Former AOPA President Darren Pleasance says he’ll continue to support the organization and its numerous efforts to advocate for general aviation despite his surprise dismissal from the post on Wednesday. “This organization matters,” he told AvBrief in an interview on Thursday. “I’m going to do what I can to support AOPA from the outside.” As we reported Wednesday, the official cause for AOPA’s board of trustees’ decision to cut ties with Pleasance was that he hadn’t fully relocated to the organization’s home base of Frederick, Maryland. Pleasance said he couldn’t discuss details of discussions about his departure, but he did say he was proud of the initiatives he started during his brief tenure. “I believe AOPA is in a better place today than it was when I took the position,” he said.
The board decision caused a major reaction among AOPA members, former and current. It was the dominant topic on all the major pilot forums and social media channels. Most were harshly critical of the move, and some are calling for changes at the Board of Trustees. AvBrief asked for an interview with Board Chair Jim Hauslein but we did not hear back in time for our deadline. Among the thousands of public posts about the situation is an open letter from AOPA member Endre Holen, who summed up the diverse opinions of those fighting the decision. It’s copied below with Holen’s permission.
I am with Endre Holen.
Squared, Raf. Finally someone had the cajónes to say what needed to be said.
And the band will play on.
…if we do nothing.
Me too!
FWIW, I’ve been an AOPA member since 1980 and this is just another step along what I’ve seen as a continual backslide over the last 10+ years. An organization that used to be everywhere, down in the weeds, has put itself on a pedestal that keeps getting raised higher and higher.
Meanwhile, the magazine has gotten less and less interesting. These days, it pales in comparison to Flying.
Frankly, I don’t give a rat’s ass where he lives. In these days of virtual anything, that should be the least of the association’s worries. And I really couldn’t blame anyone for not wanting to move here to Maryland with the obscene tax & fee structure.
AOPA should be basing these decisions on how the needs of the organization are being met – not on arbitrary factors that have little or no impact on the effectiveness and contributions of its leaders.
To be frank, I was going to let my membership lapse this year but the auto-renew (which I’m about to turn off) beat me to it.
I have a number of personal friends who work at AOPA, so all this hits close to home. But, it is what it is – AOPA, I think, has made their own bed and soiled it.
Stan Fetter
The reason for the termination stated was his failure to relocate to Maryland. Endre Holen did a great job of mentioning the resignations and frustrations of other Board members–THE PROBLEM IS MORE ABOUT THE ABILITY TO GOVERN THE ORGANIZATION THAN IT IS ABOUT WHERE PEOPLE ARE LOCATED.
Nothing mentioned about his ability to govern AOPA–or any mention of dereliction of duty. No charges or examples of failure to represent, or failure to organize.
I’ve been an AOPA member for over 40 years–I believe that AOPA does a good job of representing General Aviation with the FAA, in Congress, State Houses, and local problems–but I believe that it has increasingly developed “tunnel vision”–“we do these things because “WE ALWAYS HAVE DONE IT THIS WAY.”
As so many corporations have found, where a CEO or valued employee LIVES is no longer important. Rather, it is their ability to LEAD–to REPRESENT the members–and to EDUCATE and EFFECT CHANGE that is important today. Pleasance has an airplane to help him represent members in matters of governance. Where he lives is of little importance. Perhaps it is the AOPA BOARD that needs to change!
Well stated; I’ve been an AOPA member for almost 50 years and felt Darren provided an extremely positive presence heading the organization.
I’m pulling my proxy for now.
Right on Endre. You are calling out the footsteps that everyone hears. AOPA has to keep step and Darren is still the best candidate. An obvious sign of an out of touch board “He didn’t relocate to Frederick”?? With the travel involved in that role, I think where you live isn’t relevant to performance.
Thank you for publishing Endre Holen’s excellent letter. In comments on the IAA Facebook page (we have over 11,000 followers) I see overwhelming support for Pleasance and disappointment with AOPA.
Thanks for this article and for including Endre’s letter. I shared my own letter to the AOPA Board on Facebook. It’s clear that members and the industry are seeing through the Board’s false assertions and are demanding more. I urge everyone who supports Darren to write an email saying so to
boardoftrustees@aopa.org
To pull your AOPA proxy…
log into the website at http://www.AOPA.org > my account > membership info > edit your proxy settings.
They appear to have removed the ability to edit proxy settings. The only option I get is to extend my proxy.
I have written to them asking that the proxy be cancelled.
AOPA responded within minutes and did delete my my proxy as requested. So while you apparently can no longer do it yourself, they will do it if you ask.
Well written letter from Endre. This “lack of willingness to move” is a red herring. It’s what board’s use to protect the organization and make the termination look socially acceptable. I know – I’m a multi company board member and Chair of two tech companies. They also would have required Darren to sign a non-disparagement clause to get any sort of severance.
The board may need to speak to the real reason of the termination but lawyers will need to sign off on it. My biggest concerned as expressed brilliantly by Endre is the dysfunction of the board and the exits from Bill Ayer and Stephen Elop, both of whom I know from the Seattle area and were brilliant additions to a clubby board. When they resigned that screamed that the board did not like their disruption. And I’m sure they didn’t appreciate Darren’s drive to change the organization.
I also am revoking my proxy and believe me, the board of trustees will work really hard to protect the status quo and believe that they can ride out the storm. PLEASE let’s not let them go back to their comfort zone.
I have been to Frederick, but that’s another story in itself. I could not be paid enough to live in the DC area. Oh, yeah, having to identify all the squares with cars, crosswalks, or motorcycles just to post a comment on this site is wearing very thin, as well.
As soon as I post this comment, I’m headed over to the AOPA website to terminate my automatic renewall.
AOPA is still the preeminent voice of General Aviation, and I have watched it go though many changes since 1977 when, as a young underwriter at AVEMCO, I would be asked to take something upstairs to AOPA in the Air Rights Building in Bethesda Maryland. We may not like all of the decisions that have been made by the board over the years, but the intent has always been to keep the organization strong and on the forefront of American aviation. The question is…”Is AOPA still the voice of General Aviation?” I would argue that yes, it still fills that role, and it is crucial to the success of GA in America that it continue to do so. However, its position in that regard has been eroding for many years, partly because of the demographics of General Aviation pilots and the equipment they fly, partly because AOPA headquarters sees itself as being irreplaceable and frankly a bit arrogant, but perhaps most importantly because of the changes in our society in general. In the end it is the Board that must bear the responsibility for that decline. It is the Board that hired Darren Pleasance, and if now their position is that Mr. Pleasant’s failure to relocated to Maryland is a key reason for his departure…then should not that same Board have known of his intransigence in this regard prior to his employment? I wish nothing but the best for AOPA, but unless it finds its way back to its core mission, that is the support and growth of General Aviation, it will indeed become less and less relevant.