A petition calling for the reinstatement of Darren Pleasance as president and CEO of AOPA has gathered almost 4,000 signatures in two days. A week after the announcement that he was no longer in the job, a group calling itself AOPA Members United launched the petition on actionnetwork.org. “We represent a broad cross-section of the general aviation community, including long-time pilots, aviation professionals, aircraft owners, instructors, mechanics, and committed AOPA members,” the petition preamble says. “From this vantage point, many of us believe this decision is not in the best interests of AOPA or the future of general aviation.”
AOPA announced his departure Feb. 4 shortly after AvBrief broke the story and said at the time that Pleasance’s failure to fully relocate to the organization’s home base of Frederick, Maryland, was a factor cited. “Over time, it’s become increasingly clear to the AOPA board that the AOPA CEO role should be based full-time in Frederick, Maryland, at AOPA’s headquarters,” the announcement said. Since then, forums and media comments have been flooded with an outpouring of support for Pleasance, with many citing skepticism in AOPA’s explanation. In a second message to members, the Board of Trustees acknowledged the outcry and said the search had begun for his successor.
“The Peasants Revolt Of 2026” (loose historical reference 1381 in England). A good entry for the history- books of AOPA. The entire BOD needs to be deleted. Credibility shot.
You mean, “Pleasance Revolt”?
Nope. I meant a true to the bone peasants revolt, though the peasants revolted for Pleasance. 😆
It might be nice to know why he was fired before going all in on bringing him back. BODs rarely do things capriciously due to fiduciary liability concerns. Maybe he absconded with funds, we just don’t know. I do think we need a more transparent BOD–a fake reason does not serve the membership in any way. If he was a sub-par leader, we need to know how the process will be fixed next time. If he committed something actionable, we need to know that too. Lying to us is the worst way of handling the situation.
Definitely revoke your proxy if you’re an AOPA member.