ORIGINAL: Hossfly
ORIGINAL: grampi
Has anyone ever noticed the "attitude" at flying clubs? I'm talking about when you first show up at a flying field and you meet some of the members there. Yes, they're generally firendly and all, but still they kind of look down at you as if they're somehow superior to you because they are there with their planes and you aren't. Or, have you been a club member who is constantly pressured into doing things you don't want to like being an officer in the club, or organizing fun-flys, etc. Do you ever wish you could just go fly and aviod all the BS?
I haven't noticed that so much as I have the attitude of those that come into the club's facility, want free training, or if already a flier, free membership or such. I notice those that never want to show up for work-days, never assist with events, never want to help the other newbies, but they JUST WANT TO FLY, and let others build, maintain, promote, and whatever it takes to keep the club viable, functioning and keep the field in operation. I've been told that if a person pays dues, it's the CLUB's responsibility to provide him with a mowed and usable facility. I am very good at informing these individuals just WHO the CLUB is.[>:]
I'm not one of those people. I always helped out with the field and I was also an instructor.
I don't want to give R/Cers a bad name or anything because the vast majority of them are good, helpful, and friendly people. But there are some who aren't.
Definitely agreed, but so are all walks in life. It can be very depressing at times, however life goes on.
A friend of mine and I were in the Air Force and we briefly belonged to the base flying club. Most of the members were good people, but there were a couple of guys who were just a-holes, and they just happened to be the club's pres and vp. Our flying field was on Air Force base property, so the club couldn't force us to be members in order to use the field. We did have to have AMA though. It used to burn these guys up when we'd fly at the field, because we weren't members. It was their fault we were no longer members because they constantly harrassed us about being more active in club activities. I don't have a problem if club members want to have fund raisers, and meetings, and all the politcal garbage that goes along with this stuff, but when they constantly pressure you into doing this stuff when you've made it crystal clear that you don't want to, I have a problem with it.
Like you say -- YOU have a problem. If, for illustration, you had 10 members and only a couple (2) "a-holes" then the a-holes are definitely in the minority.
I, too, was in the USAF. At one base I was responsible for getting a fenced and paved CL circle with bleachers, plus a grass area for RC, as RC was in those days, however I didn't do it by "just wanting to fly". Politics were involved.
Apparently, I'm not the only one with this problem.
Clubs are a good thing, but there are certain people who like being in certain positions like pres, vp, sec and so forth, and there are those who'd rahter spend their time flying, building, or talking about it online, like me. Sometimes I just want to fly. Sometimes I want to fly with my friends. Anyone else ever feel like this?
Do whatever you like. There will always be opposition to anyway you choose. As life goes there are those that make things happen, those that watch things happen, those that wonder just what happened, and a number that never knew anything did happen. Pick your class.
Don't blame the Club and/or its Officers unless you are in there
making things happen. Without the clubs darn little would ever happen. Whether it's a recreational unit or a nation, as Thomas Jefferson said, "The price of freedom is eternal vigilance." [>:]