AOPA Pilot Magazine - April 2013 - 4

PRESIDENT’S POSITION

AOPA’s virtual store

CRAIG L. FULLER
AOPA President and CEO

Useful and valuable general aviation products

AOPA PRESIDENT

Craig Fuller is an
active general
aviation pilot who
has been flying for
more than 35 years.

4 | AOPA PILOT April 2013

IT’S THE BEGINNING of my favorite season—flying season—when I have a chance to meet so many of you at
events such as Sun ’n Fun. But, if you’re like me, you
want access to AOPA, and all we have to offer, at any
time of day or night, not just at big aviation events.
That’s one reason our websites are so popular, and it’s
why we’re introducing a new way for you to access
AOPA’s products and services 24/7.
We call it the AOPA Store, and it’s packed with
individual shops where you can find our long-standing services as well as some new offerings. You will
find it online (www.aopastore.com).
For decades, AOPA has offered members a steadily
growing collection of useful and valuable general
aviation products, and now you can find them all in
one place.
You’ve told us about the types of products you’d
like to purchase, and we’ve made changes to suit your
needs. We are relaunching our AOPA logo gear collection with new styles, and we’re taking steps to let
you personalize items with your name or aircraft registration number.
The AOPA Store also will have some of our newest offerings, such as the AOPA field guides for flight
students, developed from our extensive research into
how to create the best possible training experience.
The companion field guides for flight schools and
instructors have been widely embraced and are an
important element of the work being done by AOPA’s
Center to Advance the Pilot Community.
Our AOPA Pilot Protection Services offer legal
and medical assistance to tens of thousands of our
members each year. And our financial services can
help you plan for the future in ways that consider
the special needs of pilots. We are proud of these
long-standing offerings, and you will find more information about them in the AOPA Store.
For those of you seeking a fully integrated
flight planning experience, all three FlyQ products are available through the AOPA Store. When
you use FlyQ Pocket, FlyQ EFB, and the newest element, FlyQ Flight Planner, all your planning tools
are connected, making information entered in one
FlyQ product instantly available in the other two as
well. It’s the easiest way to move all your critical planning information seamlessly from the living room to
the cockpit.

Finally, we are very excited to be launching the
AOPA Store with a unique offering that I believe will
give a wide range of people better access to a meaningful flying experience. Honestly, it’s the best, most
innovative product of its kind I’ve ever seen.
It’s the AOPA Jay by Redbird, and it is available
exclusively in the AOPA Store. Flight experiences can
be selected by the aviator for very realistic takeoffs,
landings, and cruises in familiar or unfamiliar territory. But what is really unique is that we here at AOPA,
and experts from other aviation organizations, will be
designing “flight scenarios” that can be shared and
downloaded into the Jay. We plan to offer scenarios
that bring articles from AOPA Pilot to life. John and
Martha King are designing scenarios sharing their
unique flight experiences. Our friends at EAA and
the editors of Flying magazine also will be developing
scenarios. We hope that even more aviation organizations will join with us in developing and sharing
flight experiences that are meaningful to experienced
pilots, aviation enthusiasts, and everyone in between
(see “This Bird Really Flies,” page 70).
I hope you will explore the AOPA Store and learn
more about the types of products and services available
to AOPA members. Come back often. We’ve got exciting plans in the works, so expect to find new offerings
as we continue to develop the AOPA Store.
And there’s one more thing you should know about
the AOPA Store: With every order, you are helping protect our freedom to fly. Proceeds from the store go to
support vital programs and operations that support
advocacy, protect airports, help grow the pilot population, and do so much more.
As with everything we do, your opinion matters.
Share your comments on the store and your experience
there—and tell us if there are other types of products
or services you’d like to see by sending an email to
aopastore@aopa.org. Your feedback will help us create a shopping experience that really works for you.
For those of you who prefer a hands-on approach, all
these offerings and more will be at Sun ’n Fun. Whether
you just want to get connected with your association or
you’re looking for something specific, such as aircraft
insurance or an up-close look at the AOPA Jay, come
see us. I look forward to meeting you there!
AOPA
EMAIL craig@aopa.org

http://www.aopastore.com

AOPA Pilot Magazine - April 2013

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - April 2013