tee681

How many times would you allow a member to bring a Guest to your field before he or she is asked to join . This has raised some problems at our field !

mikegordon10

Any one who brings a "gust" with them to my field is not welcome, ever! I hate flying in the wind!

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

Most the time it is between 3 and 6, it's up to the club to talk about it at a meeting and vote on the issue. I got away with it myself at one club for quite a while before I was asked to join. Sometimes a club will let someone train there without being a member but once the person soloed then they were asked to join. Hash it out at a meeting and put it into the club rules. If it's AMA sanctioned the AMA has some rules of there own for visitors. Guests are a different topic then visitors too. If I'm in your area on a trip and hold an AMA card I could come and use your field but you may only see me there for a very short time. Maybe while someone is on vacation in your area.

KitBuilder

Usually experienced "guests' just moving to the area, etc will only come a couple times and then join. Others who are "new" to the hobby.. are allowed a 3-6... plus it helps get them hooked !

scale only 4 me

My Feedback: (158)

Our club's policy,,

A "guest" is some one who is visiting, they are welcome at our club when they come to the area visiting or what ever, just a board member needs to know about it ahead of time. The random walk up is welcome too, just doesn't happen very often

Now a "potential member" is something else, those are people who live in the area, they can come a few times to see if the want to join, like the layout etc., but not over and over endlessly.

They can always come to the open events. AMA required in all cases of course

jester_s1

Our club allows unlimited guest flying on the buddy box, but once you're solo'ed you have to pay. There is also the provision of being a guest of a member for out of towners and such.

Charlie P.

Some guests are gustier than others. The real blow-hards we encourage to look elsewhere.


From our club by-laws.

tee681

These are people that live in the area that keep coming with a member to fly ! if that the case why should i pay my dues i can keep coming as a Guest !

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

Again, bring it up at the meeting, if it isn't stated in the clubs bylaws then you really can't say anything. That's what club meetings are for. You bring up something and the club members discuss it and vote on it. Once it's a rule any member can mention it to the guest and the member bringing him to the field. I know I stretched it as long as I could before I joined one club. I joined before anyone mentioned it to me but I knew it was going to happen soon. Then if nothing is done about it, it is reported to a club officer and the member and guest can be removed from the club if so stated in the rules. It's a club problem, bring it up at the next meeting. No one here can do anything else to help you.

ho2zoo

My Feedback: (5)

3 times at our field, as long as they are escorted and informed of the rules by a member. That's 3 visits, not just three flights. But nobody really keeps a running tally of the exact number. But we can tell if someone has been there over and over and they haven't joined up (we have a sticker on our AMA card), then we confront them and ask them to join. We try hard to be friendly to everyone, so it really hasn't been a problem.

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

Yea, there's always people that want to take advantage. Our lease is cheap so anyone with an AMA card can fly and most folks are pretty good and realize that if they are going to make use of such a nice facility they join to help pay the bills. We did put a sign on the charging stations that they are for members only but they are really aimed at the repeated guests not the occasional or one time visitor. It just depends on where you are and the financial situation of the club. I've been offered an "out of town guest memebership" at a club that costs more than our regular membership and has a much cruder field but they pay a fair lease and do all their own mowing.

LesUyeda

"These are people that live in the area that keep coming with a member to fly ! if that the case why should i pay my dues i can keep coming as a Guest ! "

If you're going to play, you need to pay; because someone has to. Why should everyone else in the club pay THEIR dues so you can fly. There is a considerable amount of money spent in maintaining the field, and in many cases permits that must be paid for.

Les

DGrant

My Feedback: (4)

In our club, its written in the by-laws that guests have 30 days to either join or cease flying. Generally it works out, as everyone is pretty honest... and for those that aren't, and try to get away with it.. there's definately members who will "make them honest".. all I've ever seen it take was a comment for someone to cease flying for free.

We did have one "guest" that kept saying he was going to join(our membership officer will take small payments for those that can't shell out a whole $80 at once).. and he went about 4 months without paying, he just kept making excuses.. and taking advantage of it.. all the while bringing brand new planes out to fly.. hmm.. he can afford new planes.. but he can't pay his dues.. that didn't go over well with a particular gruff member... and he communicated it very well.. The "guest" or "potential member" as he tried to make us think, packed up and left that day.. that was 10yrs ago.. I havent' seen him since...

The way I see it is the members of our club are friends of mine... and its not fair if I didn't pay my dues.. not fair if anyone else doesn't pay dues.. and if it becomes an issue, it should be dealt with accordingly.. each case and club might be different though. I do think though most clubs would work with potential members if money/funds are tight. There should be some sort of agreement, or timeline for payment though.

OliverJacob

My Feedback: (12)

The question to answer is - do you allow a guest to fly for free at your field?

For me - I'd be ok to pay a certain amount as a guest per visit or week until you reached the yearly dues.

Another problem here is - do you prorate the dues if someone joins later in the season?

A new pilot will be asked to join after a few visits and training on the buddy box.
Since we are a very small club and our dues are not really high, we have not had any issues.

For a bigger club, there should be some rules as well as a 'probation period',
some guys (very few though) can't play nice. To avoid any trouble, the procedure
and due refund - in case someone gets banned - should be in the bylaws


And gust is always at our field. Shows up whenever he wants and breaks our planes.

biam

I am a traveling construction worker, when I got a job in south carolina three years ago, I found a local club and was asked to join after three visits. So glad I did. Best money I could have spent, keeps me out of trouble on weekends,made new friends and burned a lot of fuel, seems like the weather is always good here.

lukeshort

Three times

jester_s1

DGrant- It sounds like good riddance of the potential "member" you had. If he was so entitled that he actually got offended when someone called him out for not paying his dues he's also the sort who will leave messes, break things without paying for them, fly inconsiderately, and complain about everything. Clubs who allow this behavior in the mindset of being nice or just appreciating having a new guy to enjoy the hobby wind up full of entitled kids. The clubs with standards may stay a little smaller, at least for a time, but they'll have quality people and will wind up being the club everyone wants to be a part of.

mikegordon10

Would that be one of the 47% I've heard so much about lately?

DGrant

My Feedback: (4)

The way it went down... I think the member that called him on it intimidated the crap out of this guy, and it happened when there were several members watching... the guy had no defense whatsoever.. he had his cover pulled totally... its been mentioned many times over the years... something like "hey.. remember when Steve blew that guy out of here... "..... haha Theres many that know about it... and it would be a toughie to live down.

He wasn't a bad guy, matter of fact, he got along decently with everyone(probably why he lasted as long as he did)..... until someone got tired of his freeloading. His little 5yr old kid on the other hand was a winey, screamy, spoiled rotten little brat that nobody liked.. not even me.. and I like kids alot. The guy had his priorities all mixed up though.

We have a good bunch right now... I don't really know alot of them like I did back then.. so many come and go.. Those that have been there for a while(I'm going on about 20yrs) all know one another.. and we all try and meet and get to know one another and new people.. but its tough when everyone goes at different times and days... its all ebb and flow though... which brings up an interesting point...

The bigger problem, and why this might be occuring.. nobody really knows how many times, or how long someones been using the field.. and with schedules being what they are.. it sometimes takes a while to figure out if someones "freeflying".... Our club just goes by the "30 day" rule.. The clubs that say "3 times" might have a tough time though.. unless theres someone there every day to police it... We have 180 members that use the field all different days and hours.. every day morning til evening(sometimes night flying too).. it wouldn't be hard for someone to get away with it for a while... and although its frustrating... life as we know won't end over it.. its just one of these things that every club has to deal with.

rgm762

My Feedback: (4)

local residents, less than fifty miles, get three visits, for anyone coming more than fifty miles, nobody counts the number of visits. active military only requires AMA

bikerbc

I guess we are lucky , I don't recall ever having anybody try to overdo the guest thing...We have had one member that was consistantly late with his Dues every year...He was just like that with everything..A real cheapo...We are all differant...He was a super Guy but dont try to do any busness with him because or loan him anything...He would borrow fuel as long as you would lend it to him...Or glow plugs or what ever but it would never come back....If you asked for it back he wouldnt have it but he was so darn nice about it it was hard to get upset...It was like a whole other hobby with him , the borrowing and not paying back thing , He died of brain Canser and I miss him....We started out in this hobby when we were young men..

Minnreefer

I believe we have a 3 time rule, but I think it is more if someone abuses it and who is the member helping. We have a gate and a lock on it (our driveway goes thru someone else fenced property) but I think if a guest got the combo, the member would be in big trouble.

Jon