Originally Posted by
init4fun
Actually , in my opinion the beginnings of all this was June 9 1981 , the date the FAA published Advisory Circular 91-57 . I know I've said this before but I do believe the FAA's intent at that time was that we were not to exceed 400 feet AGL , and I believe the FAA thought we were being faithful to A/C 91-57 all these years . So tell me , and this is not a taunt but a serious question ; What in your opinion should the AMA do or should have done , beyond distancing us from the flying camera crowd , that could/would have gotten the FAA to let go of the 400 foot monster looming over our hobby ?
I was in Germany in 81 and President of an AMA club with German members flying from a US Army Post. We had a really good deal. We had a huge room provided by the Army for a club house. We did all our building there and had a table capable of turning out a perfectly flat 16 foot wing panel. Our runway was a sod strip originally built by the Nazis. We shared it with what little full size traffic came by. Maybe 5 aircraft in the 4 years I was there. And all but one were helicopters. Not a busy field but the Army kept it up.
In the end they might not have been able to do anything. But from where I sit, they avoided contact with the government at every turn.
First mistake IMHO was to relocate HQ to Muncie. This took them totally out of the DC Loop. Having lived in the area for 29 years to include working in DC for a number of those years, I have seen up close and first hand what it takes to get and hold the governments attention. And the AMA still doesn't have it. But it appears the MR crowd does.
I know for a fact that following the move a number of AMA members living in the DC area volunteered to help establish and maintain contact with the government. To my knowledge the AMA never took anyone up on their offer. One individual had been the college roommate and good friend of a very powerful Virginia Senator. He could have provided tremendous help. But him, like his club were ignored by Muncie.
Simply put, rather than build some kind of monument to toy airplanes, the AMA should have put the Muncie money to work lobbying in DC. They knew nothing about lobbying when all this started. IMO they still know very little today. Relying instead on the low bid lobbyist to do it for them. You get what you pay for.
Which brings us to another point. Such efforts don't come cheap. So who here would have paid twice their normal dues knowing the second half was going directly to lobbying efforts? I'd be willing to bet 75% of the membership would refuse and at least 15% would leave the AMA as a result. To include a number of clubs. 1981 was after all just before the tart of Sport Flyers (SFA). And how much money did the AMA blow on that legal fiasco that could have been directed to more productive things?
But of course I know have the advantage of 20/20 hindsight. Regardless of the fact that at the time I wrote numerous letters to the AMA voicing my opposition to many of their decisions of the time.
The AMA is a business. It should be run like a business.