The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) Foundation exists to safeguard the future of general aviation (GA) and the individuals who play essential roles in the industry, according to asf.org, the Foundation’s official website. The group acts as the philanthropic division of AOPA and was created to focus on four key areas: improving pilot safety, spreading a positive image of GA to the public, providing education about the value of GA, promoting careers in aviation and ensuring longevity of community airports.
Statistics cited on asf.org show a decline in the number of individuals choosing to become pilots as indicated by the fact that in 1980, there were 827,000, but only 624,000 in 2009. Making things worse, most student pilots, 70 to 80 percent, fail to complete the schooling required to become certified professionals. To counter these threats to GA, the pilot’s foundation set out to lead the way in creating practices designed to ensure more pupils complete their trainings and choose to stay on as GA pilots afterward.
The Air Safety Institute (ASI), or Air Safety Foundation, plays a major part in achieving these goals, as explained on asf.org. Although affiliated with AOPA, the safety institute operates as a separate, independent non-profit organization and boasts itself the primary privately run group created to provide safety education, research, GA instructor training and courses for pilots on accident prevention. The Institute’s representatives believe its work, that started in 1950, has played an undeniable and leading role in decreasing the number of pilot fatalities and accidents over the decades.
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