...And Here, Darn it, Are The Heartbreakers

Final Compilations/Analysis by ANN Editor-In-Chief/Corporate Insomniac, Jim Campbell

Aero-Note: SORRY to keep dragging this process out... but for reasons that will become evident shortly, these are BUSY days at ANN. Still; I wanted to finish these before the end of January and I'm not quite there yet... though I hope to finish the last of these this week... we shall see.
In the meantime, wait til you see what we've been up to... -- Jim Campbell-ANN E-I-C

It is both the most "fun," and most difficult task, facing the ANN staff at the end of every year -- determining who, or what, did the most to promote the cause of aviation in the past 365 days... while also chastising those people or entities that did all they could to undermine the many successes the aerospace community has managed to accomplish.
 
Alas, 2010 saw more than its fair share of downers, aviation-wise. Sure, "stuff" happens... but a few folks, issues, or entities seemed to go out of their way to create problems for the world of aviation.

So... it is ANN's annual obligation to recognize a number of our Aero-Heroes/Heartbreakers for 2010... in something of an informal order.

Let us know what you think of our selections... whom YOU would have liked be included, or omitted, from such a list. In the meantime, we hope those who had something to do with this year's selections think a little more positively about the welfare of this industry, so that future lists become harder and harder to catalog.

Be it ignorance, arrogance or just plain incompetence, these were the folks or topics that made our lot a whole lot more difficult and immeasurably injured the aviation world in the past year.

Shame on those issues, folks, or groups that made our lot so much tougher in 2010...

Aero-Heartbreakers: The Aircraft Owner's and Pilot's Association

We've had some tough things to say about AOPA this year... and I'm afraid we see no reason to quit now. It hurts to write that... really. Call it 'tough love' if you will, but it should not be lost to anyone that ANN, once one of the most prominent and public supporters of the AOPA mission, has publicly declared that we have no confidence in the organization at this time... and especially in its leadership.

What changed since then?

AOPA itself, obviously.

This comes at a time when we desperately need the best efforts of the strong, talented, well-lead AOPA of yesteryear... an organization that had guts, class, vision, and direction... and no hint of a wine club. The AOPA of the last couple of years, though, is a wandering, aimless, myopic, self-absorbed version of what it once was... while the FAA shoved some pretty ridiculous nonsense down our throats (Re-Registration, the spectre of a ridiculous new Pilot ID system, tons of regs, and caving into the TSA at every turn, among other things), the state of California nearly destroyed the state's flight school industry, and the TSA tried to make us ALL scared of our shadows... and everyone else's... we saw none of the guts and direction that AOPA had under its previous administration... and when you question them about it... they get defensive, insulting, often downright nasty and arrogantly intone that they know what's good for us.

Worse... this organization is NOT 'Of The People..."

Ask AOPA how their leadership comes into being and you'll be rewarded with a description of a twisting-turning, bizarre, in-bred, Keystone Kops set of rules and bylaws that are designed to allow those that currently run these organization to keep doing what they want to do without the "interference" of the little people like you and I (and to be fair, EAA offers much of the same). If they want our support, they have to respect each and every one of us enough to be responsive to us to the point where we have a direct say in how these organizations are lead, staffed, and directed. In a constitutional democracy, it is bizarre to note that such a member association would eschew the very basic tenets of the liberty that created this nation and inspires much of the rest of the world to bigger and better things.

We desperately need to take a critical look at the role AOPA should be playing and make changes to meet the needs of the future… they need to reorganize, refine and whittle down their mission statements to something that actually produces a proper benefit -- and no more -- and they need to quit interfering with the rest of the industry in those areas where the industry is doing just fine by itself (i.e., associations should not be insurance companies, wine merchants, investment counselors, PR Agencies, travel agents, 'news' agencies or take on other roles that get in the way of other industry business - or compete directly with businesses run by various members of its own organization - talking about eating your young!).

They need to quit playing ego games and hoisting up their leadership as Demigods, they need to quit fighting with other associations, they need to practice complete transparency, they need to quit being greedy/hyper fund-raising entities simply for the sake of playing cash cow, and they need to be completely and unerringly run at the behest of, and for the benefit of, their constituency.

They need to get BACK ON TRACK... LEAN, MEAN, TARGETED, DIRECTED, RELEVANT and GERMANE to the real needs of their constituency. This is not the AOPA that we observed in 2010... this is not the AOPA we knew a few years ago, and this current AOPA (as we see it), is undeserving of our support until they get their act together. Period.

BUT... the minute we see them getting their act together, we remain willing and able to support them or any other organization that proves deserving of our support... but, alas, that time is not at hand.

FMI: www.aopa.org, Comments/Criticism for ANN???