Originally Posted by
init4fun

Mike , I hate like Hell to believe this , but here goes ;
I have come to the belief that the AMA sees it's only future in two things , #1 being Drones and #2 being the ability to get itself positioned as the only authority over ALL non commercial UAS flight . It is also my belief that they are perfectly willing to gamble us "traditional" LOS RC flyers rights away to get what they think they need to survive , a monopoly on all non commercial UAS . We "traditional" RCers are not seen as the AMA's future , we're already seen as it's past , and that's the reason the AMA never came right out and made the distinction between RC LOS and BLOS , cause they are banking on their being NO distinction between the two and in fact want to be in control of all of both !
It never has been about "saving" the "traditional" LOS flyer from excessive regulation , It's about the AMA insuring IT'S survival , whether our part of the hobby survives or not ! In the future , if AMA membership isn't somehow mandated by the FAA , The AMA will cease to exist as it's quite obvious where the hobby is headed and folks who need no club fields really won't have much need of clubs , including right on up to the biggest club , the AMA .
So 80 years of being involved in heli and fixed wing advocacy and interest is going to be done away with, just so the AMA can put all of eggs in the drone basket. Even though that currently represents a small segment of the hobby, (you didn't mention FPV/Quad racing), they are doing all in for drones?