AOPA Launches Center to Advance the Pilot Community

Pia Bergqvist

Thursday, October 04, 2012 at 09:13 PM ET

Verified

Courtesy of AOPA

Key Takeaways:

AOPA launched the "Center to Advance the Pilot Community" (CAPC), a new initiative aimed at halting the decline in the pilot population and fostering growth in the aviation industry.
Led by Adam Smith, the CAPC will focus on positive aspects of aviation and promote best practices by offering awards to outstanding flight schools and instructors.
The Center will introduce Flight Training Field Guides for students, instructors, and flight schools to improve the training experience, continuing AOPA's student retention efforts.
A key focus for the CAPC is supporting and expanding flying clubs, providing resources for new clubs and fostering networking for existing ones to strengthen the pilot community.

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AOPA today launched a new initiative called the Center to Advance the Pilot Community, a program we brought to light a few weeks ago. Despite its name, this is not a new physical center but rather a new branch at the organization’s headquarters in Frederick, Maryland, that aims to halt the decline in the pilot population and once again begin to grow the aviation industry.

Former EAA vice president of membership, Adam Smith, has been charged with booting up the new initiative as AOPA’s senior vice president of the Center to Advance the Pilot Community. Smith hopes to invigorate the aviation industry by focusing on the positive aspects of aviation despite years of decline (the active pilot population has declined by more than 25 percent in the past three decades).