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.