Hightower Resigns as EAA President/CEO

[Tommuller2000]

I don't hear any deafening roar! The commercialization of EAA over the last two years, from writers, however good, hired from other GA publications, to fewer video tips to aerospace booth space on the homebuilt flight line just moved us a little too far from our roots. EAA still needs a mix, and homebuilding is a significant part of it, but not all.

Rod Hightower showed the danger of trying to order volunteers, rather then lead willing volunteers. His actions were responsible for fewer volunteers at AirVenture 2012, when many voted with their feet. Jack Pelton comes from a similar corporate background where leaders make decisions and the rank and file must follow whether they like it or not. This is a critical difference with a volunteer organization and I hope Mr. Pelton gets it. I miss Tom Pobrezny; he gets it.

[Bill Berson]

This thread was started by an EAA staffer to discuss the matter of the EAA president leaving and EAA's future direction and provide insight to the EAA board, I hope. If you think this is nonsense and crap then don't read this thread.

Here is my message to the board:

I think the new president of EAA should be elected by vote of the members (abolish proxy) for a term of two years.
Further, I would like to see the president serve without compensation.
(don't laugh, we have a first class, nonprofit aviation museum here, run entirely by its "retired" founder and others without compensation. He volunteers 12 hours per day.)

[steveinindy]

I miss Tom Pobrezny; he gets it.

Eh...I don't think Tom was any better (or worse) than Rod. The only reason he is/was held in such high regard was because of the great man with which he shared half of his DNA.

Rod Hightower showed the danger of trying to order volunteers, rather then lead willing volunteers. His actions were responsible for fewer volunteers at AirVenture 2012, when many voted with their feet.

As a former volunteer fire officer, I hate this myth that volunteers are immune from having to follow orders or directions and can't be fired for failing to comply. Either they do what is necessary or they find their way out. Most people I know who "vote with their feet" tended to be the people who are their for entirely self-serving
reasons. We see this in the volunteer fire service all the time because of the guys who want to have the ego boost (such as it were) of being a firefighter without the sacrifice et cetera. These are the guys who show up only for the big fires and bad car crashes but "aren't available" for the medical calls and other less "glamorous" duties. Having grown up in a town that survives almost entirely on a festival (kind of like how Oshkosh relies so heavily on AirVenture but to an even great degree), I understand and have seen firsthand that the same thing happens with volunteers of other sorts as well.

Granted, the difference between a good leader and a great leader is often simply the ability to convince people that they want to do what you want them to do even if they originally had other plans in mind. Once you achieve this, a smart leader will give them the means to do it and then get out of their way.

I think the new president of EAA should be elected by vote of the members (abolish proxy) for a term of two years.

Exactly. That must happen if there is to be any semblance of credibility.

[RV8505]

I have a rule in aviation: No politics, No religion, no primer wars. Aviation is -- or was -- fun for me because it's the one avenue I can escape all the nonsense of talk radio, political ads, and general crap of what passes for public discourse today. AirVenture is always a requirement because for a week, I can immerse myself in people coming together under a common bond, putting aside the differences of day-to-day life and enjoying this fine obsession.

This has all been ruined for me by discussions just like this one, which aren't any different than the political discussions I've thought to escape.

I'm in the news business and for years I've had a saying: "You know what killed the news business? News people."

Now, I think that the people who killed aviation are aviators.

When I read this continuing squabbling, all I can hear in my head is "terrain! terrain! terrain! Pull up."

Let's try to get together and work things out.

Good post Bob.

[Bill Greenwood]

For Bob Collins:

If you find that an open and free discussion of EAA or other matters is so painful and/or threatening for you to read, there is a simple solution, just don't read it.
Find some forum where everyone already agrees with you, and never a discouraging word is heard.That might not be an organization, especially one as large as EAA. Rather it might be a cult.

I, for one, believe in the free exchange of ideas and I am not threatened by someone who might write or say something that I don't agree with.
Many of the rest of us don't want to live in your restricted world.

[Burtles]

Let's try to get together and work things out.

Bob I have been reading your blog and forum posts for years and am delighted to learn that you have finally come round to a positive way of thinking. Good on you my man.

[Bill Greenwood]

I don't know much about Rod Hightower, never really met him. I sat at the same table with him and Sean Elliot at an aviation meeting in Chino recently, but he seemed pretty wrapped up in themselves, and never said a word to me.
I note he does fly some real airplanes, so that's good.

I don't know anything about the new man, Jack Pelton but he seems to also be a real pilot. Maybe he will work out fine.

[RV8505]

I don't know much about Rod Hightower, never really met him. I sat at the same table with him and Sean Elliot at an aviation meeting in Chino recently, but he seemed pretty wrapped up in themselves, and never said a word to me.

.

Maybe you're a little more popular than you know!?

[steveinindy]

I don't want to read a magazine whose authors bloviate about their personal experiences and opinions each month.

So....you don't want to read anything but scientific journals? Even the old issues of Sport Aviation you find they are heavily, heavily biased towards personal anecdotal experience ("When I built my plane, I did....") or opinion. The one that jumps to mind is an old Tony Bingelis article about cockpit layout where he offered suggestions based on the need for "safety" but what he suggests runs counter to scientifically validated approaches since the 1950s. Tony was (is?) a damned bright guy but to act like the good ol' days of Sport Aviation weren't chock full of one-off stories and anecdotal advice is patently false.

You could chat with Steve Wittman or Tony LeVier while in line at the porta-john. They were just normal people.

I've had similar encounters every year. One year, when I was on crutches, I ended up being given a ride on a golf cart to find myself sitting behind Bob Hoover who was apparently the one to ask the driver to stop and give me a lift. Granted, it's anecdote but I've never felt that any of the "big names" was unapproachable. Rutan (both of them), Yeager, Bud Anderson, more of the Tuskegee Airmen than I can count, John Roncz and many others are folks I've had friendly casual conversations with over the years. Hell, the year after my cart ride with Bob Hoover he saw me walking and asked how my recovery had gone!

I don't know much about Rod Hightower, never really met him. I sat at the same table with him and Sean Elliot at an aviation meeting in Chino recently, but he seemed pretty wrapped up in themselves, and never said a word to me.
I note he does fly some real airplanes, so that's good.

Rod seems to be a nice guy, at least based on the few times I got to meet him. The longest interaction I had with him was a twenty minute conversation after I found myself on the north end of KOSH drooling over a beautiful Stearman. He struck me as being an oversized kid once you got him on the subject of planes. Management styles aside, I think that is an assessment that would fit most of us on here. If not, you're probably on the wrong forum. LOL

[Bob Collins]

Bob I have been reading your blog and forum posts for years and am delighted to learn that you have finally come round to a positive way of thinking. Good on you my man.

Whatever. Calling each other names and questioning people's character without giving them a chance to outline a vision isn't an effective way to move ahead on substantive issues, and moving ahead toward a tangible solution should be the goal at this point.

The message was I imparting isn't that everyone should stop talking, it's that we should put down the pitchforks and begin to constructively move the discussion forward.

Repeating old grievances and allegations over and over and over again isn't progress. Judging who's a REAL EAAer and who's a poser isn't going to get us anywhere.

Everybody got their wish and Hightower is gone. So let's move along and capitalize on the opportunity that is being presented to us now.

Maybe the solution is to start by considering what we agree on first about what EAA delivers to us and taking it from there.

So, what do we agree on?