Baker Interview Much Listened To... But Not Well-Received

• Listen to Part One Of Our Interview With Mark Baker

• Listen to Part Two Of Our Interview With Mark Baker

• Listen to Part Three Of Our Interview With Mark Baker

Well... after 2100 suggestions for questions to be put to the new boss at AOPA, we expected a LOT of feedback to the actual interview, which we represented in three parts last week.

We were not disappointed in the volume of your response... but certainly became aware of your disappointment in the way Baker responded to ANN.

While many listeners and readers thought Baker sounded pleasant enough, there were a lot of concerns expressed over his willingness to dodge certain aspects of certain questions and the lack of specificity about well-known concerns and problems with the Association. Many thought this comments about the FAA not being the enemy were off the mark in that many in aviation, looking over recent year's FAA actions and decisions have decided that the agency is anything but our friend.

Avoiding more specific responses about AOPA competing with other aviation businesses, about his lack of knowledge of LSAs and related sport aviation matters, his unwillingness to critique the previous leadership and a number of other factors left many feeling that Baker might wind up being 'Craig Fuller 2...' which no one seems to want (yet another concern voiced by a significant number of respondents).

There seemed to be a significant desire for a more aggressive tone, the potential for more assertive association actions and programs, MUCH more transparency -- while the total 'dodge' (as so described by quite a few readers) in response to our question about his compensation package (which will have to be disclosed within the year, regardless) unsettled many of the people that responded to ANN who couldn't understand why he didn't answer a question that will be known at some time in the future (though AOPA, over the last five years, has been FAR less forthcoming in this regard than the during the Boyer Presidency).

Still... we wish to offer one caveat/explanation to the concerns raised... Mr. Baker has had the job for a little over three weeks and his reluctance to be more specific and detailed may have more with his being in a new gig than in overt evasion... and as time goes on, we hope we'll discover a willingness, on his part, to be more transparent and open about the AOPA agenda and its operations than what we've experienced over the last several years...

As always, we'll continue to engage AOPA and report back to you what we learn...

FMI: www.aopa.org, ANN Readers.... What Do You Think of Mark Baker's First Major Interview???