by Mark R. Baker
President & CEO Aircraft Owners & Pilots Association
This week I received a letter from a pilot who told me that he was joining AOPA because he wants to do his part to support our efforts to put an end to the unwarranted stops and searches of general aviation flights by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents.
He was appalled by reports that law enforcement officers, sometimes with guns drawn, were stopping, questioning, and searching law abiding pilots on purely domestic GA flights. It goes without saying that all of us at AOPA are appalled, too.
That’s why we’re working closely with our friends in Congress to put an end to these incidents and get some answers to important questions like “What gives CBP the authority to make these stops without probable cause or reasonable suspicion of illegal activity? Why are GA flights that never leave the country being monitored and searched by the agency charged with protecting our borders? And why is CBP suddenly making the records of these stops secret?”
I was pleased that our actions on this issue prompted another pilot to join AOPA. But it raises the question of why every pilot—and every person who cares about GA—isn’t an AOPA member.
Perhaps you don’t think you’re affected by this issue with CBP, so you don’t feel the need to get involved. But AOPA is engaged in protecting our freedom to fly on all fronts. User fees, sequestration cuts at the FAA, the future of avgas, state taxes on GA, and efforts to expand the driver’s license medical standard are just a few of the issues AOPA is tackling today, all with an eye to ensuring that general aviation is around for us and for future generations of pilots to enjoy.
If you’re actively flying these days, you know that you can rely on AOPA to provide tools and services that make your flying safer, easier, and more fun. But even if you’re grounded at the moment, you can count on AOPA to keep protecting general aviation, and the interests of GA pilots, so that you can get in the air again when you’re ready.
Personally, I don’t think any pilot can afford not to be a member of AOPA. In a world where GA pilots are an extreme minority and the threats come from every direction, every member and every voice counts.
If you’re already a member, thank you for standing up for the freedom to fly. If not, consider adding your voice to the chorus of pilots and aviation enthusiasts who want to keep GA around today and for generations to come. Can you afford not to? (www.aopa.org)