AOPA Pilot Magazine - May 2019 - 56

Airlines DC-7 and a Trans World Airlines
Constellation over the Grand Canyon.
The era of rapid terminal airspace expansion and radar-based air traffic control had
begun, and with it the mandatory installation of transponders on all aircraft operating
in much of the U.S. airspace. As with the
1955 military attempt to force adoption of
TACAN instead of VOR/DME (co-located
vortacs ended up being the solution, at
AOPA's insistence), AOPA argued for a more
gradual phase-in of transponder use, arguing that the technology wasn't yet capable
of being fully implemented.
But if there were gains, there also were
setbacks. Elwood R. Quesada and William
F. McKee, Federal Aviation Administration
administrators in the 1960s, presided over
airport closures, funding fights, and airspace
denials, while high-profile midair collisions-involving both airliners and general
aviation airplanes-prompted government
recommendations for faster, mandatory
implementation of transponders and new,
stricter-access airspace called Terminal
Control Areas (TCAs) around busier airports. Pointing out that the airliners were at
fault, AOPA recommended dedicated climb
and descent corridors for high-performance
airplanes and pushed for a proximity warning indicator that could alert airplanes to
nearby traffic. This idea was to become a
reality with traffic alert and collision avoidance system (TCAS) equipment and other
collision avoidance technologies we use
today. Ultimately, the TCA concept prevailed. Today, it's known as Class B airspace.
By 1980, thanks to its 245,000-strong
membership and its persistent advocacy,
AOPA had earned greater respect as a major

THE NUMBER OF FAA-CERTIFICATED PILOTS
PEAKED AT 827,071 IN 1980. STUDENT PILOT
NUMBERS HAD ALREADY BEGUN TO SLIP.
aviation lobbying presence. It needed this
clout to earn concessions to anti-general aviation measures involving fuel price hikes and
availability, diversion of Airport and Airway
Trust Fund money to the general fund, flight
restrictions following the Professional Air
Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO)
strike of August 1981, and a product liability crisis that manufacturers claimed was
responsible for inflation in the price of new
airplanes-and their curtailed production. As
for the latter situation, AOPA was central in
creating the General Aviation Revitalization
Act of 1994, which put an 18-year statute of
repose on legal actions against those seeking
damages from aircraft accidents.
The hints of another challenge had
been surfacing since the early 1980s, when
the pilot population peaked at 827,071.
By 1990 it was down to 702,659, and still
dropping. Under President Phil Boyer, several initiatives were begun with the aim
of bringing more people to the cockpit.
Project Pilot launched in March 1994 with
the goal of boosting student pilot starts,
and 9,000 student pilots participated that
year under the guidance of Project Pilot
mentor pilots; the program expanded in
2006 to include web tools and resources
and later led to such programs as Let's Go
Flying in 2008. AOPA also partnered with

other general aviation interest groups and
contributed to Be A Pilot, an industrywide
pilot recruitment campaign.
Handheld GPS navigation units came on
the scene in the late 1980s and early 1990s,
and it wasn't long before AOPA took the lead
in lobbying for GPS as a primary source of
navigation data, including instrument
approaches under instrument flight rules.
After a trial period where GPS course information was superimposed over conventional
ILS, VOR, and NDB guidance, the first standalone GPS approach was approved in July
1994. Boyer and FAA Administrator David
Hinson flew the GPS approach to Runway
5 at AOPA's home base at the Frederick,
Maryland, Municipal Airport.
Phil Boyer

AOPA
purchases
Flight
Training
magazine.

AOPA Online
launches a
comprehensive
website in
December.
1994

1995

1996

Project Pilot is launched to
boost student pilot starts.
General Aviation Revitalization Act (product liability
reform legislation) is signed
in August. Membership is up
to 336,000.
56 | AOPA PILOT May 2019

1997

1998

AOPA Airport
Support Network
is launched.
Membership
reaches 341,000.

1999

Membership hits
365,000.

Terrorist attacks on
September 11
ground all civil
aviation. AOPA is
instrumental in GA's
return to flight.

Meigs Field
is closed
surreptitiously.
Membership is
up to 400,000.

2000

2001

2003

AOPA's first issue
of Flight Training
magazine is published
in April. ePilot email
newsletter launches.
Membership reaches
350,000.

2002

Membership
reaches 390,000.

2004

Project Pilot is
relaunched with spokesman Erik Lindbergh,
Charles Lindbergh's
grandson. Membership is
up to 409,000.
2005

2006

Membership
reaches 406,000.

2007
AOPA Foundation,
a 501(c)(3)
organization, is
incorporated.
Membership:
in June-411,000,
in December-
413,000.

AOPA Pilot Magazine - May 2019

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