tlojak38

My Feedback: (15)

hello everyone. not sure if im in the right forum, but im asking here anyway. ive got some land, and it borders nothing but farm land, and i was wondering how hard it would be to start a flying club. i know i would have to talk to the family with the farm land, but im sure they wouldnt mind. their house is on the other side of the farm from me. we are miles away from the closest flying club, and im sure there are people out near me that would come. what would i have to do? thanks for any help.

bkdavy

My Feedback: (1)

Starting a club is very easy. In your situation though I would question why you want to form a club? If you're just looking to initiate a flying site, you don't have to form a club. Since you don't already have a group of flyers, I would think all you need to do is get written permission from the farm owner to overfly his/her property, join the AMA if you want the AMA insurance coverage, and fly to your hearts content. Now if the Farmer is looking for additional liability coverage for you to overfly his land, then you might want to form a club. For that you'll need at least 4-5 members to apply for the AMA charter, and then you can apply for a certificate for the farmer. All the documents you need to read are available on the AMA website, including rules, applications, fees, etc.

Brad

tlojak38

My Feedback: (15)

well, there is a lot of land, and im sure there are people around. was thinking of putting a sign in the local grocery store to see if anyones interested. there is just so much land out there, and it would be nice to fly with others and share what is there.

littlecrankshaf

My Feedback: (58)

[sm=thumbs_up.gif] I hope you every success. In your situation I would strongly consider a "club" that has you as the leader...period. You prescribe what and how, that way, you can circumvent the problems that cause so much grief within other typical clubs that require a specific structure of officers and such... simple, easy, and likely more fun in the long run...

KidEpoxy

Ask the neighbors if it would be ok to fly over their land if all pilots had $1mil or more insurance.
Then invite folks to fly off your land (+over the neighbors) and require that they have insurance (AMA/USAmA/Hartford/PPP/etc).

*edit: oops, PPP dont qualify with their halfmil


whatever the pilots do to your land or the neighbors would be paid for by their insurance

and use whatever insurance you have for when invited dinner guests trip & fall on your property
to cover when invited flying guests trip on your property
.... you do have already insurance to cover your assets when guests trip & fall on your property, right?


Starting a flying club is as easy as buying the same hat as your friends.
Starting an AMA club requires landowner permission and 5 AMA members (only 2 of which can be cheapie memberships) and sending a check to muncie, and the not recognized requirement muncie has on clubs: frequency separation (distance or contract) from any existing club


AMA website offers a club chartering kit in it Documents section.
While it offers a sample/example of club bylaws, you may draft whatever bylaws document/indexcard you want. As LCS suggested, I too suggest keeping the club simple: have the bylaws put just you in charge (site owner), and have hardly anything else in the bylaws... all other rules can simply be made at the discretion of the Director (you)

cj_rumley

Whoa, KE!

That one needs a bunch of smileys on it.

I'll just 2nd bkdavy's reply. Good way to get started, and as for a club, "build a flying site and they will come."

tinner1

tlojak38,
Let me just say this about getting people interested in flying at your property. After being in this hobby for 50+ years and having found and lost several fields over the years, I can tell you with great certainty that if you fly regularly at your property people will find you...You won't have to advertise or go looking for them. I always had people show up after seeing and hearing my planes fly. My problem was sometimes that is why I "lost" some of those fields. In this case YOU own the field and can control its use. I was on someone else's land with permission, and that was where the problem came. I could not enforce the landowners rights, and they didn't want to grant me the power. Unwanted users in my case caused a loss of the field. BUT you have the power. Also, you said you were within a mile of an established field, so I would check with them and make sure there would be no frequency problems. With 2.4 there won't be, but they may still have guys on 72.

Good Luck in a great effort!

tlojak38

My Feedback: (15)

there are no clubs anywhere near me. i think you misunderstood. i have a farmers field bordering my land. thats what i said. to me, that means almost unlimited flying area. thats why i think it would make such a good location for a club. i think the closest club is over 20 miles away. i dont believe that will be an issue

jester_s1

I'd put up a notice and see how many people you get interested. There will be some grunt work to make a smooth runway area initially, and of course, regular maintenance on it afterward if it's grass. The workload can get pretty high, so having a few guys to spread it around is nice. You might consider contacting other AMA clubs within 50 miles of yourself. They may have members close to you who have been driving because there wasn't another option. If the only requirement is donating some time every year, some may opt to become a member of both clubs, or maybe just yours?

Great advice above on making yourself the boss of it initially, but I would suggest drafting a simple set of rules and procedures just so the new membership knows what to expect. It would also be wise to include a provision for officers after the club reaches a certain size, because you certainly don't want to be the go-to guy for everything if you have 25 people using the facility.