Last week, the AOPA (airplane owners and pilots association) board sacked now-former CEO Darren Pleasance after ~a year in the role. Claiming they reached a mutual decision driven by the fact that Pleasance lives in Bend, OR, and they want someone closer to AOPA headquarters in Maryland.
To be explicit, this entire thing is fucking bullshit. Quite frankly, Pleasance is the best CEO AOPA has had in years. He’s helped advocate for much needed change in the aviation community: pushing for unleaded fuel (yes, it’s the mid 2020s and most small aircraft still burn leaded fuel), advocating for mental health reform, use-of-ads-b reform (trying to get it so that it can’t be used for fees and such), and otherwise working to grow GA by meeting with pilots and working to address their actual needs.
This is in very stark contrast to previous CEOs who seemed much more like they were just pushing to make it so existing aviators could keep flying as they got older (and maybe shouldn’t be flying anymore?), and were otherwise uninspiring leaders.
Quite frankly, I’d like to see those in the board responsible for this change to be fired or otherwise forced to resign. Barring that, I’d like Pleasance reinstated.
Like, I am a member of AOPA solely because it’s a way to support a friend who writes for them. But I have felt much better represented by EAA (experimental aircraft association), of which I am very happily a member, because they’re actually working to do the job AOPA should also be doing.
You bet your ass I’ll be sending AOPA a letter about this bullshit.
#aviation #avgeek #aopa