COPA
Affiliation with Young Eagles Program in Long Term Negotiation
By John Quarterman
This is to inform all
flights and COPA members that COPA is awaiting a new draft agreement from the
EAA which was originally expected to be in place for
The agreement was originally
expected to be concluded a month ago. In the interim, the COPA affiliation is continuing
under the authority of the EAA by temporary letter of extension issued by the
EAA, and good to May 1st. The new agreement must be in place by May 1st, else another extension will be required.
COPA’ temporary authorization
from the EAA means that COPA is still affiliated with the Young Eagles program
and can continue to perform Young Eagles flights. The relationship has
been extended twice due to delays in the preparation of the EAA's new draft of the agreement between the two
organizations.
The new draft formal agreement
is necessary because the EAA has changed its relationship requirements and
specifications for the Young Eagles program. The EAA has recently said that COPA
must meet new conditions to continue the Young Eagles program authorization and
affiliation.
The Young eagles program
has not substantially changed in the meantime, except that the forms and
literature now distributed by the EAA state that to fly Young Eagles the pilots
must be EAA members. For the time being, this requirement to be EAA
members does not pertain to COPA members and COPA flights performing
Young Eagles Flights.
We have already met
the previous requirements of the EAA by
putting in place (more than a year ago), a comprehensive insurance policy meeting
the EAA requirements as they were expressed at that time. One of the new
requirements EAA has announced (and will be present in the new draft agreement),
will require COPA to name EAA as one of the
insured parties in its insurance. This latest requirement is difficult to
meet, but we have no definitive answer from the insurance company
as yet because they and we continue to wait for the EAA draft agreement.
COPA is cautiously
hopeful that the terms and conditions present in the new draft agreement - can
be met by COPA and will be the start of a new long-term relationship between
the two organizations.
Please check with COPA
directly or by monitoring the COPA website that an agreement or an extension is
in place before you carry out any Young Eagles flights after May 1st. Any announcement regarding Young Eagles will
be on the front page of our website at: www.copanational.org
The Young Eagles program is a wholly-owned program of the EAA. For several years many pilots from several organizations performed Young Eagles Flights. As we understand it, last year EAA changed the requirements to restrict the Young Eagle Pilots those with EAA membership. According to our information, the only external organization that has recently been allowed to continue perform Young Eagles flights and participate in the program without pilots being EAA members, is COPA and the COPA flights.