FLAPHappy

My Feedback: (209)

You are correct. How many people carry 1 million Dollars of Personal Liability? Not many. Thats when AMA insurance kicks in.

DustBen

My Feedback: (3)

I want a club with $75 annual dues that has a kitchen, running water, electricty, coolers...
That's a bargain, luxury, and a level of comfort equal to the cost of one night in a hotel room.

FLAPHappy

My Feedback: (209)

Your Very first post does not say that. You asked a question period. You better read what you wrote again and again.

AugerDawger

I dont need a kitchen, coolers, luxury or any level or comfort.

Water and power are nice and arent terrible cost prohibitive.

Just a place to fly.

crash18

My Feedback: (15)

hi, i didn't join a field because the members i tried to talk to were thought they were somebody so i didn't mind crashing more and spending more money to learn.

crash18

My Feedback: (15)

   i wouldn't like that standing in a certain spot and flying in a circle pattern anyway

ES CONTROL

CRASH18 I would like to meet you on your field and have fun flying. Neighbor.

da Rock

And when your home owners policy decides it doesn't cover floods around rivers and tornados in Kansas, the flying site owner sees the AMA insurance policy that names him and defines his coverage as absolute proof the group of guys asking to use his land have more than just the minimums covered.

How many renters are there flying model airplanes?

cublover

My Feedback: (47)

I've been flying for almost 20 years, and DON'T belong to a "Club"..I guess I'm stupid!! Damn people, watch what you say!! Might just piss someone off.

Bozarth

My Feedback: (15)

I'm betting more then you would guess!

Kurt
www.BozarthHomes.com

DustBen

My Feedback: (3)

Psst... fix your tagline, Life is to short,,, to fly slow planes!!!!!!

"Life is "TOO" short..."

Maybe if you joined a club.... just saying.

DustBen

My Feedback: (3)

But, you have to admit, at 20 cents a day, it's very nice.

cutaway

Unless the site has grass being mowed on someone else's dime, some of that dues goes towards grass cutting. My club is lucky enough to have that, so dues are ~$25.

stick

My Feedback: (14)

I'm an AMA member and a member of the local club. I usually do not fly with the club but with another group of AMA members at a local site. I have always flown with AMA insurance. I do not get into the politics of the AMA or the local club. I'm a renegade with AMA insurance. I want to keep the hobby fun for me and flying in circles doesn't do it.

The club I'm a member of will not talk to anyone who comes up to watch, yet complains cause the club is not growing. I'm usably the first and only one who goes and talks to them. I find out what they are interested in and try to get them to fly a trainer before they leave. Then I get scolded for bring them into the pits (under my supervision) and letting the touch My plane because the could fall on a plane and break it or they could get hurt. I will even disassemble my planes at the field just so I can explain how things work.

Then if they really show interest you get when are they going to join the club and pay the club dues. When can we put them on the mowing list ect. You can only give one flight to someone before they have to join the club, and when I asked why only one flight, the powers that be explained how they do not want to spend time training someone just for them to go fly somewhere else (read we aren't getting any money out of it). My favorite is when a parent brings there child (ages 6 through 15) to the field and the members talk about how much it cost, how you have to join the club, how you have to join AMA ect, ect. By the time you get through listing to them Bill Gates couldn't afford to fly RC.

When I was younger (I'm 39 now) I can't ever remember it costing to much for me to fly. My Dad started flying RC in the early 70's and I started in the early 80's. I was the youngest pilot at the club at age 11 and I bought my own plane and equipment. (I also didn't understand club politics.) I had to work for the money but since I really enjoyed the hobby it didn't bother me. Heck, most of the high school kids I see driving around town these days are in 20,000 to 40,000 dollar vehicles and go to the movie theater every weekend at 8.00 and 9.00 dollars a ticket. I believe if a youngster wanted to fly that the cost is not the problem.

I do recommend every new person join the AMA but I do not think they have to join a club. I would think there are still people who want to share this amazing hobby with others because they are passionate about it. If someone wants to learn to fly, teach them. Let them bring their friends into the hobby and if you have to teach their friends to fly also then teach them too. If they do not want to join your club so what. It's one more pilot that can get there friends involved who in turn can get their friends involved. That how you grow the hobby, not by joining a club.

holensum

holensum

I also play golf and Pamster's comment about initiation fees is the very reason I don't join one of the local country clubs. But, I did join AMA and a local club for flying.

Farmer Ted

My Feedback: (5)

I don't like clubs of any kind whether they're related to airplanes or not...too many politics, too much dealing with other people's issues, too much hassle. I'm no beginner, I've been flying for years but I taught myself to fly with no crashes immediately (they came later as I stepped things up) and I now have permission to fly off a local sod farm that's literally a half mile from my house. We have an agreement to only fly electrics and respect the property, etc, there have been no issues in the three years my friend and I have been flying there... also, no morons to deal with, and no one to pay, except for the x-mas goodies that my friend and I buy the sod farm folks every year as a thank you...perfect.

I don't like the AMA either; go ahead and crucify me. It has too much of a NRA for RC airplanes vibe for me...too many paranoid folks yelling about the government and what they're going to somehow take away from all of us when 'the man' decides he's had enough. Totally turns me off and creeps me out. I just want to fly and have some fun while at the same time being safe and responsible and minding my own business..don't need a club for that, would rather not deal with it. And please don't tell me what I'm missing out on with good buddies and all the people and such...some of us like to find peace and solitude in our activities, not be part of a social scene or party.

my .000000003 cents.

flycatch

My Feedback: (26)

You and I see eye to eye on this topic.

jetmech05

I'd like to make a point here....people in this lawsuit happy, give me, give me, society are just looking to get someone.....being a member of the AMA protects you insurance wise...but if you're flying off of someone else properity you could be putting them at risk....
Seems like we're over looking human nature here..example...I went to such and such club...and no one spoke to me...they were all stuck up......We are naturally weary of strangers....did you speak first? Did you ask one of the pilots about his airplane or radio? I don't know anyone that wouldn't respond to a line like Wow nice landing and a beautiful airplane, I am a beginner can you ETC ETC.....
As far as rules go....I believe rules are written in blood.....No club I know of makes a rule to pi** off the members....rules are made to protect property, or for safety or to protect the field.....
Dues and or fees....well thats just an excuse.....clubs need fees to keep running...if you have nothing but a grass field and a cover to stand under you still have expenses....gas, mower and up keep of the cover.
I don't wanna look stupid...an excuse...we all crash...we all learned.....What I think is stupid are those that come to a club field don't know how to fly...refuse help and put us all at risk...or know how to fly and come to the field and don't bother to ask about the rules or ignore them......
I have learned from threads like this though....what I learned is...if I see a stranger at the club...I always speak first and invite them to sit with us annd ask questions.

MinnSpin

My Feedback: (40)

[/quote]
First hand experience here with AMA
I had a plane what was being flown on a buddy box. They lost control and the plane went through a metal roof on a pole barn. It was my plane but I was not flying it. It made about a 6" hole. Imagine if that had been a car windshield. Just my advice, join a club, join AMA and have fun flying.
[/quote]

Now that there is good advice.

on_your_six

My Feedback: (11)

Only a couple good posts here from the audience that was requested to respond to the OP.

I think they have some good ideas and reasons for flying renegade. I know that I was very discouraged after I first joined, but I set my mind to it as something I wanted to accomplish and nobody was going to stand in my way. You initial experience is going to be bad or good depending on your luck in meeting the right person no matter where you choose to fly. It only takes one good person to make this hobby work for you in the beginning. I was very lucky. I enjoy breaking an AMA rule occasionally to do some of the outlaw stuff, but I don't fly when kids appear... I don't want to hurt the little darlings (and the wrath of an angry parent when I hit one.) When you get to the larger planes, I like some orderly control at the field. I don't want my $2500 plane to be shot down by a $100 foamy as I have seen done.

All the mention of insurance.... keep in mind that the insurance really only covers the land owner. The personal portion is secondary (as in NOT PRIMARY). You home owners, personal liability, or renters insurance is your primary coverage. I am really not so sure that we are not buying a pig in a poke when they tell us about the insurance coverage from AMA. I do think insurance is important.

378

My Feedback: (4)

For me it's a combination of club dues, AMA dues and gas costs I just can't afford on a regular basis. All up I'm looking at $70-$80 worth of fees to get started, and I don't have that kind of scratch just kicking around. On top of that it will cost me $20-$25 in gasoline just to go to the field in the first place.


I'll be going to one to learn how to fly, but once I'm proficient enough to fly on my own regularly without stuffing it, I'm done with the club. I live out in the sticks, I don't need a designated flying field to fly. I can build one in my own back yard.

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

A beginner learning without assistance (club or whatever) will generally spend quite a bit of unncessary money fixing crashed airplanes or helicopters (ESPECIALLY helicopters), that if they had spent it in club dues and learned how to fly with an instructor they would likely not have spent.

Its a generalization of course, some people fly a couple times on the sim and go and solo, some people never learn but I'm speaking on average.

That said, some clubs are better than others, I'm fortunate enough to belong to an awesome club and have another excellent one just a little further away I fly at sometimes, and all the clubs I've been a member of while schleping around the country in the Navy have been great.

Luchnia

My Feedback: (21)

So many variables. I am in two different clubs and they are night and day difference. It is so much about the people in the clubs. The one club has no set written rules and yet it runs like clockwork because the rules sort of come from within the members. None of the garbage, red tape, we need this here, no that is wrong, I am better than you kind of stuff. It is a pleasure to fly with that group.

The other club has written rules, always some drama going on, everything should be done a certain way, do this, murmering and talking behind folks backs, don't do that, disagreeing over so many things - the grass should be mowed this way, the building should be this way, the sign should be here, planes should fly this way, helis that way, etc. Overall it is not bad, however I don't think they really spend the time to consider how all the rules affect their members. The board changes frequently.

"rules are made to protect property, or for safety or to protect the field....." I find this to not always be the case. Often many of the rules are because one or two want things a certain way and many are not in place to protect proerty or safety. This has been my experience with the couple clubs I am involved with.

When I first started I wanted to fly RC planes and not interested to join a club. The only problem I had was that I could not find any good places to fly and could not locate anyone that had their own field. So I joined a club to get started. I keep my memberships up-to-date at both clubs. It is costly adding AMA dues as well and I assist with maintenance. One club is expensive and the other is inexpensive. Want to guess which one is inexpensive? Yep, the club that does not have all the rules! I find that there is nothing in the clubs that I desire that makes me want to stay except for flying. If I need to socialize I can do that anywhere and don't really need an RC club for that. I got into RC to fly my planes because that is what I enjoy.

At any rate, this is often a subject that crops back up. I do think clubs should think about the hobby they love so much.

ezflyer

My Feedback: (2)

Well I have been flying since 1999. I have been around crop dusters my whole life. I kinda knew the basics. I live out on a farm witch is 50 plus miles from the nearest club and hobby shop. I will drive to the hobby shop 10 times in one day if I need. I have my own 1200 foot r/c runway in my back yard along with a 3/4 mile full size strip for the dusters. I went down to the club when I first started this hobby ( keep in mind that i dont know what a stranger is, i can befriend even a bum on the street.) and wanted to learn more. I also wanted to join. As I walked trough the aera where the members store the planes before flight or just resting and thats when I got a liittle upset. (by the way, you must walk trough here to get to seating aera.) I was asking a couple of questions, when a ***** member looked at me and was very vulgur. He said to me, to make dam sure I didnt touch his f...ing airplane, that it was not a toy. At this time i was around 23 years old not 5. I have yet to step back on that property. So now in my eyes, it is a waste of money for me. I have a few friends that I have now taught how to control a plane and they are auctualy better than I am. We have a few rules, but the first rule is to respect each others space, on the ground and in the air. We love it. as for as the AMA, well I am not a member, but only because i need to fill out the paperwork. I dont know if i can get a card with out belonging to a club. I probly should try incase we do have an accident, God forbid. But for now i dont. All my friends have it, but they belong to the club also. i taught my self how to fly, with very minimal crashes. So when i was a newbie, the club it self would have discourge me from continueing to learn. i did it on my own and still absolutly refuse to go to anohther club and try to join.