N46203

I was wondering what you guys are paying to your club to be a member, if you're even a member. I used to be a member of my local club a few years back and I remember paying about $10 plus membership to AMA which I think back then was around $45. I got out of the hobby for a while, but now I'm back and have been flying at local schools.

I just checked into joining the club, and the fees are keeping me away from it! They require AMA membership, $60, plus a $100 new membership initiation fee, and $15 for filing or something. Yikes!

redfox435cat

people don't wanna here it but it cost money to maintain property, purchase and maintain equipment, pave runways and taxi ways, lawn maintenance, pay legal fees, and postage and dozens of other thing that keep a field/club going, those costs are not getting any cheaper. our costs last year topped 10 grand. Course we just repaved/ widened the runway. Between AMA site insurance, lawn mowing, mailings, permits for our three annual float flys and at least 3 fun flys I don'r know how we do it.

Our club takes the excess balance and holds BBQ's and what not if we happen to get an excess which is slim even with free property 100+ members at 50 bucks a head 100 for new members first year.

Being in a club of this type has huge benefits. A safe place to fly for you and the public. Flying alone is boring to me. I know some people have a problem flying in a crowd but I love it. We almost get full on wars going with all the big war bird that come out. Everyone is so eager to help out and lone stuff when you forget something, I always forget something, Nothing worse than going home from a perfect flying day because you left the igniter on the kitchen table. The people are some of the most interesting people to talk to. I used to be into the RC car club, that just sucked, any idiot can drive an rc car, usually punk rich kids. Luckily those kinda people don't last long in planes and move on so most of the people in the clubs are intelligent good people.
It probably doesn't matter if your flying electrics under 2 lbs or gliders but keep in mind if you hurt someone or break something and your not at an approved field your be in a world of hurt quicker than anything. If that 50 bucks is worth the risk to ya, more power to ya. If you are flying things any bigger than that the risk goes up exponentially. I alway find it humorous, the hundreds even thousands of dollars we spend on this stuff and people still bicker over club fees, hell I spend more on gas to and from the field than my club dues.

N46203

Well I've flown full scale over the field that I fly at, and I can garuntee you that the only thing underneath my model is trees. But I still worry which is why I am looking into clubs, but I can't afford to join one if it's that expensive!

old n slow

I belong to two clubs. The dues are $65 at one and $96 at the other. As has been said the rent and upkeep and AMA fees are not always cheap. We have over 50 at one and almost 100 at the other. I enjoy flying at both. We also have another Club that has annual dues of almost $200 dollars and they fly mostly giant scale and 3d. So I guess it's what you want and what you are willing to pay. If you fly somewhere not covered by AMA insurance you are just a expensive accident waiting to happen.

SST

My Feedback: (2)

So let me get this straight...You can afford to fly full-scale. You can afford to build and maintain your R/C aircraft. But you're here to whine about club dues? For the cost of a gallon or two of fuel, you're not willing to join a club. OK, I'm not gonna harangue you about why you should join a club, because I don't think you're here to be convinced. I'll just wish you luck, as you'll likely need it.

N46203

I'm not here to argue about whether or not it's a good idea to pay a club to fly at their field, I already know it's a good idea. What I'm saying is that I cannot afford to pay that much money so that I can safely fly my airplane. I get more and more uncomfortable flying every time I go out, which is the reason for this post. I never said I was going to continue using the field I use, in fact I hinted that I was going to stop using it. I am probably going to stop flying altogether soon anyway, since I can't afford it on top of my flight lessons. If the fees were more around $50 I'd be able to do it.

PS: How much are you paying for fuel?!!?! Haha.

mirwin

My Feedback: (1)

My guess is that there are quite a few RC clubs around Bremmerton, so I recommend that you shop around. Check the AMA website; they list all AMA clubs. In my experience there are plenty clubs out there that charge less.

As for the cost, I've been suckered into being president for the last three years so I speak from experience that maintaining just the runway is expensive. There's more to the job than just mowing it, although mowing is ^%#$%^ expensive. If it wasn't for one of our older members who mows the field for $30 a cut, we would be drafting members to take turns mowing and noone wants to do that. I got prices for someone else to mow it weekly because the old guy was grumbling about moving away and the best price I got was $100 per cut. That would bankrupt our club. Then there's maintenance on the safety barriers, fences, gate, tables, equipment, etc. AMA fees, including insurance, is only $90/year so that's chump change compared to everything else.

I would gladly pay $100 or even $200 per year to have a decent place to fly. If you fly giant scale gas warbirds like I do, what's the alternative? I gotta keep 'em airborne. . .


Mike

N46203

Yeah so I think I am going to pay the fee and join. The field is actually very nice if any of you want to look at it www.kitsaparcs.org . I was just kind of swept up by the high price, but the benafits outweigh the disadvantages for sure. Thanks for the insight guys especially to those who scolded me for flying at an unsanctioned field. Thumbs up to those who knock sense into our heads!

kd7oir

One advantage to paying (no mater how much) is the bonus of free help and advice @ a club field. (I hope you weren't flying alone before) and if some thing bad (god forbid) hapens and someone gets hurt like yourself or someone else your covered. One thing I've lirned so far this hobby isn't cheep and those fees are chump change compared to the $1000.00 I've got into the hobby and my first plane isn't even done. I'de b willing to fork out an extra $200.00 a year to to fly. I don't make much money (under 30k) and have to watch my pennies but I have a wife and three kids and we don't starve. I'm also a ham radio opperator and that's another can of worms for $ but we still eat well.
Well off my soap box and I'm with every one else If your looking for a cheep hobby your in the wrong place.
Shawn

bps

My Feedback: (3)

My club dues are 65 per year in addition to AMA. I know next year will be even more for both, if we still have the club field. Seems like this hobby is something that society in general would rather do without. We can build public dog parks, but government at least in this part of the world has no interest in our hobby and would rather not have it around. Sad but true. They took the same view of custom car shows here, and now we have none! The days of cheap flying (in any scale as I fly full scale too), gas, cars, property and so on are all gone. We as members a great hobby will either choose to suport it with what ever it takes, or purchase indoor micro flyers instead!

If you are on the fence post, I would urge you to join AMA, the local club and get involved. I know AMA has issues of its own, who or what does not? Politicians and society listen to numbers. We either unite or perish as a hobby!

Hope to see ya at the field.

JEB

carrellh

We're a small club, 30-40 members, and one of our members owns the property where we fly. Our expenses are pretty low and our dues are 40 per year.

Mike Baldwin

Our club is even smaller, 25 members is were lucky. And this year the Mining co. that we lease from added the taxes on to our lease fee, I know this is still cheap in the sceam of things but I think that we will have to increase dues next year. Right now it is $25 plus AMA. I wish we could get some more members. If any one is looking for a club in NE Minnesota come and check us out.

tailskid

My Feedback: (34)

Our club has over 300 members ($50/yr) and except for Saturday AM, the field isn't that busy - go figure!

b.bixel

My Feedback: (123)

$200/year and $50/child over here at Cascade Family Airpark in Snohomish, WA.

Great site for flying anything that will fly off grass, including full size! The owner has a hanger and a full size bipe on site.

IMAC NW has competitions multiple times a year.

The land owner sponsers a free BBQ or 2 during the year.

We don't have to mow!

Covered tables.

Play ground for the little ones.

All around awesome flying site worth every penny!!!!

Regards,
Bart

ArCeeFlyer

My Feedback: (1)

Good topic and poll. We pay $42/year, one time $15 initiation fee at join up. I would be lost without the dynamic venue, atmosphere and friendship that a club provides. I started out flying in parking lots and such but now that would seem so lonely and depressing to me. You just can't beat the benefits of a reasonably organized club and I would have no qualm paying $100/year at our club.

N46203

Yeah the more I think about it the better the deal sounds to me. I mean really it's only 65 a year plus AMA which is not that bad at all. The landing strip is big and made of landscaping cloth, and there is a covered pit area. There are plans in the future to make it an asfault runway. You can fly any day you want, and it's pretty secure now.