Quote:
Originally Posted by INVS
I'd like to get back to the "AOPA does not support pilots" subject. I recently renewed my instructor ticket after long debate. I have been tired for years now of recieving expensive mailings each month telling me, nearly demanding, that I purchase legal coverage and insurance that I can not afford. Why can I not afford it? BECAUSE I'M A FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR!!! Almost every other page you turn over in Flight Training, AOPA, etc., has an add to this effect. These adds are buried among articles that tell flight instructors how important to the industry they are. If you've ever been to a renewal clinic put on by AOPA they always open it up with a "you are so important to this industry speech". So then, where is the support? The only support I have ever seen from AOPA, EAA, and NAFI, has been in the form of them telling me it is time to renew my membership. Well guess what I can't afford to. If I'm so important to you shouldn't part of my membership as a CFI be insurance and legal coverage from you? It is getting harder and harder to support an industry that does not support me other than in words or useless mailings. For the longest time there has been an Airlins Pilot's Union. Those pilots learned from flight instructors somewhere. So why not a National Flight Instructor's Union? Oh that's right because we'd have to pay dues that we already can't afford.
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What exactly do you expect for $40 a year? A personal counselor to call you every week to see if there is anything they can do to make your career better? That fact that they are aggressively lobbying against user fees may be the best thing they can do for you. You really want them to pay your legal and insurance coverage?
You need some thicker skin if you feel threatend by the Legal and Insurance offers. And while you are reading the magazine that comes free with your membership, let me tell you that EVERY pilot can afford the legal services plan. It works out to $5 a month for CFIs. It really doesn't take much to get the FSDO or NTSB calling and there is no better feeling than knowing that there is someone there to represent you and let you know what your rights are. I'm sure I'll have no shortage of people agreeing with me here.