When the EAA Board of Directors announced yesterday that Rod Hightower was resigning from the organization because of problems relocating his family all the way from St. Louis to Oshkosh, after two years at the helm at EAA, no one really believed that explanation, if indeed it were intended to be believable. The point was, the organization was moving on.
At an aviation event I attended in Texas on Monday night the question I got asked repeatedly by industry insiders was, “So, what really happened?” It was a question I didn’t really answer, that I couldn’t really answer. What it comes down to is this: separations are largely a private matter even when they involve very public figures. That is how it should be.
I won’t go into speculation about the reasons for the split, but they must have been compelling, one can deduce from the bare facts of the matter. Never in the history of corporate America has finding the right middle school been the reason for such a hasty departure; it was a matter of mere hours between the board meeting the night before and the announcement to EAA employees at One Poberezny Way that the organization had made a sudden change of direction. Even if you don’t know any of the details behind the events in Oshkosh on Monday — and very few people do know them — it’s not hard to figure out that there were big issues. That’s good enough for me.
The important thing was that EAA get a fresh start, and the board of directors should be applauded for accepting Hightower’s resignation so decisively. The board, under the new leadership of former Cessna CEO Jack Pelton, is on track now, and I can’t wait to see the great things the organization does.
As many of you know, I am a longtime supporter of EAA and count as my close friends many current and former employees of the association. I cut my teeth in sport aviation, flying, photographing and writing about sport airplanes, of which I’ve flown many, many types, from single-seat true ultralights to fast composite speedsters and everything between. I love the spirit of inventiveness and ingenuity that homebuilding represents, and I hold in high esteem the homebuilders and the people behind the companies that manufacture kits and who support this industry. I love the spirit of EAA and want desperately for it to succeed. I am an EAA’er at heart and have been since I was a kid.
I’m also a realist, and I recognize that there are corporate realities to any organization and EAA is in a tough spot demographically. Like it or not, the moves that Hightower had made to position the EAA as a more inclusive organization, one that represents more than just the homebuilders, experimenters and warbird flyers in the country, is a focus that will continue under whomever the Board selects to lead the way. The truth is that you can have an EAA that celebrates its roots, that cherishes its core founding constituents, that supports the efforts to keep homebuilding a vibrant movement, and still be an organization that embraces more of aviation too.
But there are deeper truths.
Any organization needs to conduct itself in a way that is respectful and honest toward the members, employees and partners it interacts with on a daily basis. I believe that this kind of respect is the foundation of everything we do in life; I have confidence that the EAA Board of Directors will find a new leader who believes this too. Then great things will happen.
All Comments
Ho-hum...yawn. And so the GA princes lop one another's heads off and fiddle while Rome blazes in a 100LL fire. Do you people never tire of one another and your intrigues? Do you think you could spare us a few moments from your palace plotting to join us in the bucket brigade?
It is long past time for EAA and AOPA to merge.
United we stand, divided....
Somehow, EAA has become all about the people at the top and big money. It's no longer a fun grassroots type organization. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted and I don't regret not renewing my membership.
One man dosen't make an organization.
However, one man can ruin an organization.
Thankfully there is a Board of Directors to keep the organization heading in the right direction.
I joined the Sport Aviation Association, recently resurrected by Ed Fisher. It is a grass roots organization that is not meant to replace the EAA, but to supplement. SAA is taking small steps on startup by recently publishing their first issue of " To Fly"
I thought it was a sad day when EAA stopped publishing the "Experimenter" This was the mag that really showed how to do things.. Does anyone know the URL of the SAA?
I started reading Flying Magazine way back in the days of Gil Robb Wilson. Things were simpler then. Then Flying moved more and more into the corporate flying sector and I pretty much lost interest. I wasn't interested in point-to-point bus driving. I have stayed with AOPA, even though it has gone the same route. I have stayed with EAA, even though it is going that route. I no longer attend Oshkosh. And I don't foresee any changes due merely to the departure of Rod Hightower - if he, in fact, was the real cause of EAA's problems. The fun and magic have gone out of sport flying because of increasing bureauratic regulations and fuel costs - both due to fun-and-games by our fearless leader and Congressional "representatives". I'll have to look into the Sport Aviation Association, but I suspect my time is short.
I'm glad to see that the Board isn't going to put up with anything less than the best in terms of it's leadership. I don't believe Rod to be a bad guy, but certainly some of his decisions were questionable. Hopefully the organization will hang on to the good things that were done and quickly discard the damaged areas. I'm encouraged by Pelton's involvement, which will hopefully be long-term.
