COPA

I hate to admit it but I only joined the Canadian Owners & Pilots Association (COPA) last year. If it’s any consolation, I feel bad about it. But in my defence, it’s partly their fault; at least I think it is and read on to see why. And don’t get me wrong, I’m usually the kind of person who takes responsibility for all my actions (it’s an Army thing). But in this case I think blame has to be shared across several fronts (cold, warm, battle… take your pick as to my meaning there).

I got my licence just out of high school in 1992 when I was 18 still. At that age, humans do not typically search out associations. At least I didn’t. At that age, I just wanted to live my childhood dream and get my pilot licence. But at that age, it’s a good age to get people hooked onto the benefits of associations. But I had no idea at that time that COPA even existed. And even if I did, I wasn’t likely to sign up from a brochure alone given my typical 18 year old financial situation.

COPA executive and members need to go out of their way to promote the Association. If there’s a fly in, be there. If there’s a manufacturer showing off a new plane, be there. If there’s an air show, be there. If there’s a new ground school starting, be there. Being in people’s face (so to speak) works; for university clubs (I was president of UCalgary’s CSUS) going around to the classes at the start of the year is an absolute necessity. You need to talk to people and explain to them in person what they get out of their membership. And most importantly, you need to make them feel like part of a group. Not an elite group or anything, just a group of peers.

COPA also needs to increase it’s support within flying clubs. A quick run down the list of COPA corporate memberships shows only a handful of clubs and flight schools. Every single clib and school, however, should be a corporate member. But to quantify it a bit, schools that are corporate members should be given an unbiased member level (bronze, silver, gold, platinum) based on the school’s equipment and staff and length of membership (PADI does something similar but I’ve heard it’s mostly driven by money). And along with that, COPA should promote all member schools with solid write-ups on the COPA website. In turn, the schools would promote COPA and association benefits to all students and club members.

COPA should also consider rethinking their membership dues. First, every new student should be given a free trial COPA membership, of perhaps 3 months. This gets the student aware of the association and generates some interest (the monthly newsletter is worth the membership alone). This is where school cooperation comes in handy. Next, COPA needs a cheaper membership fee for students or unemployeed pilots. When I was in university I could barely afford tuition and flew very little. So if I can’t afford to fly I’m not likely to drop $55 on a membership. As I write this it seems silly since I will likely drink that much each night at Stampede parties next week, but to a student $55 is a lot of money. And for the rest of us who are regularly employed, well I wouldn’t mind paying a bit more, perhaps as much $75 (I pay more than that each year to belong to the Canadian Association of Snowboard Instructors).

So if you’re not a member of COPA already, you had best check out their site and join. Or tell me why not. But in all honesty I can’t see why you wouldn’t.

Update: I just read Mark’s entry from his blog and it seems that COPA does indeed give out a free membership after a student completes their solo. But I swear that I never got that back in 1992, so I don’t know if it’s because my flight school didn’t submit some paperwork or the program didn’t exist. I’ll have to check with the CFC and see what they know about the program.

2 comments »

1. By david 6 days later:

   
   
   When I finished my first solo in 2002, I did get some kind of a coupon from COPA through the flying club -- I cannot remember whether it was for a free trial membership, a heavily discounted membership, or something similar, but they're definitely on top of that one. Perhaps they weren't as well organized in 1992. From reading COPA Flight, it looks like they make it to a pretty good number of airshows and fly-ins right across the country, though (obviously) events within a day's flight of Ottawa are a little easier to manage in their 182. There's a pretty small staff -- we're not talking about a big operation like AOPA, with its own bizjet -- and they spend an awful lot of their time lobbying politicians and attending committee meetings. I may be wrong, but I think that we have mainly COPA to thank for the fact that owners are paying only $60-70/year for the Nav Canada fee rather than $500/year, and they've had quite a few similar victories (including, most recently, getting Nav Canada to put free airport diagrams online).

2. By Douglas 6 days later:

   
   
   Ya, I have another blog half finished that praises COPA for their work on behalf of pilots in Canada. I think COPA is the best association I've ever belonged to in terms of their lobby efforts and such.