Originally Posted by
islandflyer
Growth is not the primary mission we entrusted them with: their primary mission is the represent, protect and develop our hobby of aeromodeling. And that is not done effectively by embracing another new activity most of us do not practice, and which comes with such a heavy load of liabilities.
It would be a better investment if we dedicate some resources toward educating the public, the media and law makers on the fact that drones are NOT model aviation, and whatever they are doing, THAT IS NOT US, instead of trying to cover "anything that flies) like the ad below.
As I mentioned earlier in the thread, thank god one person's opinion has no overall affect on how this "hobby" of ours is defined. Thank god.
The first problem with your thesis is the use of the word "drone". The definition of this is tricky. But regardless, to say that this is not part of model aviation is incredibly...wrong. On so many levels. Luckily the AMA continues to have the hobby's interest at heart, despite the comments about them acting like "royalities"...LOL a ton on that one. As if they need to run everything they do by the membership. Ya, that would be reasonable and work smooth I'm sure. Last I knew they VOTED as they were supposed to, and the voting results were what they were. It wasn't done by proclamation or decree.
Of course growth is a component of what they do. It doesn't always means a vertical growth (those greedy royals just want more members for the coffers...mwahahaha) , it can also mean growth in the hobby, and what's included in the hobby, and whats related in the hobby. I'm sure the RC heli pilots are thankful someone didn't come along back in the day to proclaim them NOT PART OF MODEL AVIATION.
Check out this guy, an absolute genius.
http://flitetest.com/articles/northr...b-design-build
He has been a guest at our club's events for 3-4 years. His builds are absolutely amazing. One of the first things he brought 4 years ago was a quad, self built and programmed for flight. The crowds were amazed. Almost all the aircraft he built were done by scratch. The X-47 build is just stunning ( and either maidened at our field, or just after maidening). His work is most definitely tied into aeromodeling.