Wow, we have a regular love-fest going on here in an AMA Discussions thread! Whodathunk? Thanks for the kind words, zac137. One of my operating theories is that, since flying RC aircraft is a hobby, we're probably doing it wrong if we're not having fun.

I have no objections to KidEpoxy's comments. Voicing an opinion and encouraging others to do so as well definitely qualifies as getting involved.

I view the AMA as an extension of my club. I join my club to help pay for the mowing and to make sure I have a place to fly. I join the AMA to help with making sure we have radio frequencies to fly on and because I like to know that folks won't be sticking M-80s in their planes while I'm trying to fly next to them.

My club is only as good as the folks who volunteer to help run it. The AMA is only as good as the folks who help volunteer to run it. The folks involved in my club have various areas of skills and talent, but they're just RC hobbyists the same as me. The folks involved in managing the AMA have various areas of skills and talent, but they're just RC hobbyists the same as me.

The realization that the AMA is little more than a national RC flying club without secret agendas, supreme authority, or ominous powers might help folks get past bashing the only national organization that helps RC pilots work together and to support our common interests, imperfect though that organization might be. I'd much rather see the AMA trying different things that may or may not work out; doing nothing is very rarely the best course of action.

I've flushed a lot of money away since I started flying a half a dozen years ago. Not once has it ever crossed my mind that I wasn't getting my $5 per month worth of value from my AMA membership.