Glacier Girl
Posts: 6958
Joined: 7/9/2004
From: SomewhereIn,
PA, USA
Status: offline
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Well maybe it's not that the AMA isn't growing, it's not growing fast enough. AMA vs non AMA fliers.
Looking at it, the AMA is the only game in town, be it what ever the reason. Being the only one of something can be good or bad. Having a monopoly on something can be down right ugly in some cases.
From my limited time as a member, I've done a lot of reading about the AMA, and not just here, and talked to fellow AMA members and officers. What I see is a giant that maybe has gotten too far out of touch with the newest trends so to speak. Times do change, and things evolve. What I seem to hear and read a lot, is that the AMA honchos sit in the golden palace in Muncie, and rule the universe from there, never stepping down from their thrones to meet their members.
And so my story.
To me it sounds like they(AMA honchos/ giants) are going about their normal business, and have lost touch with the members and should be members. The explosion of electric flight seems to have been given a shrug from the giant. Kinda like swatting at a pesky mosquito.
The Giant and the Mosquitos
Members concerns over airspace and frequency violations, and the wave of new non member fliers, should have been a jolt to the giant that something needs to be done. But for the most part the giant just went about his business. Figuring that the pesky electric fliers would go away and so too the concerns of the giant's group.
But what happened? The mosquito grew and grew. They did not go away. The giant's members complained more loudly. The giant just kept ignoring both.
And now finally the giant realizes what he's been missing, that pesky mosquito has become a swarm that darkens the skies of his kingdom.
So what does he do? What does he do? Instead of meeting with the mosquito horde and trying to get them to join his group, he goes out and makes up a plan for getting them in his group. Without any input from the mosquitos or his group's members. Instead of trying to make peace, he instead fires the next volley of the war that he's created. His proposed plan would make the mosquitos nothing more then a slave class, who would pay their taxes to him but not be able to join in any of the celebrations. And they would have to find their own playgrounds as they would not be allowed on the giant's playground.
All this did was make the giant's members angry, they did not want "special" members on their lands. And the mosquitos were even more so angered. Why should they join the giant's group to be outcasts, who had to pay to play under the giant's rules, yet not be able to play on the giant's fields, or take part in any of the giant's festivities.
And so the giant went about his day to day routine. Figuring that if he ignored the mosquitos and his members, the problem would just go away.
But it did not go away. In fact it got worse. Some of the giant's members decided they too would act like the giant, and swat at the pesky mosquito's, driving some away. This only made the mosquitos more angry.
But the mosquito horde kept growing, it found it didn't need or want to be any part of the giant's kingdom. The giant's treasury was taking a beating. Money was going out to fight the war and little was coming back in. And the mosquitos kept showing up.
What to do, what to do? Well the giant just kept doing what he always did. But the mosquitos, sneaky devils that they were, decided on a new tactic for the war on the giant.
They started to infiltrate the giant's domain. They weaseled their way into the giant's clubs, they spewed their venom on the giant's members, converting many, some partially, some fully over to the mosquito's side. The giant's members were weakening, the mosquitos were starting to turn the tide of war.
And what did the giant do to save his members? Same old/ same old. Came up with more under thought plans to merge the hordes into his kingdom. And yes by this time it was hordes of mosquitos, not just one horde.
And little of it worked. Yes he had some successes, but small in comparison, to the hordes successes of converting the giant's members to their ways.
And the giant wrung his hands at the loss of members and monies, but again did little to try and get the hordes to join his group, let alone as equals, to the other members.
And so it went, the giant not really trying to convince the hordes that his way was the best way, just trying to get them to join his kingdom so he could suck the monies from them, so he could build bigger and better palaces.
And so it came to be, the giant's time of rule was nearing it's end, as in this kingdom, the group's members had the power to decide who would be the next giant to rule over the kingdom of Muncie.
Would the members elect another giant just like the previous one? One who did little to gain both members and dollars to run the kingdom? Or would there be a new giant, one of the people, who did not sit on a throne all day, one who took the time to understand his group's members and understand the mosquitos. One who would get rid of the bureaucracy the kingdom had become, filled with more chiefs then Indians. Someone who would take the kingdom to the next step, not ignores the future and hopes it goes away?
Well the time is coming, and the giant looking for a re-election is starting to try and butter up the hordes and the members at the same time. Lot's of talk, but so far the normal, very little action to merge the two into a cohesive group that would benefit all.
And so the kingdom of Muncie is on the brink, the members now need to speak up with their vote. If they want the same old/ same old giant, or if they want the kingdom to move forward, to peace and prosperity, with a new type of giant or maybe giant is the wrong word to use. Maybe one of the people, is a better term to use for a new leadership.
Time will soon tell the end of the story, for the near future, in the land of Muncie.
_____________________________
"The Missing Man Formation"
Looking heavenward you cannot help but shed a tear...mornful...lonesome...a hole that screams out almost as loudly as the roar of the engines that pass over head.
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All Forums >> RC Airplanes >> AMA Discussions >> RE: Why the AMA is not growing........... 
RE: Why the AMA is not growing........... - 
RE: Why the AMA is not growing........... - 
Just look at this recent TAG program. While a few clubs have done yeoman service and are using the program as intended, I am well aware of those that simply have absorbed some free models and simulators and doing nothing of significance. AMA programs have to be more than a weekend long. AMA cannot any longer depend on the average working hobbyist to do its legwork. 
). The only requirement for use of these fields is an AMA card, ie insurance- and being able to put up with the unfriendly attitude of some of the old farts. 