cutaway

AMA's BSR's are usually have a fatality or serious injury(or multiple's) behind them at some point in the past.

Individual Club's rules can be very arbitrary, and frequently are designed to discriminate against particular individuals or groups of individuals doing something someone doesn't like even though its not unsafe per se.

When joining a new club its best to be quiet and observant for a while until you figure out what the REAL internal power structure is in the club as opposed to the list of elected officers and such. Then do things to get in tight with the people who really have their hands on the levers of power. Sometimes its the same people, sometimes its not, and a casual remark from a non-officer with clout may carry more influence than a whole BOD's vote.

mighty9

My Feedback: (10)

I dont belong to a club because the nearest one is 100 miles away.

Hydro Junkie

And this is the very reason many clubs are losing members. You have the clicks, those that think they know all and make sure everyone knows it, those that must be in charge and many other undesirable traits of a minority of the membership that makes being in a club unpleasant for the rest. The wife and I recently left a nonR/C organization for these very reasons with a vow to never be members again. What makes things worse is that many of the membership didn't like some of the things going on but either wouldn't say anything or were too afraid of repercussions to say anything. I give that organization 5 years until it goes belly up if the members don't open their eyes to what's really happening and speak up. The same thing can happen in the R/C clubs as well so, if you see something you don't like, sitting on your hands and not saying anything won't make things better. You will just be helping drive another nail in that club's coffin and then wondering why it failed later

silverman1

Why I almost Joined a club and did not and instead sold My planes instead of flying them.

1. A member told me if I cannot light up 100.00 bill and watch it burn up flying as not for me. (in other words you will crash).
2. Embarrassed about looking like a fool. (Actually now to think of it I would have been more of a fool not to join the a AMA club).

Do AMA clubs cover slip and fall accidents for landowners permitting flying clubs to use their land.

opjose

Correct there isn't!

The former adheres to certain rules, which help keep our hobby safe and legal.

The latter helps lead to laws and regulations prohibiting our hobby, and tend to give all of us a black eye.


ONLY if you OWN the land you are flying on.

Otherwise, if you do not have explicit written permittion from the landowner, you're probably violating some law or regulation and at the least encrouraging wreakless behaviour.


As will driving in the wrong direction on a busy highway....

You're equating two things that are totally unrelated...

The "friendlyness" of a field does not bespeak anything about clubs in general, nor anything about the AMA, etc.

You are getting a privilage to fly, not the right to, when you join a club.

Some members may be grumpy or not in a friendly form when you happen to be there... just like normal life.

That says nothing about that particular club per-se... if you show up to an event specificly tailored to novices things may be VERY different.


If you are doing this on private lands that one of those people own or has the rights to AND there is no danger of aircraft straying outside that property... GREAT! Enjoy yourself and have a blast! Do anything you want.... that is your perogative.


However most people don't have that luxury and are forced to fly on public lands.

When you fly on anything other than private lands, you as a pilot have certain responsibilities and liabilities.

All too many people seem to think that because a plane is labeled a "park flyer" and they have a public ball field nearby, they can fly their plane there with impunity.

That is not true.

yearnin to Fly

My Feedback: (52)

If someone came to me and asked about whether they should join a club, I would tell them without hesitation. YES!!!!
The one I belong to just outside of the small town I live in, is one of the best around and has SEVERAL very good trainers.
I trashed several planes before a friend at Rural Hobby, ( a hobby shop close to my town ) told me to just go out to the club get my membership, and get help learning to fly.

I may not agree with what others believe and say that fly there. But I am very GRATEFUL for the club members who took the time to teach me the proper ways of flying, tuning engines, and SOOOOOOO much more.

GerKonig

Yo are right, after a period of time they

a) give up and move on to another hobby, or
b) they learned enough to want to join a club and the AMA.

The idea of a club s to avoid a) from happening.

Gerry

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

While living in Calif. I belonged to at least two clubs at any given time. I don't fly little park flyers so I needed a place that was an open area with a landing strip.
After moving to the Vegas area of NV things are different. The local clubs use the fields that are owned and operated by county Parks and Rec. and you aren't required to belong to any of the local clubs. My feelings about clubs are {1} a club needs a reason to be a club. The one club I belonged to put on the Biggest IMAA event on the west coast and the other club held Fun Fly events and monthly air races. Those are good reasons to join and the events are a lot of fun. Here the clubs do have a couple of events during the year but nothing that I was interested in so I never bothered to join.
The fields aren't regulated very well either, you can have a Helli hovering over the runway while you have a foamie hovering in front of your nose. The people at the close field aren't all that much fun either.
I was taken by a friend to the local dry lake bed. No rules are written because there is no club but because it has been used for over 40 years for RC flying the regulars have been enforcing common sense rules forever. We have lines painted for a flight line and pit area. If you don't use them trust me, someone is going to say something. If you are flying over the pit area someone is going to say something. We may not be able to kick anyone off the lake bed but you will know when your not welcome out there.
The people are some of the best I have ever met or flown with. It's the people that make a place fun and the lake bed is a fun place. I haven't bothered with the other fields or clubs here. For the most part it's because the regulars aren't my kind of people. The north side field I do like the people a lot better but it's too hard for me to get from the south end of the city to the north field or I would join there club and fly there more often.
I'm not opposed to clubs at all, I just feel they need a reason to be.

ES CONTROL

Before I joined a Club.  (Waiting for an opening)

cutaway

The man was being brutally honest with you. You will have many crashes over the years. Everyone does, even the guys who place top 5 at the Nats and FAI internats. Developing some repair/construction skills can lower the out of pocket expense of those crashes considerably.

When you push the envelope of your current skill set, there are going to be mistakes.

bruceal

I should think that newbies are the ones that would most benefit from joining a club. Any responsible club would not allow a beginner to solo without being properly trained. Most people that just buy a foamie or something they think that they "can handle" on their own, go out to a patch of land and go for it. After planting it into the ground they either try to replace it or just go away disgusted. At my club we keep a trainer on hand in case of visitors. The right club can do wonders for the hobby.

rgburrill

The only legitimate reason I can think of not to join a club is one that is "exclusive" and "anti-beginner" - and there are many of them.  These are the clubs that charge exorbiant dues in the first place and then want to tack on another $100 or so initiation fee.  I remember this being a long topic of discussion on the newsgroups when they were  popular.  But find yourself an inexpensive club and get an instructor.  As others have said, we all started somewhere and losing interest because you keep crashing planes is more expensive on wasted planes than club dues.

Also, most soccer fields belong to school who frown upon someone flying into their windows or during matches

rgburrill

Yeah, I loved that one. Put your name on a waiting list. Plus pay $100non-refundable depost and then another $50initiation fee. Gee, for some reason I never flew at Battleship Park

opjose

If you think that one club is being unreasonable, by all means look for another.

Just don't label them all the same way simply because of one experience.

Frankly $150.00/yr in fees ( I actually pay half of that ) is not bad, considering that this helps with upkeep and to keep your flying site open.

With most well run clubs you get your fees back in events, contests, maintenance, awards, food, etc. etc. etc.

Our club uses some of the fees to pay for indoor flying space while the weather is bad.... We had a fun fly yesterday that was a blast.


And if you like the club facilities, but not the way the club is run, remember that you can lobby to get elected and change things yourself!

Daniel-EL

My Feedback: (9)

This really depends on the club. Some are very nubee friendly, others not so much. In my area, I finally found the ONE club out of four that was genuinely nubee friendly and stuck with them ever since. Special features are: 1) Reasonable short list of rules, 2) Many qualified, willing and able instructors, 3) Field free from neighbor harassment, and 4) inexpensive annual fee. Prima donnas do show up occasionally and try to dominate, but they soon realize they aren't appreciated and drift off to one of the other clubs in the area.

da Rock

It's really disappointing to hear your descriptions of both the Dallas club and that deadly dangerous renegade field. Texas sounds like an awful place to fly for beginners. I fly at 3 different club fields and they most certainly aren't as you describe. Yes, they do have rules about where to do what when more than a couple of models are in the air, but not one is like the Texas flyers you describe. One of my club's favorite activity is combat. They usually have fur balls until they're flown out. It's impromptu depending on who shows up that day, of course.

As for bulls and cows, one club has a pasture back between the field and the owner's barns, but there are only a couple of jackasses in that field nowadays. He sold off the cows. With the coyotes in the area nowadays, you very often see and hear jackasses braying.

Bozarth

My Feedback: (15)

Your concept of flying parkflyers at school yards is obsolete. We don't fly traditional landing patterns. We don't fly a downwind/base/final. We do not have a runway. We chop the throttle and land at our feet. Just like we fly indoors. A non issue.

Kurt

AugerDawger

My club was great.

Then I crashed my plane within the first three turns of ever flying and nearly killed the senior cadre.

Not so great.

opjose

Well that's one quick way to climb the ranks.

Oberst

LOL! You are so evil.But in reality you are so right.

Pete

AugerDawger

Never mind rank, I will never show my face there again !!!!

jetmech05

I never said flying a park flyer at a school is a bad idea.....what I said was flying in a school yard is not a good idea...period......glow, gas, electric, or heli. If you're flying anything in any manner, you can't control people at all times. There are just too many Dumb masses out there...looking to make a buck because they were stupid and ran in front of that whrilling razor......

ES CONTROL

Well said pmerritt . That was a good one!

Radical Departure

My Feedback: (13)

For the longest time I wouldnt join the local club. Every year the guy at the LHS would needle me about it. This went on for about 3 years. Went to it a few times, watched some guys fly, tried asking some questions but got the brush off. So I kept brushing them off and flying on public and private fields. Then I injured myself with an ultrastick. Realized I didn't know as much as I thought, so after a year of physical therapy I went back, met a couple guys that would speak to me, ended up joining. Made friends with most of the guys there, and went on to do 2 tours as Sec/Treas. Am convinced that if not for help from club members, no way would I be flying 1/3rd scale gassers or such that I am able to do now. No regrets....

opjose

One thing is an 8oz foamy you fly like your indoor plane.

Another is a .15-.30 sized "Park Flyer" that weights 2lbs and up.

If you are doing the same with the latter, you SHOULD NOT be flying it at a school yard.

Even for that 8oz plane, you should get permission....