Wanna make GA stronger?

For nearly six years now there has been a line included at the bottom of this column that reads, “Jamie Beckett is the AOPA Ambassador in Florida.” 

What that line doesn’t do is explain what an Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association Ambassador is, or why you might care about such a title, or the five people who carry it. I think it’s time we addressed that very issue. Quickly, because there’s a deadline approaching that deserves your attention. 

By the way, my actual title is AOPA You Can Fly Ambassador. All things considered, that’s an important detail.

It was seven years ago this month, in August 2013, that an enthusiastic aviator from Minnesota named Mark Baker took the reins as president and CEO of AOPA. One of his first major changes to the organization was to establish the You Can Fly initiative — a program that focuses on four carefully chosen elements that require dedicated support, high quality resources, and personal encouragement in an effort to turn around the declining number of pilots in the U.S. 

Now, I don’t want to spoil the story for you, but it’s working.

With that in mind, let’s get a little deeper into the details.

Those four elements include:

1. Flight Schools
2. Flying Clubs
3. Rusty Pilot program
4. High School STEM education

It might not slap you in the face on first reading, but if you squint just right you might notice that each of those four elements shares at least a tiny bit of commonality with the others. That’s called overlap, and it’s just one of the reasons the You Can Fly initiative has been so successful in such a short time.

With more than 8,000 Rusty Pilots now verifiably current again and a similar number of high school students enrolled in aerospace STEM education classes that lead to greater interest and involvement in general aviation, the number of pilots in the U.S. is headed back upward again, after decades of ever dwindling totals.

Yes, the number of pilots is increasing. That’s a trend AOPA is working to continue. The You Can Fly crew (myself included) are 100% dedicated to that objective. 

Flight schools are integral to getting those Rusty Pilots back in the air with confidence, just as they’re critical to welcoming high school students to the cockpit for the first time.

However, as important as flight schools are, and they most certainly are, they’re just part of the bigger picture. A picture that includes flying clubs.

Flying clubs have been popular in Europe for many years, in large part because of the significantly higher cost of general aviation outside the U.S. Less well known here, the benefits of membership in a flying club are becoming apparent to an ever-larger number of American pilots.

And it’s not just because clubs can reduce the cost of accessing aircraft, although that’s undeniably part of the appeal. Add to that the inherent advantage of high quality social interaction with like-minded individuals, coupled with the ability to side-step the individual responsibility of keeping up with record-keeping, bill paying, and mechanical repairs that go hand-in-hand with sole ownership of an aircraft, and the flying club model becomes more and more attractive all the time.

This is the part where I direct your attention to a raging success story known as the Lakeland Aero Club, which sits just across the street from SUN ‘n FUN’s main campus in Lakeland, Florida, and directly next door to the Central Florida Aerospace Academy.

Yes, you read that right. There is a flying club specifically designed and operated to serve the students who are using AOPA’s STEM curriculum in their public high school. The result is a steady flow of members who become flight school customers. This directly links three of the four You Can Fly initiatives in one physical location with a growing list of success stories.

Even better, the Lakeland Aero Club isn’t the only flying club in the land that was founded specifically to serve a young, ambitious student body. There’s one in my neighborhood. There could be one in yours too, if you or your neighbors have a mind to get a similar outfit underway.

And it is because of the You Can Fly initiative that I can honestly tell you, if you have an interest in bringing young people into aviation through their high school and an associated but entirely separate flying club, I know a guy who can help. 

Truthfully, I know a bunch of guys and gals who are just a phone call away. All of them work for AOPA in the You Can Fly Academy in Frederick, Maryland, or out in the field as Ambassadors, as I do.

Now, let’s talk money. Whether you’re an AOPA member or not, I can assure you that not one dollar of your dues or federal tax payments have gone into paying the salaries or developing the resources necessary to bring this remarkable program to pilots and wannabe pilots from coast to coast. Those costs have been borne entirely by a long list of generous donors who see a need, recognize that solutions need to exist, and are willing to contribute dollar amounts both small and large to help make it all happen.

Here’s the best part. One of those benefactors has graciously allowed you and me and anyone else we know to get in on the party in a big way.

How big? Double, baby. Double. 

For the remainder of this month, August 2020, the James C. Ray Foundation will match contributions made to the You Can Fly Initiative via the You Can Fly Challenge, up to $2.5 million.

If you put in $25, the James C. Ray Foundation will make it $50. If you put in $10,000 the good folks at the Ray Foundation will generously turn it into $20,000, just like that.

As a result, you and I and anyone we know can have a serious, tangible, immediate effect on the growth and value of general aviation in the United States.

You won’t often see a chance like this come your way, I’m sure. 

The opportunity is real. So, go ahead. Click that link. Make a contribution that’s comfortable for you. Be part of the solution that brings general aviation back in a big way, puts Rusty Pilots back into the left seat, and inspires a whole new generation of aviation-centric kids to become the young men and women we all know they can be. Help put flying clubs and flight schools on a more solid footing.

And when someone at work tells you about a story they read in some newspaper or magazine about how general aviation is surging in the U.S., you hold your head high, point a thumb at your own chest and announce, “Yeah, I helped make that happen.”

When that happens, and it will, just know that I’ll back you up. You’ve got my word on that.