Originally Posted by
init4fun
His point of the enlisted men (and women) being deserving really didn't need to have him pointing out a membership category that he deems as "less deserving" to somehow justify the idea . I will lay down a little "real world wisdom" for Franklin here ; "I know several youth members of my flying club , they are the children of fellow RC pilots , and i do NOT know any ""rich"" people , just us of the rapidly disappearing middle class" .
In the 8 plus years I've been involved in this hobby, and however many clubs I've flown at or visited, I've never seen anything close to the spoiled rich kid persona he alluded to. Not even close. The kids I see are everyday kids like we probably were, enjoying the hell out of this hobby, thankful for any plane they were flying. I've been lucky enough to meet and be fellow members at clubs with some kids you might have seen in your travels. Dean Lampron from up your way in Mass, and the McCormack boys from New Hampshire. I've watch all three of them over the past 5 years excel to the point of shaming most folks at our club. National champ level flying. It's a thrill to see them grow and their skills improve. All three of these kids are as far from Franklin's made up world as you can get. Salt of the earth, generous with their time, and humble as hell about their abilities. All three have worked incredibly hard to get where they are, and all without 200 Dr Dre Beats on their head. They are fantastic with kids at events, and also spend considerable time afterwards helping our members trim out their planes, and answer questions about programming their transmitters. They are the future of this hobby, and are exemplary ambassadors.
Originally Posted by
init4fun
PS , in case you can't tell , I'm 100% proud of the AMA having the free youth membership category !
Absofreakinlutely!
Clubs should be working overtime to try to figure out how to get more youths into this great hobby. Our club charges one extra dollar for "family memberships", be it one extra child or 5.