Originally Posted by
ira d
In order for another RC CBO to start up they would have to get most if not all existing RC clubs to charter with them so that their members would have a place to fly. They would have to offer more benefits than the AMA
at a lower cost in order to get a foothold into the business.
A first place to target might be those clubs that are privately owned, that can and do control their own destiny when it comes to making decisions. I hear there are already organized clubs out there that do not require AMA. As for the benefits, I wonder about that. I can't disagree that for many members of the AMA they are here because they have to have AMA membership to fly, and more importantly might only look at the AMA as a means to insurance, be it primary or excess (in some cases it is primary). So if that's the case and an alternative was created that had matching liability coverages, but at half the price of the AMA membership, I'm guessing a good percentage of folks would take a shot at that. The SFA managed to do it 20 years ago, I think there is far more competition now with insurance carriers and hungry agents! I started looking into pricing for just liability coverage last year, some agents wouldn't touch it, a few said it would be extremely difficult to quote, only one put a ballpark figure on it, about $15,000.00 per year for a club with 200 members.