Pull out your AMA card. Find your number on it. Read what it says under it. The AMA by-laws have authorized issuing licenses back as long as I can remember, which is more than a week or two.

The AMA is not an insurance company and is not authorized to sell insurance. Insurance coverage is part of the AMA membership. The AMA is a fraternal organization. If you read the by-laws you will find the purposes of the AMA clearly stated. NOT among the purposes is selling insurance.

If you go to the 2002 Financial Statement and analyze it, you will find that the cost of Model Aviation accounts for about $7 of your dues. As an IRS 501 (c) 3 educational non-profit organization, the AMA must send you a newsletter. The magazine covers that function. It is doubtful that a newsletter could be produced and sent for less than $7 per year.

The by-laws are in the 2003 Membership Manual on the AMA web site. The financial statement is on the same site in the Member's only section.

Most of the misunderstandings about the AMA come at the club level where you are simply told that you have to have an AMA card to be a member of the club. The clubs take the line of least resistance and do not explain what the AMA is and what it is not.

JR