Welcome to AOPA's Pilot Protection Services (PPS)! We’re here to help you protect your certificates.
What we do for AOPA members with PPS:
We often help with FAA medical certification questions, review medical records, FAR compliance, reviewing aircraft purchase/sale agreements or hangar/tie down lease agreements, aircraft accidents or incidents, and pilot deviations. Over the past year, our team has helped members with about 5,000 aviation-related matters.
Our network of AOPA panel attorneys are here to help you with FAA enforcement actions, accidents, and U.S. Customs, TSA, or IRS tax matters.
We’d like to introduce you to our team of in-house trusted Legal Services Plan attorneys and Medical Certification Specialists:
Ray Speciale
Ray Speciale is a contract attorney with AOPA's Legal Services Plan based in Frederick, MD. The Plan provides consultation and representation to over 70,000 plan participants and fields more than 4,500 new cases each year. Ray has been associated with AOPA and the Legal Services Plan since 1988. Ray serves full-time as an Associate Professor of law and accounting at Mount St. Mary's University in Emmitsburg, Maryland. He's published two books and numerous articles on aviation law topics. Ray regularly presents at professional conferences and AOPA webinars. The focus of Ray's duties for the Legal Services Plan is member consultation and education. He assists members in a wide variety of issues, with an emphasis on tax and transactional matters. Ray is admitted to practice law in Maryland. He’s also a licensed CPA in MD, and a CFII.
Daniel Hassing
Daniel Hassing is an in-house attorney with AOPA’s Legal Services Plan who counsels Plan members on a daily basis. He is a private pilot and a Part 107 UAS pilot. Before joining AOPA’s Legal Service Plan, Dan worked at a firm for 10 years, litigating cases across the United States. Dan also clerked for a Justice of the Nebraska Supreme Court for two years. Dan received his law degree at the University of Nebraska College of Law and received his bachelor’s degrees at the University of Nebraska-Omaha. In his free time, Dan enjoys spending time with his family, flying, and golf.
Stacey Hansen
Stacey Hansen works for the Legal Services Plan as Paralegal / Administrative Assistant, assisting with the direct in-take and screening of LSP participants calls, responding to general inquiries from the LSP national network of panel attorneys, and performing legal research in support of the LSP staff attorneys. Prior to joining AOPA, she was a Paralegal at a local law office in Frederick. Stacey has her bachelors degree in Psychology from Bennett College and her Paralegal certificate. In her spare time, she enjoys live poetry, music festivals and museums.
Amy Jenkins
Amy Jenkins is a paralegal specialist for the Legal Services Plan. She assists with the direct in-take and screening of LSP participants calls, responding to general inquiries from the LSP national network of panel attorneys, and performing legal research in support of the LSP staff attorneys. She graduated from Stevenson University with a bachelor’s degree in Paralegal Studies. In her spare time, she enjoys hiking and kayaking.
Jacquie Brown
Senior Medical Certification Specialist , has been assisting our members for over 16 years, answering medical certification questions and troubleshooting certification issues. She has diverse experience in the medical field, having worked in a hospital setting, physicians private practices, and medical billing, all supporting her strong customer services experience. In her free time, she enjoys time with family, friends, travel and working towards gaining certification for one of her four dogs in becoming a therapy dog.
