:yeahthat:
AOPA does a good job overall, and by no means will it meet 100% of everyones goals or objectives.
So how should AOPA promote GA for the long term?
IMO giving away an airplane isn't going to cut it. Would I want one - yes. Do I need one - No.
I remember some article in AOPA a few years ago about what happened to the airplanes that they gave away. If I remember correctly most were sold and I believe within a year. Makes one wonder why they were not kept, the cost, not needed, not used as often as they thought it would be?
I felt AOPA's Project Pilot was very good, a introduced 3 people to GA and I believe 1 earned his PPL. Lost track of the others due to having to move.
When I would go up just to maintain my currency I would ask some of the neighbors, who I thought might be interested, if they wanted to go just to give them the experience.
I've also taken friends of my kids up - their parents were more apprehensive and some said no. I also pointed out that you let your kid ride a moped/scooter with no training or helmet (another story) and you let them ride rollercoasters so I personally didn't see their logic. Didn't win many friends that way.
I try to promote GA when ever I can, even while working for an airline. It is real easy to do, especially when going through the TSA security lines. I'll never know if any of those folks every went further.
My kids have logged some wonderful cross country trips in GA; SLC-TOP and ETAR-EKBI (Ramstein AB Germany to Billund Denmark). Yet sadly their interests have since changed.
Or, just maybe in todays world of "I want it and I want it now" mentality, people just don't want to put in the effort. In which case GA would be the least of this countries problems.
Every organization/individual pays a price for the values that they want to uphold. Not to say that that is a bad thing, but if GA is unable to find its self in todays culture, that price maybe to high.
OK - done with the soapbox
