Originally Posted by
Red Raider
Responding to your continued semantic arguments is a waste of time. You're not interested in discussing the issue. You're too busy insulting people and trying to correct specific language to make it fit your notion of PC. Please, spare me the sanctimony and hypocrisy. You opened your mouth with the first insult in post 25, acting just like the other infantile one, and then again in post 43...so ya know, lets not play that game? and You want specifics -
1). admit that trying to bring the 1,000's of toy drone owners into the AMA was a mistake; nobody will do that as it wasn't a mistake. Odd thing to hope for, an apology, as if that will change anything.
2). separate models from drones by our own definition; Doesn't matter what WE define...that's the FAA's call, and they made it. No turning back time.
3). Deliberately distance ourselves from the toy owners; That's hilarious, and elitist in the same breath. What a hoot. Breaking news, we're all toy owners, then again it's popular here for some to classify themselves as other than toy owners, by virtue of building and how much they spend, and not flying foamies.
4). Deliberately distance ourselves from the commercial drone operators; Now you're making sense, but I don't recall this huge push by the AMA to advocate for commercial use overall. Perhaps you meant that for Amazon?
5). encourage the EC to be more responsive to the membership before making major decisions; Again, making sense here. There is already a mechanism in place for feedback to the EC, and that's via Leader members,AVP, and VPs. Direct communication is always available, and they have conducted surveys of the membership as well. Not a perfect process, but there is no such thing. Also, what is "major" to one person or group might not be for another, so it's not a perfect science to pick which is. In this case, even if the membership was polled and they said "ban drones", it wouldn't have made a difference in the world, the FAA made the decision.
6). throw the drones to the FAA wolves, stop supporting them and say publicly we don't support them; Not going to happen. If for no other reason they they would never ever ever hear the end of it from people like say, you and the others, who would probably go into apoplexy complaining about all the past work done, and money spent etc etc. I'll admit I'm presuming there, but given the prior comments, it's a safe bet.
7). Now, IF the membership agrees with this, and the EC does not, then we need to replace them through the process in our bylaws not through insurrection.
Completely agree. Now the issue becomes who steps in to replace the old guard. Are there lots of people involved now who are eligible to run for office, and are they even willing to do it. If it's anything like the most recent VP elections, the answer is no, not really. And to that, we might what to dig deep on the reasons why that is the case.
Originally Posted by
Red Raider
The purpose of this is to stop the government intervention into OUR hobby. We didn't do anything to bring this on ourselves except to align with a group of toy owners that have displayed total irresponsibility and that have absolutely ZERO inclination to join AMA or abide by our safety rules. We have to separate from them or go down with them.
There is no stopping government intervention in the hobby, it's here forever, that's just how it is. And if you think it all happened because of the AMA not distancing itself from a DJI Phantom, well, I think you are missing the huge big pic. This was a slow moving tidal wave that we got wrapped up in. Yes it sucks, yes it's unfair, yes it's mildly intrusive. Do you really think fighting back even harder now against the FAA is really the right way to go, given where we are at now? Forget the doom and gloom predictions for one minute...if the registration is the sum total of what we have to do, is this a dealbreaker for you or the AMA? I say no.
If the call is to go forward and fight fight fight, then be prepared to pay for that right by way of additional membership dues. Fighting the govt isn't cheap or easy. I think the AMA needs to be thinking about compromise right now. If they can feed over our numbers to the FAA (with our perimission), work for that. If they can get specific written agreements on the 400 foot issue, get waivers for that in writing. Also, get all or as many of the fields in that 30nm zone back open. If the closer ones in need to go all electric or park flyer to stay open, that might be the way to go. Compromise sucks, but that might be what is needed. Pure speculation I know, but I don't see going backwards to try to change something that's already a done deal. We are simply not fighting from a position of strength.