Members of the Experimental Aircraft Association and the Academy of Model Aeronautics now have free admission at the museums for each of these associations.
Show your card and walk right in to either museum. That’s cool.
Bravo to both EAA and the AMA for making this happen.
I’ve long thought more aviation organizations should join forces in such a manner.
I’m a member of the Washington Pilots Association and the Alaska Airmen’s Association. A bad member, in both cases, but a member nonetheless. I pay my annual dues. Do you?
Anyway, both groups offer member benefits from generous supporting companies. The WPA includes 24 member benefits, while the Alaska Airmen list includes 31 as of this writing.
Wouldn’t it be cool if I, as a WPA member, could also enjoy the benefits of an Alaska Airmen member, without having to be a member? Those businesses offering benefits may gain new customers, for just the cost of the discount.
And yes, that may lead me to drop my Alaska Airmen membership. Then again, maybe not. The Alaska Airmen does a lot of good for aviation in Alaska — far beyond member discounts. And those good deeds are worth supporting with a membership or other contribution.
If a WPA membership allowed me to enjoy the benefits of multiple other state pilot association groups, that WPA membership, in theory, should increase in value. That increase in value should increase interest in more pilots joining the association. More pilots in the association means more volunteers for work parties, more attendees at social gathering, more clout when lobbying for aviation, and more fun in the pilot ranks.
I don’t yet have an answer to how the back-end could work. But the idea remains, to me at least, interesting.
Way to go EAA and AMA. I hope more organizations follow your lead to find ways to increase the value of being members.
