EAA 379047

EAA 582 Member since October, 1992

Served as Chapter News Letter Editor 10+ years, Flyin Publicity Chairman three years, Vice-President one year. Current Chairman, EAA 582 Welding Workshop


Here is Dick VanGrunsven's letter, dated, December 20, 2013, 11:54am (Italics added by Randall)

While visiting EAA Headquarters recently, Charlie Becker, Director of Communities, asked
me to enlist the help of AKIA member companies to remind their clients of the importance of
EAA membership. EAA is a member organization; the greater the membership, the stronger
the organization. Ideally, EAA needs other forms of non-monetary support such as advocacy
petitions, from its members. But first, it needs more members.
Membership growth is important to EAA because member dues are a vital revenue
component. While member dues alone don’t cover all of the costs of publishing their
magazines and providing other member services, they definitely help. Charlie informed me
that every year at AirVenture, EAA membership increases by around 20,000 as people take
advantage of lower registration fees. Then membership slowly declines over the following
year. The shrinking pilot base probably accounts for some of these losses. The bottom line is
that they need more solid, long term members. This means you.
In a very real way, You are the EAA. Sure, there are 60 or 70 employees at EAA’s Oshkosh
Headquarters, but they are there working for you and tens of thousands of others like
you. The EAA could not exist without you. You may feel that you can exist just as well
without them, but read on.

From day to day, it’s easy to forget the importance of EAA. We enjoy a reasonably stable
and permissive FAA regulatory environment. As thing(s) stand today you don’t (get) direct support
from the EAA to bring your aircraft to completion. But had it not been for them, you may
not have even been able to license and fly it. The EAA’s perpetual role in government
advocacy has helped assure this.

Yes, every now and then there is a threat of added restriction or loss of freedoms, but to the
casual observer, nothing really bad ever seems to come of these threats. It would be easy to
assume that someone is just using the “cry wolf” tactic to retain credibility as a
watchdog. The reality is that the threats have been real, and that the EAA staff and committee volunteers, throughout their long existence, have labored effectively to protect our freedom of flight.

While this may seem a distant intangible to you, trust me, it is a real benefit. Over the past
20 years or so I have been involved in numerous meetings with EAA, FAA, and NTSB. From
this experience, I can assure you that the EAA’s work on your behalf has resulted in
continuing freedoms to build and fly that wouldn’t be the case without their existence and
organizational strengths.

As an example, several years ago I was asked to join an EAA/FAA
committee known as ARC (Amateur-Built Rulemaking Committee). This was an arduous
process involving numerous meetings and travel over a couple of years time. At issue was a
re-write of the 51% rule. Without elaborating on details, I can absolutely assure you that as
builders of EAB aircraft, you benefitted significantly. While I can’t pinpoint windfall gains,
we didn’t lose ground either, and that’s really the big issue. About 50 years ago I came to the
stark realization that retaining our freedom of flight was going to be a continual struggle.

That unfortunately was not just a negative epiphany, but has proven to be true. Oh
yes, if you are one of those who thinks that flying homebuilt airplanes is a right (rather than a
privilege) that “they” can’t take away, you’d better do some constitutional research. What
we are doing is not an entitlement, and could be lost or severely restricted if not for constant
vigilance.

However, your annual dues are not the only way that your membership can strengthen EAA,
and in turn strengthen aviation. EAA’s chapter structure is and has always been a unique
strength it possesses. Chapters offer assistance to their members in many ways from building
assistance, Young Eagles events, and fly-ins and other outreach events.

As strong or as weak an EAA Chapter may be, your positive participation can make it better.
Often I have heard rationalizations for non-participation in EAA Chapters. “They aren’t
doing anything that interests me”. “All that they do is talk”. “What can they do for me that
Vansairforce.net can’t?”

“They”, the chapter, are a group of EAA members, many volunteering as officers and
committee members. As such, they owe you nothing! Similarly, you owe them nothing! But,
that is not a very progressive position to take, is it? Are you a Giver or a Taker? If you
approach situations as a Giver, chances are that you will be able to take more away than if
you hadn’t. Thank God that there are enough Givers to keep the EAA Chapter structure
intact and vibrant. You can help.

Many of you are aware that EAA leadership had faltered after Tom Poberezny left
office. Mismanagement (Rod Hightower) resulted in a number of upper level HQ staff
members either quitting or having been discharged, leaving a shortfall in the service that
EAA was able to offer.

Fortunately, EAA is now well on the road to recovery. Several key people have
returned, and the working atmosphere has greatly improved. Jack Pelton appears to be an
effective leader. I get the feeling that EAA is becoming a more representative organization
that it has ever been. But, you can’t just sit back with a wait-and-see attitude. After all
“they” are us.

Thank you for enduring the above tome. Chances are that you are already a member of the
“choir” and don’t really need to be preached to. However, I think that it is good to
occasionally reflect on the status quo, assess strengths and weaknesses, and reaffirm our
commitments.

If you are not a current EAA member, for whatever reason, please join or renew.
Also,
please encourage all of your aviation friends, whether builders or not, to join and offer their
support in at least this small way. We’re all in this together. Our future depends on it.

Thanks,
Dick VanGrunsven
C.E.O Van’s Aircraft