Sport Aviation available through Sporty's

[Kyle Boatright]

http://eaa.org/news/2012/2012-01-24_sportys.asp


I'm trying to figure out if this is a good or bad thing.

Good: "This could increase membership."

Bad: "This could really increase membership if we put spiffy factory built jets on the cover..."

[Frank Giger]

Third option:

It could put a few more bucks into the EAA coffers.

I was going to write that it's a quaint and nostalgic idea to sell a paper magazine subscription with the goal of making money on the circulation itself, but the aviation community is weird.

Where else can a plastic cup holder with a suction cup and a swivel actually sell for over forty bucks and a simple step stool ("for reaching the wing for fueling") that looks like every other one made go for fifty?

I won't even address the mental image of the Little John, which is "A convenient, spill-proof portable urinal that can also be used for motion sickness." I think I'd rather reverse the order of use, to be honest.

[PaulDow]

Rod gave a talk before the AOPA Summit last Sept., and he said that it was being sold in a few pilot shops for a couple months at that time. He said that the feedback was that they were being picked up and bought more than the other aviation magazines on the rack. Generally by flight students.
That was my reasoning about steering the content away from the "That Airplane Almost Ended My Life!" articles. While we need to be careful, I think the magazine's focus should be the positive aspects of aviation to attract young people.

[tonycondon]

soooo, a 12 month subscription through sporty's for $45, or a 12 month membership for $40. what am I missing here?

[Chad Jensen]

Nothing...it's a better deal to join. ;)

[PaulDow]

I would think if it was sold for less than a membership, there would be a ton of complaints and defections, since there's probably a significant number of members who don't use member services besides the magazine. I didn't see the details, and thought it was just single copies. The subscription though doesn't seem to make much sense. I guess they just offer it for the aspect of not saying "no" to a customer.

[tonycondon]

so instead of offering subscriptions why don't they just sell memberships?

[Chad Jensen]

It's by design to grow membership. Most that are interested will join rather than pay $45 for the subscription.

[kmacht]

I don't think this is a good thing. It is going to end up like airventure. You get a ton of people to join because it is cheaper to join and get the magazine than it is to just get the magazine. Just like it is cheaper to go to airventure for a week including a membership instead of just buying admission. You get a whole bunch of people joining as members for the discount and not because they want to support EAA. The leaders at EAA then start seeing all these new "members" who have interests other than what EAA was supposed to stand for. They cater to these new members interests and suddenly the purpose and scope of EAA gets watered down to the point where it becomes a general aviation organization rather than an experimental aircraft association. If they were to seperate the magazine and the membership and stop trying to push membership on those just wanting the magazine I bet you would see a very different makeup of who members of EAA are and where their interests stand.

Keith

[Jim Hann]

Keith,

We have to get them through the door before we can convince them to stay. Here is a great example. We have a gentleman in our chapter who owned an Arrow and joined because he liked hanging out with pilots. Perfectly happy with his Arrow, then he discovered flying Young Eagles. Then he went to AirVenture. Then he went the next year. Then he went last year and came back hot for a BD-4C. Now his Arrow is sold to finance his BD-4C that is coming together in his garage! If you don't believe me, here is his blog: http://cheerfulcurmudgeon.com/ He will tell you right up front he never expected to build an airplane.

Everybody in EAA doesn't start out as a homebuilder and find EAA. We've got to cast the net and reel them in!

Jim

[Frank Giger]

Plus the local FBO can get a subscription and put it on the table for pilots waiting out the weather.

[Dan Grunloh]

I don't think this is a good thing. ...... They cater to these new members interests and suddenly the purpose and scope of EAA gets watered down to the point where it becomes a general aviation organization rather than an experimental aircraft association.

Keith

You have a point but to be more correct EAA is not precisely an experimental aircraft organization. By including warbirds, antiques, classics, Light sport LSA's and ultralights, it has become more of a Sport Aviation organization. Like it or not the Board of Directors have seen fit to open up EAA to a wider aviation audience. In the end Sport Aviation is much more appealing than straight general aviation so hopefully those newcomers will be attracted to the sport side of it, or at least become supporters of our sport activities.

If you read the corporate message from EAA you often hear the phrase "grow participation in aviation". We all know that growth isn't going to be in the form of conventional general aviation so I don't think we need to worry or feel threatened.