Originally Posted by
scott f
I think the idea of the poll was to give the EAA leadership an idea where the members stand as that should (well I would say must, but I will stick with should) be a BIG factor on where they go with this. This is a very polarizing issue for sure and i think they need gross idea on where people stand on this, so I would encourage people to take the poll.
Hal, my hat is off to you and Steve and everyone else there that is trying to navigate these waters. This whole short notice thing was designed to put you into a difficult, no win situation. For once, a government agency did something well for EAA can;t win here, Jack just needs to figure out how to lose less. The saddening part of this while thing is where is the outrage on the part of the EAA? I have seen some very calm, matter of fact news releases from Jack and others, but my friend, you are getting blackmailed. Where is your outrage? Where are you drawing the moral line in the sand? I know (trust me I do know) that some negotiations with the FAA need to be private if you have any hope of winning. But, sorry, you don't have any hope of changing the FAA's mind here, the Senate campaign will fail in this because there is no time for legislation before, no hope the President will sign it and people will soon forget after August.
So it comes down to this, the FAA has had the courage to put everything on the line. Does the EAA? If you don't you lose. Sure you have your "AirVenture" as normal, but you have set a precedent that will never be undone and you have proven to the FAA that the largest Experimental Lobbying organization and the second largest Aviation Lobbying group can easily be pushed around. That loss of reputation is unrecoverable. FAA has bet everything that you will go for the short term money - prove them wrong.
And look, I keep harping on this, but will say it again. Airventure is a nice vacation, but you are not Airventure inc. In my mind at least, EAA exists as an industry trade group to protect me from bad people. I pay a lot of money and volunteer a lot of time for you to protect me from said bad people. So I don;t want to speak for the guy that started it, but I think this poll is really about that question. Has EAA become Airventure Inc, with every other service subordinated to that function or is the EAA willing to take a hit on Airventure to protect those in general aviation? Stated differently - are we going to choose short term balance sheet health for long term damage to GA?
That is really what this poll is asking, what do the members value more? I think it is important that the leadership knows what the members think.