Smitty wrote:
Just curious as to impressions of the SAA. I recently recieved a
letter from the EAA soliciting donations signed by Rutan and Melville
with a postcard of SS1. While I don't mean to belittle the
achievements of either of these 2 gentlemen, I do find it disturbing
that the EAA has chosen to solicit funds not unlike the NRA and other
mega organisations.

So what is new? Do you think that your EAA membership covers all the
expenses of what the EAA does?


Not that many years ago the EAA started the EAA Foundation to foster
grassroots education.

I don't know what you mean by "not that many years ago." The Foundation
has been around since almost the begining of the EAA. It got it's non-profit
status in 1962.

Recently,
the Foundation was rolled back into EAA including all of it's assets.
I'm unsure of what they might have been, but I seem to recall seeing
several aircraft sitting in and around the Foundation hangar on the
far side of the airport fromt he show gounds. I'm seriously giving
thought to stopping my membership in the EAA after this year and
looking into the SAA. I'd like to hear others thoughts on this.

Not heard that, but really the distiction between the Association
and the Foundation was always one to satisfy the federal regulatory
issues.