Canadian Owners and Pilots Association

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The Canadian Owners and Pilots Association (COPA) is a federally registered not-for-profit association that provides information and advocacy services for Canadian pilots who fly for non-commercial purposes. COPA has about 18,500 members which ranks it as the largest aviation association of any kind in Canada.

1 History
2 Organization
3 Today
4 Personnel
5 External links

[edit] History

COPA was formed in 1952 by Ottawa aviators Margaret Carson and John Bogie. They saw the need for an organization to represent the interest of private pilots to the government of Canada. Their model was the US-based Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) which had been formed 13 years earlier in 1939. After meeting with AOPA principals and receiving encouragement from them, COPA was set up with its headquarters in Carson’s garage. As the association grew they hired their first paid employees and moved into more permanent offices. Bogie became the association’s first president and today continues to serve as an honorary director.

COPA was a founding member of the International Council of Aircraft Owner and Pilot Associations (IAOPA) and remains an active participant in this international body.

Kevin Psutka, President and CEO of the Canadian Owners and Pilots Association since 1996

[edit] Organization

COPA is run by a 15 member board of directors who are elected by the members of the association on a regional basis. They serve four year terms, with elections held in even-numbered years. Board meetings are held three times a year.

COPA has a fulltime staff of nine who work from the association’s offices in Ottawa.

[edit] Today

COPA is noted for its highly-respected monthly tabloid newspaper, COPA Flight, as well as its unique aircraft group insurance program. The insurance program, administered by Marsh Canada Limited provides coverage for more than half the non-commercial aircraft insured in Canada and does much to make flying affordable.

The association also has a very extensive website which has thousands of pages of aviation information, much of it available to members only. The website includes its COPA Guides. These fifteen books provide exhaustive information to members on such subjects as buying an aircraft, creating your own aerodrome and dealing with government regulatory enforcement action. There are also guides on each category of aircraft in Canada from ultralights to certified aircraft. The association has a large on-line user-editable public airport directory called Places to Fly. COPA also provides technical assistance to its members on aviation questions and problems.

Much of the association’s time is taken up in advocacy work with Transport Canada, NAV CANADA and other governmental agencies. The association is a member of each of the Canadian Aviation Regulation Advisory Council (CARAC)’s nine Technical Committees. COPA has a large Special Action Fund collected from its members over the years, which is often used to fund court cases to protect the freedom to fly in Canada.

The association has a network of 114 local chapters across the country. These COPA Flights annually run many local aviation events, including many of Canada’s summertime fly-ins.

COPA is the Canadian partner in the Experimental Aircraft Association's Young Eagles program. Young Eagles was started in 1992 with the goal of flying more than 1,000,000 young people between ages 8 and 17 by the December 2003 100th anniversary of the Wright Brothers first flight. The goal was met with COPA's members flying about 10% of the total Young Eagles flown in the world. The Young Eagles program continues with COPA as the Canadian partner with EAA.

COPA holds an annual convention which changes location each year. In 2007 it will be in Moncton, New Brunswick. The association is also a major supporter of the Canadian Aviation Expo held at the Oshawa Airport every year in late June.