US AOPA - lessons for Europe?

There have been many posts, by French pilots, all over forums, for many years, stating that there are very few private owner-pilots there, that nearly all flying is short local hops within the aeroclub scene, etc.

However you don’t need to spend 7 years on EuroGA to learn that only a French pilot is allowed to say that Being an international forum is probably the principal mod challenge!

From my many trips, it does amaze me how GA culture varies across Europe. I suppose it is no more a reflection of the broad national culture, but the factors driving it aren’t obvious. France is hardly a “poor” country, so it isn’t just wealth. I have known personally (met) a number of pilots in France who do a lot of “distances” but nearly all of them were not actually French; they just live there. This is perhaps why the FFA is for clubs only; there is little demand for a broader coverage. Otherwise, an organisation would always take anybody’s money; all money is good and owner-pilots should have the most. Or it could be that owners think the FFA is a waste of their time; a bit like most UK owners feel about UK AOPA.

And ultimately these differences prevent (or at least make it hard) to have a single “AOPA” for Europe, which is really little more than a number of different countries, different cultures, different languages, sharing a common border. In the US the different States also have different cultures (well, Wiki says so ) but in the end if it comes to the crunch 99% will say they are Americans. In Europe, if it comes to the crunch, 99% will be national. As indeed the coronavirus PPE crisis has shown.