The Future of General Aviation, with AOPA's Darren Pleasance

By John Zimmerman
Jun 17, 2025
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Pilot's Discretion Podcast, episode 106

From ATC modernization to the new MOSAIC rule to unleaded avgas, AOPA is involved in all the key issues for pilots. New President Darren Pleasance shares his opinion on each of these topics and explains what role his organization is playing. Darren is a longtime pilot, flying everything from aerobatic airplanes to warbirds, so he also shares many lessons learned from his 8000+ hours. In the Ready to Copy segment, Darren talks about flying a P-51 solo, pursuing innovation at Google, and kiteboarding.

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Quotes:

The strength and variety of GA: “For anybody who wants aviation to be a big part of their life, there are so many opportunities out there.”
The success of the US ATC system: “The reality is we have the best aviation ecosystem in the world: the most vibrant, we have the most airplanes, the most pilots, the most complexity, and the highest safety record in the world.”
MOSAIC: “We're hopeful and frankly expecting that we will draw a lot of new people into aviation that wouldn't otherwise be willing to step up to the full commitment of getting a private pilot's license.”
Unleaded avgas: “We have to know ultimately whether or not these fuels are likely to work together or not. Because if they won't work together, if you can't intermix these new fuels coming out, then it's going to have to be a winner-takes-all. I don't see any other solution.”
The role of government with new fuels: “It may be that as a country, we need a fund of some sort—it'd have to be government-funded, I think—that's there almost just as a backstop.”
What counts in flight training: “I'm a huge fan of just, I'll call it just core stick and rudder skills. I think they are under-trained today.”
AOPA’s high school program: “We're in 1,400 schools today—30,000 kids as we sit here today are in our program. And that basically gives them exposure to all the opportunities in aviation.”
What Darren learned as a bush pilot: “Having the confidence to say no when you just don't feel comfortable with it is probably the biggest learning.”
Life as a business jet pilot: “What I enjoyed about the corporate flying side of it is you're around pretty accomplished people and they're almost always willing to share advice.”
The joys of a hammerhead: “There’s just something cool about going straight up until the airplane stops. And if you do it well, it's a nice, perfect pivot.”
Flying the P-51: “Every force that you learn about when getting your private pilot's license is the same. It's just on steroids.”
Pursuing excellence as a pilot: “I'm not sure you ever fully achieve mastery, because to me, a part of the definition of mastery is that you're always in pursuit of it.”