Just read Jack's letter and I am done with EAA.
Totally fails to acknowledge any actual comprehension of or sympathy for the real and substantial issues many expressed and is still basically just saying 'our way or the highway' - well, highway it is.
Life is too short, time is too precious, money is too hard earned, and my reputation and character are too long established to put up with this - EAA did not make my aviation life, I did. It is my time, my money, my airplane, my skill, and my commitment - I am a volunteer, not an employee and I will not be treated in this way.
My commitment to EAA has survived a lot including the P-51 scandal, the nepotism, the whole EAA is Airventure development, and the recent AOPA-esque evolution - I have been in EAA since 1988, have served on Chapter BOD's, have volunteered at airshows and the YE program (ground and pilot), but this is the straw that breaks this camel's back.
Part of what has always been so great about EAA is that it represented the best of us, freedom, creativity, trust and camaraderie - the sharing of the last great adventure left to us - it represented a simpler, better and more innocent time.
This program has shattered that and shown it to be a lie, an illusion and rather than make substantive changes to address the concerns shared, EAA has instead sided with all that is wrong with our current world, and worse it has shown that far more of our fellow EAA'ers are equally willing to toss those of us who won't comply under the bus than I would have ever expected and I find that terribly disheartening. I don't think Brown Shirt is too strong a term to describe some of the cheerleading for this overreach demonstrated in this thread.
I am deeply saddened, outraged and discouraged and see no other path forward than to depart this organization that has been such a positive part of my life for almost 30 years.
When we are left with only two choices, comply or leave, voting with our feet is all we can do on principle. I will also have to leave IAC since EAA owns it as well, I simply cannot remain a part of any organization that treats its own members this way.
John Knolla
EAA Member 1988-2016
Chapters 88 and 14 (as member/BOD/volunteer), others when travelling/consulting
IAC since 2012
AOPA
Red Star Pilots Association
