AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2013 - 32

BRIEFING

AOPA NEWS

All-new website debuts
AOPA enhancing online presence, member interactions
B Y A LY S S A J. M I L L E R
AOPA IS TRANSITIONING to a redesigned website and a
new membership management system in an effort to
enhance member interaction with the association online.
The new design and technologies are geared to make
it easier for members to find aviation information and
update membership profile and benefits any time, any day,
from any computer or mobile device.
The redesigned website went live May 29 and features new, user-friendly navigation; quick links to
AOPA’s popular flight planning tools; a dedicated news
page; an advocacy alert section to keep you abreast of the
association’s efforts to protect your freedom to fly and
grow the pilot population; a consolidated AOPA Store
for one-stop shopping; and easy-to-find information
and forms on topics from buying an aircraft to medical
certification to international flight operations. The popular online courses, quizzes, and informational webinars
and webcasts from the AOPA Foundation’s Air Safety

Institute are bundled in one location for you to peruse,
similar to movie listings on the Netflix website.
“AOPA members tell us the website is an important
member benefit, and after thorough research of how our
members use the site and best practices, we have redesigned the website to make it easier for you to quickly
navigate to the information you need,” said Michelle
Peterson, AOPA vice president of membership. “The
site will offer new functionality including optimization
for mobile devices. More importantly, it creates a new
technology infrastructure that will allow us to deploy
numerous other features quickly. Look for those later
this year.”
The new membership management system, expected
to be up this summer, will make it easier for you update
your membership, manage your print and online subscriptions, enroll in programs to help you finance or
insure your aircraft, seek medical or legal assistance,
purchase products, and even print a new certificate for
the online safety courses you have completed.
“You can rest easy knowing that your personal
information will continue to be secure with AOPA, as
we seek to stay technologically current and follow best
practices,” said Doug Shorter, AOPA chief information
officer and vice president of information and technology.
AOPA’s Member Services and Pilot Information
Center specialists are and will continue to be available
to help you one-on-one over the phone through our tollfree hotline (800-USA-AOPA) or via email.
“We know that change, especially with new designs
and technologies, doesn’t occur without a few glitches,”
Peterson said. “We hope you will agree these small
inconveniences are worth it to ensure membership
records are properly maintained, business transactions
are supported, and communication with you is more
efficient. Making this move as seamless for you as possible is very important to us. We encourage you to contact
us with any problems that you encounter while visiting
our website or trying to manage your membership profile online.”
To that end, AOPA’s specialists have received extensive training with both of the new systems and are eager
to help you with any questions you may encounter. They
are standing by Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to
8 p.m. Eastern time.
AOPA
EMAIL alyssa.miller@aopa.org

32 | AOPA PILOT July 2013

AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2013

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