Tom Haines is an award-winning aviation journalist who spent nearly 30 years as the Editor-in-Chief and Senior Vice President of Media at AOPA, the world’s largest aviation organization.
He holds a commercial pilot certificate with multiengine, instrument, and seaplane ratings, and type ratings in the Eclipse 500 and Cessna CJ business jets and has a second-in-command type rating in the North American B-25 Mitchell. He owns a Beechcraft A36 Bonanza.
Haines holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Mount St. Mary’s University and a bachelor’s degree in Journalism with a Communications Media minor from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
Under his leadership, the AOPA media properties have won many industry-leading awards. His writing has earned him awards from the Associated Press and American Society of Business Publication Editors. In 2010, the Bahamian government named Haines as its Travel Writer of the Year. In 2023 he was inducted into the Living Legends of Aviation, an elite group of aviation and aerospace influencers. Also in 2023, he was awarded the NBAA Ewald Platinum Wing Award for Lifetime Achievement in Journalism.
Although he retired from AOPA in 2022 after 34 years, he is still actively involved in many aviation and public servant pursuits for AOPA, Redbird Flight Simulations, Pilot Workshops, Avnat Global, and the South African nonprofit group Elephants, Rhinos & People.
