J_R
Posts: 4446
Joined: 1/4/2002
From: Corona, CA,
Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: tpes
J R, you can quote chapter and verse all day long, but the truth be known, to 90% of the R/C fliers the AMA is only a necessary evil for the INSURANCE that allows them to fly at the flying field. Question? Would you be in the AMA today if it was not a requirement to fly at your local flying field? And if yes, why? Please tell me what the AMA has done specifically to improve your enjoyment of the hobby? They got us more frequencies back in the 90's making all of our equipment obsolete, that was a big help. Actually it was because it allows more people to fly at one time, but of course when was the last time you saw 40 airplanes in the air at the same time. Don't tell me a magazine, Kalmbach Publications and Carstens Publications seem to be doing a great job without the AMA. Sorry J R, it's the INSURANCE.
Ed Dupaquier
Hi Ed
I will try to address each of your questions and statements.
If you read my postings in this forum, you will find that I use the figure of 85% of the membership viewing the AMA as only a source of insurance. I won’t argue with you over the 5% difference.
Would I be in the AMA today without the requirement for insurance. Well, yes, I would. I was first introduced to the AMA by Frank Zaic, who purchased for me my first AMA membership. I grew up next door to Art DeLucca, GM for Ohlson and Rice, and later Carl Goldberg was a member of a club I was president of. The input from those people had virtually nothing to do with insurance. I became a CD because my fellow members wanted more contests then others were willing to run (and there were plenty of events back then, so that is not to say there were not contests). Insurance has always been a very minor part of my personal reason for being an AMA member, and really, the insurance concerns I do have relate to supplying the landlord coverage so that the clubs I have belonged to, through the years, can exist. Although I have taken earned CD memberships in the AMA, I have always done so only for open contests where at least 100 pilots participated. I have run many club contests which I refused to sanction because the sanction was simply not necessary. In many years, I have paid my membership fee because of this attitude. My wife is an AMA member and her only interest is keeping the dust off my models.
To be honest, I get tired of hearing about the acquisition of more frequencies as the only thing the AMA has ever done for the membership, other than insurance. It is history. At the same time, there are many members, apparently including yourself, that are unaware of what the AMA does on a daily basis for the hobby. The AMA had a tiny voice with the FCC about BPL (broadband over powerlines). If the membership was larger, the voice would be louder. This has the potential to wipe out RC as we know it. Along the hams, some safeguards have been mandated by the FCC. The FAA is redefining pilotless aircraft, of which we are a small part. The AMA, in the person of Dave Brown, is taking a very active part in these discussions. The AMA has taken, and continues to take, an active part with the TSA relative to the transportation of models, including but not limited to conducting classes for TSA agents on what to look for without destroying models being transported. Discussions with the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI have and are continuing to take place over concerns with model aircraft as potential weapons. The list goes on. The AMA is guilty of not blowing it's collective horn loud enough to make that 85-90% of the membership aware of these types of contacts.
In addition, of course, the AMA promotes competition. This is an area where the other 10-15% if the membership are more aware of AMA efforts. Even there, the AMA does not make the relationsip with international modeling as clear as it might be. The relationship with the FAI IS a big deal, in spite of the fact that 85-90% of the membership are unaware of it.
I could easily run this list out for several more pages. The AMA has done so in a document on the AMA website, that most members will never see. I don't expect the average AMA member to ever know what the AMA does, other than supply insurance. I do expect that hobby shops and at least some club officers would have some idea, and make some attempt to make new members aware that the purpose of the AMA is to promote modeling, and that a benefit of membership is insurance, not the other way around.
The IRS has tests it applies to maintain the AMA's 501 (c) 3 tax status. One of those tests is publishing a magazine. Model Aviation Magazine and the newsletter enclosed within it (such as it is) helps in maintaining the tax status. We could do other things that might well cost more to try to maintain that status instead. Although a museum exists, it is not accredited (another test from the IRS). We could have "on campus" classes and that might help maintain the tax status. As the situation exists, the $8 a year per member spent on the magazine/newsletter appears to be a financially responsible way to maintain the tax status.
If you are truly interested in what types of things the AMA and it's members do for modeling, take a look at this post by Fred Marks on the history of the frequency committee. http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2788709&postcount=5
JR
Jean-Pierre Rondot
AMA 732
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RE: Why the AMA is not growing........... - 
