Expanding our outreach

While the media team remains committed to producing the industry’s best magazines and newsletters for you, we are also pouring time and energy into reaching those who are not AOPA members—specifically, new pilots, existing pilots who are not AOPA members, and aviation enthusiasts.

We engage with this broad audience through YouTube and social media, and our desire is for this audience to learn more about how AOPA serves the general aviation community and join our association. There is strength in numbers, and AOPA is most effective at promoting and protecting GA when the voices of all pilots and enthusiasts are heard.

We’ve been producing GA videos for many years and initially only invited AOPA members to view the videos on aopa.org through our weekly AOPA Video newsletter. That was effective for sharing videos with members, but did not reach the wider audience we sought. About three years ago, we moved all our videos to YouTube to help expand our audience.

AOPA’s YouTube channel (@flywithaopa) is a place where anyone can find inspiration, education, and insight into how AOPA supports its members and the broader pilot community. The video team includes video content producers Jamal Warner, Brianna Cabassa, and Michelle Walker, and is led by video production manager Josh Cochran. They produce a wide range of content designed to engage a diverse audience from aspiring aviation enthusiasts to seasoned professional pilots. From Piper Cubs to Cirrus Vision Jets, primary flight training techniques to advanced instrument approaches, local airports to hidden Alaskan airstrips—and of course, advocacy initiatives—our goal is to reflect the full GA spectrum through the stories we tell and the content we create.

This approach has worked. In 2025, AOPA videos posted on YouTube (there are now more than 3,000) were viewed 7.2 million times by pilots and nonpilots alike. This represents a 140-percent increase since we moved all our videos to YouTube. We are spreading the word about how fun and inspiring GA can be—and that anyone can become a pilot.

AOPA’s social media team, comprised of social media marketers Irene Lee and Jake Teague, and led by social media manager Erick Webb, posts content on AOPA’s Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn, and X accounts almost daily (search “flywithaopa”). This content is similar to what we post on YouTube but is geared toward a younger audience, an audience that often does not read magazines or emails—or watch YouTube. We’re excited to tell the stories of so many young people doing cool things in aviation.

We want everyone to share their reaction—positive or negative—with AOPA and with each other.

But the real opportunity is beyond storytelling. Engagement is crucial. After people read or watch our content, we want everyone to share their reaction—positive or negative—with AOPA and with each other. Our video and social media teams actively respond to comments to create a meaningful dialogue with the GA community. We often see in the comments that those viewing our content learn more about GA, and we also learn a lot about what the community wants.

In the past six months, AOPA’s social media audience has grown 13.4 percent to more than 621,000 followers. But the exciting news is we’ve had 2.1 million engagements (a comment, a like, or a share) with our 729 posts, which is up 771 percent from the same period last year. And the videos we’ve posted to our social media have been viewed 16.1 million times, which represents a 371-percent increase from the previous year.

AOPA is committed to reaching those who share our passion for flying, engaging with them, and asking them to join our mission to safeguard the future of GA. Join the conversation on YouTube and social media and let everyone know what’s important to you.

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