Originally Posted by
HoundDog
AMA leadership AND clubs can really make a big difference here.
Tried to bring up the subject at two different clubs and they don't want to even here of it.
Yup...that's an issue for sure. Sometimes people get comfortable and stuck in their ways. Change is not good for some.
Does your club embrace multi-rotors.
All depends upon the Mucki Mucks that are running the club. If one or two have on they accept them if not they bad mouth'em and put up with them but try to make all kinds of restrictions.
Again, agreed. The club bylaws should clear that up. If they allow heli's, it's a no brainer that multi's would be allowed. When I joined a club years ago there was a strong bias against heli guys, and this was even before the souped up electrics came into fashion along with the wild 3D style flying. Month after month you'd hear the same folks grumbling about "unsafe" flying, and "near misses", but never any proof of this. Meanwhile, planks are falling left and right, hitting tents and cars etc. Then of course the stories about how heli guys "take over" clubs, but again, never evidence of this. Well eventually they played some games, drummed up the fear, and played some games and got helis tossed from the club. They lost about 30 members overnight, and these were the guys that helped out at EVERY event, helped with field maintenance etc etc. Watching that made me want to get move involved in the club, and I don't even fly helis or multirotors. Interestingly enough though, I've done probably 5 or 6 tent and table displays promoting our club or the hobby at other events and we usually bring along a warbird or two, a cub of course, and a jet. My friend brings a few of his helis and a quad or two, nothing fancy. In almost every instance they go to the heli first, then the quads, then the planes, even the women and girls.
Contact your local papers and invite some reporters out to do a story on them.
One of the clubs I belong to tried that once (Remember the guy in Boston that wanted to put explosives in a couple of jets?
Well channel 3 sent out this young female reporter and every other question she asked amounted to "How Much C-4 can U pack in a Jet?
Again, I think that's our opportunities as hobbyists and ambassadors of the hobby to try to educate these people. Redirect the questions by showing them a similar plane, get them up on a buddy box and let them fly something, even a trainer, and explain how unlikely it is that someone could do anything with C4. It's an uphill battle I'm sure. They want sizzle, especially during sweeps week.
We here can't agree on anything but that there is a problem. No consensus here either.