Hightower Resigns as EAA President/CEO

[Bill Greenwood]

For "crusty old aviator", whoever you are hiding behind that alias:

No, as far as the EAA goes , I don't think a "zillionaire riding , (riding is not flying) in the back of a Gulfstream, which likely as not may not even be owned by such a rider, is not the same as someone who is in EAA for the fun of aviation, for the sport of aviation, thus our magazine is called "Sport Aviation".

Almost all of us have a great and lasting respect for Paul P and what he did to found the EAA. For a long time it really is or was his organization.

But, perhaps somewhere along the way, it also became something in which the members are a great part of and who should have a lot of consideration, too.
I don't know where the dividing line is, and I don't even know if the changes lately in EAA are what Paul and to some extent Tom want. Was it Paul's desire to hire Mac from another magazine? I have some doubts on that, but don't really know.

Having all the changes in EAA seeming to come from only the top down may be part of the problem, where the members don't nominate and certainly don't vote on the new president, and where they are just appointed by the board.
We don't even know what Rod's salary was, and if it really was the $640,000 that was rumored, then it seems about 2 or 3 times what I'd expect and may seem that same way to the average EAA member.

Another problem is that the EAA, if they even know or care, hasn't always made it clear what their focus is and what customer or member base they are focusing on.
I suggested on this forum and also in conversation with a person at the admin that they do a survey to find members preferences.
obviously EAA, or at least some of the admin don't really want to do this, as they came up with lot's of reasons not to.
They could easy put a mail back card in the magazines to do a brief survey, just like they have subscription cards or raffle cards.
Their excuse was the not everyone gets the mag so the survey would not be perfect. Therefore we avoid having a perfect survey by not having any survey at all.

Some members claim we are "getting away from our roots" by not having homebuilding rule all of EAA, and some resent any focus the is not the bottom end of the cost scale on flying.
It is my educated? ( 35 years as a gen av pilot and some as an exp, builder, owner, and pilot) that homebuilding is a part of EAA, but a minor part. I don't think the average person is going to build a plane. And while local chapters may be great for many, and very active in some places , again that is not the focus of most people. And if you cut out anything over $100k or $200K so that many people are not resentful of what they cannot afford; you cut out many of the great fun airplanes, the B-17s etc. If you had an auto musuem, would you like only Fords and Chevys because the average person could not afford a Ferarri or Rolls? Or an art museum with only works under $10,000?

I'd like a survey to see what members want, and what is least desired. Many have already said that the acro part of the airshow is overdone and repetitive.

I hope EAA can encompass most of what is aviation for the fun and sport of it, and it seems to have done that in the past pretty well.

[bdk]

Another problem is that the EAA, if they even know or care, hasn't always made it clear what their focus is and what customer or member base they are focusing on.

I hope EAA can encompass most of what is aviation for the fun and sport of it, and it seems to have done that in the past pretty well.

Good post Bill!

Does a corporate chalet really encourage grassroots aviation? I think the goal should be primarily to make aviation more affordable. The whole reason the expirimental amateur built category came about as I recall was due to the expense of new (and to a certain extent used) factory built aircraft and the limitied availability of certain aircraft types, combined with the do-it-yourself mentality that many of us have. And certainly the restoration of older aircraft requires a similar skillset and there are many do-it-yourself types there as well. I also think the kit market is thriving despite the economy, and that market has been another great source of new members.

[Kevin O'Halloran]

I was told the chalets netted over 100K in profit after all expenses---that pays for a lot of trams and services--keeps up the buildings where the forums are , etc.
Kevin

[Chad Jensen]

<snip>I suggested on this forum and also in conversation with a person at the admin that they do a survey to find members preferences.
obviously EAA, or at least some of the admin don't really want to do this, as they came up with lot's of reasons not to.
They could easy put a mail back card in the magazines to do a brief survey, just like they have subscription cards or raffle cards.
Their excuse was the not everyone gets the mag so the survey would not be perfect. Therefore we avoid having a perfect survey by not having any survey at all.

<snip>

I'd like a survey to see what members want, and what is least desired. Many have already said that the acro part of the airshow is overdone and repetitive.

Hey Bill,

I'm kinda curious as to where that info on not doing survey's came from, but nonetheless, we run survey's frequently on the membership. From monthly survey's on Sport Aviation to what the members want to see at AirVenture to who our membership actually is. The results are slowly filtering in and we'll be able to provide what our findings are as soon as we know.

The magazine survey's have been going on for a long time, but the "who our membership is" survey's are relatively new. That's the stuff I'm really curious to see.

This is way off topic though...

[steveinindy]

I was told the chalets netted over 100K in profit after all expenses---that pays for a lot of trams and services--keeps up the buildings where the forums are , etc.
Kevin

Yeah but they cater to folks who aren't homebuilders and we're "excluded from them" (the "test chalet" the NBAA had a couple of years back and my experiences there with must have been a fluke ). Let's not muddy the waters by looking at it as a practical means to fund things that help the "little guys". LOL

It would not surprise me at all if they brought a nice return on investment.

[steveinindy]

The whole reason the expirimental amateur built category came about as I recall was due to the expense of new (and to a certain extent used) factory built aircraft and the limitied availability of certain aircraft types, combined with the do-it-yourself mentality that many of us have.

Where the heck did you hear that? It's been around since long before that happened. The experimental moniker/category existed back into the 1920s-1930s when they actually had the "NX" tail numbers for them. The "amateur built" aspect was simply a way of dividing it out for statistical purposes and I've seen a reference to it as a statistical category in a CAA (the predecessor of the FAA) report from the early 1950s. Whether they were handing out airworthiness certificates with "E-AB" on them is kind of moot point much akin to the use of the term "Negro" vs "Black" vs "African-American" as a way of describing a group of people for statistical purposes.

[RV8505]

I don't know.

You highlighted several problems however as a EAA member I believe it is in our culture to solve our own problems. And we did! Regardless of reason Hightower is gone. Bill, You were at Oshkosh, I would think, If you had all of this to say, why didn't you take a break from the Warbird area and show up at the board meeting in the theatre in the woods and make your grievances known. Hightower was right there on the stage and you could have asked them anything you wanted! With all your questions we could have benefited or at least been amused.

[Bill Berson]

A membership poll won't get to the many core experimenter types that have already abandoned EAA.
The main problem has been that EAA had no dedicated homebuilder magazine. EAA has Sport Aerobatics, Warbirds and other specialist publications, for example, but never something simply called Homebuilding.

This seems odd because home building was the core.
About 10 years ago, the paper version of Experimenter was dedicated to homebuilding, but it was morphed into Sport Pilot and this then covered mostly $ 100,000 factory built planes from Europe. ( again, not homebuilding) So it was cancelled, leaving members with no home built magazine (paper magazine).

Tom Poberezny said Airventure is the template for Sport Aviation. So naturally, now anything goes into Sport Aviation magazine just as anything goes at Oshkosh.
It doesn't bother me that everything is at Oshkosh, and really, most members did not go to Oshkosh anyway.
But they want a publication for average people. Average people don't fly Barons anymore (or ever?).
And my last point- EAA is about aircraft, not how to fly. Lots of other magazines teach how to fly.

p.s. Experimenter is back in digital form. Looks good Chad.

[Chad Jensen]

p.s. Experimenter is back in digital form. Looks good Chad.

[Bill Greenwood]

Chad, I have been an EAA member since 1982, probably longer than most on this forum, and I don't recall ever having seen any such survey. So when you say that you "run surveys frequently" , there must be some disconnect between Osh and my mailbox. EAA can sure find my mail box with the multiple requests to renew my membership when the current one still has months to go, but I don't believe that I have ever seen any type of general survey.
I know a specific mailing may be an expense, but it may be worth doing or even a return type card in the magazine.
And I have been to about 25 conventions and don't recall ever being given any sort of survey form when I register there. All this takes is the printed sheet that the member or even public could fill out and drop in a box, doesn't have to have any mailing cost.
But , of course one can point out that this would not reach people who are not at the convenion, therefore not a perfect survey so a good excuse not to do any survey.


At the very least, it could list our 4 or 5 divisions and ask the member to rank where he wants the most attention.
A longer survey is even better with more real choices.

So if EAA has done surveys, who and what was asked, how were the members contacted, and what were the results?
Having some contract opinion business tell you what members think, based on a small sample, is not really the same thing.