membership. Today, the bulk of the American Medical Association membership consists of medical students (free or very cheap), physicians still in training (very cheap or free), and a few full time practicing doctors. Years of attrition have taken their toll, but they continue to tout themselves as the voice of medicine. We know better. Their membership is a microscopic fraction of the doctors in full practice.
AOPA is heading down this hole, or has already reached the bottom based on this articles report of lack of response to key questions. I renewed my membership in January just before the controversy and had planned to not renew the year before but didn’t cancel the autorenew in time. I cancelled the autorenew but let the membership continue until this year.
I will watch, carefully to see what the Frederick folks do in the coming year. I am not a subscriber. I am a member because I do think we need a voice in DC. I have been disappointed with the Frederick folks attitude when asked about certain issues arising at my based airport. This is reflective of the overall attitude toward “those guys who fly little airplanes and drag their grills onto the tarmac on Saturday afternoon.” The restriction on attendance and voice at the meeting was exactly the sign I was looking for to see if there is real change.
Concerning @voyagers thoughts, they match mine. I voted a proxy this morning on a retirement fund. It took less than a minute, including reading the share holder resolution arguments and making a decision on a billion dollar company. The fact that the AOPA board refers to us a subscribers speaks volumes. If I were a “subscriber,” well I’d probably be at another website similar to this one and I am here and not there.
“The foundational problem across our industry leads us to wonder why there was not a full house here in the AOPA National Aviation Community Center. Is it because we’ve become too accustomed to expressing ourselves in the safe online space and not in person?”
That is a very very rich statement.
This association has moved mountains to remain out of touch with its membership and teach people to pay up and shut up.
Likely hundreds of thousands have tried to communicate, some for a straight decade or more – and upon walking away are accused to sit on the sidelines, rather than staying on the sinking ship. The fewest are hiding behind an online persona. Everyone can find these people and talk with them.
Most of the loudest complainers have (1) history as paying members; (2) tried for years to change the way things are done from within; and (3) where ignored to death or until they sinply gave up. Many post with their real name, some can be googled for their history.
177 members going out of their way to attend this farce of a “meeting” is more than I expected. The association leadership will keep the remaining members in the dark to prevent this from happening again.
Meanwhile its probably best to blame those who simply gave up on this circus for the clowns acting up. This isn’t about Pleasance or Baker of Pope Francis in pink underwear. Its about an association which has become a one stop convenience shop with a monthly magazine subscription. The only thing missing are ads for staircase lifts in the magazine.
Maybe its time to accept AOPA’s failure as what it is and move on.
Who ever wrote that sentence is out of touch with the GA community as the AOPA board
The only reason I am a member of AOPA is that the insurance discount I receive from my aircraft insurance company is more than the dues.
The organization I support instead is EAA. The local chapters provide great value, the AirVenture event every year is fantastic in its GA support, and EAA seems to have an effective lobbying program. I suggest that pilots dissatisfied with AOPA look into EAA as an alternative.
David, I quite agree about Airventure. For a boost to flagging aviation spirits, Oshkosh is the best. Aviation, 24/7. As Paul Poberezny said, “If you come to Oshkosh, you have 40,000 instant friends.” These days, it’s more like 600,000 instant friends. And AOPA is an invited guest, thankfully not the center of attention.
Failure to release membership numbers is a bizarre “FU” to the membership. This is the one metric that is at the core of the primary issue. That issue is the organization’s health and the related concern that it is failing.
Of all the things you would expect the board to reveal at the annual meeting, this is the one thing that would show the board is honestly interested in change. This is also an indicator of the organization’s true health.
On what possible grounds could these morons refuse to release the membership numbers?
How else can anyone (not just the paid members) judge where the organization is and where it is going?
How did the board release “financial information” without revealing the current member dues?
Something is so wrong here that it defies belief. Even our 2000-member HOA releases membership numbers, member income, and the number of members who fail to pay. And they also live-stream board meetings.
Yesterday I heard a respected member of the aviation state that he thought the organization was “moving in the right direction”. How the heck could anyone deduce that after hearing the board’s refusal to state the current membership numbers?
Also, why aren’t more people enraged about this primary fact?
I can’t answer all of that, but there seem to be a lot of free memberships that expire/don’t convert. Even those are voting members. I’m frankly surprised that they weren’t using an “opt out” model for proxies.
The board has 40k proxies. That’s a lot, but not a lot when you consider membership is – PROBABLY – in the 200-300k range
They should figure out that number and make it public… then set a goal to increase by 50%… then get to work (members and the org).
My membership (active since 1985) was due to renew in March. I made several inquiries in the weeks after Pleasance was fired, and only received mid-level acknowledgement- no response at all from anyone to my concerns / questions.
I did not renew.
I’ve been an AOPA member since 1968, I’m an ASN Rep for threatened airport and believe in their Congressional lobbying prowess under Jim Coons, and the Safety Foundation efforts, as well as Learn to Fly initiatives. All that said, the Board is tone deaf in listening to member concerns and shifting issues in GA. The members are less concerned about which FMS system is in a new $30M corporate jet than whether the organization is truly focusing on issues of importance to the vast majority of members. And a mid-week, in-person only meeting with speaking restrictions is a clear message to members that “your input is not welcome!”. I understand it would be embarrassing to hold the meeting at their competitor’s Airventure, but there are plenty of other options, from Live Stream to Buckeye to resuming their own large events. And ending the proxy system, or opening it up to realistic alternatives would be a good way to insure that the board doesn’t remain so insulated from the input of the members…
Julie—-I am honestly disappointed that you even asked this/made this statement. It implies a blindness to not only the issues, but also to the audience that I never would have expected…..
The backbone of ANY aviation organization is the rank-and-file member that can’t easily drop everything and travel across the country for a middle of the week in person meeting—-especially when it was clearly stated by the organization that only 20 folks would have 2 minutes each to voice their opinions……..until the change at the very last minute.
Don’t insult your readers or members by implying that they don’t care enough to show up when the entire event, at least in the eyes of this old curmudgeon, appears to have been planned to make it as inconvenient and un-appealing as possible………..
I have been on the outside looking in at this AOPA tempest for quite some time now. I grew disillusioned with the organization back in the days of the wine club and cancelled my membership then.
I’ve not seen anything from AOPA that has encouraged me to re-up over the years…..and it will take a relatively big change now to get me to even consider membership again…
I wish AOPA the best, but the Board’s got a HUGE hill to climb to ever get a lot of us “regular guys” to ever send any financial support their way….or show up……
Well at least there is this: AOPA anted up table stakes of transparency. They published video of the meeting on their website, at https://aopa.org/about/governance/2026-aopa-member-meeting , for logged-in members to watch. 2h10m long.