This is the response from AMA that I got to my inquiry:

”I so look forward to your emails around this time. I have sent the minutes to Randy Cameron to look over. Then I will pass to the rest of the EC and then they get posted. Should be on the website by Wednesday.” - Joyce Hagar

A couple months back, when it was late then too, both Mike and I asked. They said then that it was delayed because they were training a new person. They added that the expectation is 30 days. Well, here we are again, and it's late again. Now when a member asks about a required report, the member gets sarcasm.

In a related thread, a user talked about the “attitude” that he got from staff when it took multiple contacts to get an event write up corrected. I get then this attitude when inquiring about when a required report will be posted ... a report about decisions affecting our money and the organization. It appears that some at high levels on AMA staff do not feel like they need to be accountable to members. Not like we pay their salaries or anything....

Franklin, I was under the impression that you are not a current AMA member. Has your status recently changed? Is this yet another one of your attempts to discredit the AMA in exchange for some form of compensation from entities that oppose recreational R/C activities?


For for the record, I have been an active member of AMA since 1977. AMA 22554. I personally have no issue with the EC minutes being late nor do the dozens of other AMA members I fly with.

Good for you. Not everyone feels the same though.

Frank, in the 40 years I have flown at dozens of AMA sanctioned sites and the hundreds of AMA sanctioned club meetings I have attended the only person who brings this subject up as an issue is you. Care to share your AMA number with me even if you feel more comfortable doing so in PM?

I told her I didn’t appreciate the sarcasm. She tried to walk it back, saying that’s not what she intended. Yeah right. I’m not that stupid. You’re right. Her comment shows how little regard they have for members, and by extension for the money spent to pay their salaries. From there, she basically used the “we’re so busy” excuse. They’re doing multiple things.

Well, boo hoo. I said that maybe it’s time to start firing people. “They’re so busy?” Hardly. If they can’t do the job, then start firing them. And if HR can’t find them folks who can walk and chew gum at the same time, fire HR too. My point to Joyce is that staff salaries consume roughly 25% of all membership dollars - and I’ think members are entitled to get what they’re paying for. And that means reports on time.

As Mike said it best, AMA is a multi-million dollar company. And yet they’re running it like a third rate elementary school bake sale. And it shows ... “we’re so busy” crap

So what?

You don't appreciate the sarcasm........LOL that's a hoot. Do you think they are not aware of the things you have said? I think I recall things such as " Taj Muncie ", " Dear Leader ( reference to Rich Hansen )", " AMA dues = yearly offering to Taj Muncie". Just to name a few I found after 5 minutes of skimming. Her response sound like fair play to me.

So what's the harm in sharing your AMA number? Not that I really care, just demonstrating a personality trait of yours I have observed. Something in the order of " I am entitled to the information I want but don't owe anyone information".

It could also be that after some of your outrageous claims I feel the need to verify everything you now claim. The picture I posted is my favorite one of course. However if you need some reminding here is the link to some very interesting material.

https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show...e-our-Airspace

From where I'm sitting, your constant attacks on the AMA are nothing more then a ploy to weaken the organization so that they have less resources to lobby for recreational R/C which is what your clients are compensating you to do. You have made it very clear how valuable your time is however spend countless hours discrediting the AMA. Not difficult to figure that one out. This will be my last post on the subject. Continuing the conversation only gives you a platform and I prefer to not supply that to you.https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...b39d29b0db.png

I'm a private individual, and thus I don't owe anyone any information. They're a dues collecting organization, and their bylaws require keeping them, and by their own statement they're available to members upon request. Big difference.

Hydro, I would never claim that the AMA is perfect. Does the organization need improvement? The only honest answer I can come up with is yes. I am aware that the AMA needs work. That being said, after reading what Franklin has been writing for the last couple of years and finding out what organizations he is aligned with it was fairly easy to figure out what his motives are. I suggest that before you defend him you take a good hard look at who you are defending. In a nut shell there are a great many people including myself that have determined that Franklin's goal is to weaken the AMA through a loss of membership so that they have less power to lobby congress to protect our hobby. He had a fair amount of success over at RCG simply because there were a few guys that teamed up with him and cyber bullied any opposing opinions. Hydro, please do not become one of those guys. By all means you have the right to your opinion but before you go to bat for someone take a look at their motives first.

I am truly sorry to see that you appear to have become one of those guys. The last line in that post sums it up pretty well. I have been open and admitted that I beleive the AMA needs change/improvement yet you seem to somehow turn that into pride. We all have our opinions and I am open to listening to them all with an open mind right up until people start embellishing what I said.

Look at the bigger picture please. As of right now the AMA is really the only CBO that is representing us to Congress. Without our support via membership they have fewer resources to fight that battle. Not only in revenue it strength in numbers. That is Franklins goal, reduce AMA membership. It seems that you missed where I have acknowledged that there are issues within the AMA that do need to get fixed however regardless of what we feel of their performance, they are the only organization that is fighting for us. Keep in mind that if recreational RC goes away so does their livelihoods. They are as of now our best hope. IMO it is foolish not to support them if you want to continue being able to operate as we have for the last 50 years.

I was asked what I have done to help the situation. For one I pay my AMA dues every year. I also attend between 10 to 12 sanctioned events per year. Many of those are pattern contests which are also attended by the AMA district X AVP. Between rounds we discuss the direction of AMA and I express my concerns. From a club stand point, I attend my home clubs meetings and events. Especially the open houses where we introduce ourselves and invite the general public out for lessons without requiring any membership and we serve a free lunch. This year I flew a demonstration with my pattern airplane and put on a one hour composites seminar. So yes I am quite active.


From conversations I have come to the conclusion that the ongoing conversations, meetings etc with the FAA and Congress is consuming a great deal of time and may be the cause of some other things slipping. Like all organizations/businesses things need to be prioritized. That may be the case with the EC minutes. If more guys would continue with their memberships in spite of the current situation it could mean more staff and things would not slip. Continuing membership also gives you a voice in shaping the AMA to what the membership wants. IMO if you are currently a non member then your opinion has less volume then if you were a member.

Ah, the “We’re so busy” excuse. Yeah right. They have a staff for government affairs. Oh, and they pay a lobbyist. I’m pretty sure that Dobbs, Budreau, “Dear Leader” and the lobbyist are not the ones preparing the minutes. Yet they’re late and the excuse you want us to believe is because they’re spending time in DC talking with Congress? Yeah right. The reason they’re late is because you have a multi-million dollar organization being managed like a third rate bake sale. People are paid, but not accountable for doing their jobs.

They installed a marketing guy as the ED, who’s first official act was to roll out a error ridden website, in the middle of flying season, when it would get the most use. Bake sales do that sort of thing. Not “professionals.” And unfortunately, the same person making that poor decision is getting a salary that puts him in the top 1% of all incomes in the Muncie area. What exactly are we getting for our money? Mediocrity.

All your open houses, talks with the AVP, and free lessons aren’t going to solve the fundamental problem with the AMA. There’s no reason people WANT to join. When your reason for joining is limited to “there’s nobody else” you’re scraping the bottom of the barrel. Which is why they’re trying to use law to compel membership.

They gave up a nearly hew HQ in DC (where the action is) in favor of “Taj-Muncie” ... where nobody is. They plowed all the members money into that site, and attendance at the NATS and other big events is falling. They’ve got this millstone of a facility around their necks and they are too emotionally invested to see they need a radical change. But no, they’re trying to make it mandatory to join, and in the process creating incentive for competitions. If they think the FAA will save them by strictly enforcing the CBO criteria, they’re wrong. The FAA won’t even send decision makers to meetings with AMA (as noted in EC minutes) and won’t act on the AMA’s CBO petition. Both are signals. AMA pi**ed off the FAA by passing the special rule and fighting the FAA interpretation of it. Now they’re getting ready to do it again by getting Inhofe to put things in the FAA bill that MAKE the FAA do things the AMA want done.

AMA needs a radical change, one that will only come when they’re forced to face the end of their existence. That’s what it took for IBM to make the changes. And that’s what it’ll take for AMA to make the changes necessary if they want to survive.

The reason for AMAs declining membership revenue is simple. Rational people looking at what they get vs. what it costs and deciding they’d rather put their limited resources elsewhere.

If someone doesn’t have a “need” for a club field, then there’s really no compelling reason to join AMA. And more and more people don’t “need” a club field to fly nice planes, helos, and MRs.