
Happy New Year!
I hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday season. It always seems that the new year comes quickly and 2025 was no exception.
It’s going to be a busy start to the year, so I thought I’d mention few important items for your calendar:
Grapevine Fly-In – January 17 - 19 - Our next Grapevine Fly-In and camping weekend is scheduled for the third weekend in January. We had some great weather and a great turn out for the in December and we look forward to seeing you this month!
AOPA Fly-In/Buckeye Air Fair – February 14 – 16 - APA will have a booth in the exhibitor’s tent again this year at the AOPA Fly-In/Buckeye Air Fair. We always have a great time connecting with our members and we’re looking forward to seeing you again. If you’d like to help out in our booth this year, please reach out to us!
Cactus Fly-in – March 7 - 9 – The 67th Cactus Fly-In will be held at Casa Grande (KCGZ) March 7 - 9. APA will be there – stop by and see us!
I also want to be sure to mention some changes the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) has proposed to the aircraft registration system in the coming months. These are the result of legislation put forward in 2022 and include the following changes:
Staggered registration: Instead of all registrations coming due in February, deadlines will be spread throughout the year. This is similar to the system used for automobile registration. Exact details are yet to be determined, but I expect expiration dates to be established based on the date you originally registered your airplane. Owners of two or more airplanes can establish a fleet and complete all their registrations at the same time.
Registration Decals: Decals will no longer be issued, however you will need to carry a current paper copy of the registration in your aircraft.
License Tax Assessment Formula: House Bill 2646 changed the assessment formula for the license tax imposed on all aircraft to limit the change in fair market value to no more than the Average Consumer Price Index (CPI) published by the US Department of Labor. ADOT uses the Airliner Price Guide to determine the average fair market value for your aircraft for the license tax calculation. (0.5% of average fair market value). The good news is that in some cases, you may get a credit for prior year registrations exceeding the new CPI based formula.
Balloon Registration: Balloon owners will no longer be required to pay registration fees.
We’ll be sure to keep you posted on any new information and you can stay up to date on these changes through your AZ MVD account at https://azmvdnow.gov/.
In closing, I want to thank all the committed volunteers that do all the hard work to make APA and its programs successful. We could not do it without them!
Thank you again for your membership and we look forward to seeing you in 2025!
Fly Safe,
Chris