snips
The moneyed interests at AOPA and EAA are not in tune with the US soaring
community. As well, AOPA and EAA are not national aero clubs. There would
have to be considerable change to those organizations before any direct
merger could work for the benefit of the US soaring community.

During our struggle to save a 40-year soaring site in Southern Ca. I
mistakenly assumed that decades of being an AOPA member would finally be of
more use than just a discount on insurance. Unfortunately, we quickly came
to the realization that AOPA was not the least bit interested in investing
any resources or political clout in our struggle with the state Caltrans
department. The final straw was when a member of our group got a
communication from an AOPA official informing him that while AOPA would
help if it could. But that AOPA's name was not to be mentioned in any of
our correspondences. That insult was enough for me to permanently drop my
AOPA membership. If at some point SSA chooses to merge with AOPA, I doubt
I will be the only glider pilot who will choose to drops their SSA
membership.

The reality is that most airplane pilots are quite satisfied with just
safely getting from point A to point B or just back to point A. It's a
different type of pilot who enjoys the challenge and personal satisfaction
of having their time aloft, height gained and distance flown, being based
on their skills at using mother nature as their primary source of power.

During 25 years of running a glider operation. We made it a point to
assure that all our tow pilots also got glider ratings and in exchange for
towing duties they had gliders available to fly. Interestingly seldom did
these dual rated pilots show much interest in flying gliders.

ME