Originally Posted by
mongo
with all the talk about declining club membership within the AMA, i am thinking that that 99.9% number is a bit high. at least if you are thinking that one has to fly in a club environment, to be flying where we should and in a safe manner, which i, and some few others do not agree with.
my self, i have been a non club affiliated AMA member since 2001 or so,and i have a feeling that close to 50% of AMA members are more like me(non club) than are like you(club guy). at one time, while dave brown was president, he stated in his column that less than 50 of AMA members were club affiliated. no one at AMA has wanted to update us on that stat since.
I intentionally steered clear of the labels you just used, in certain cases they tend to be polarizing. They create an us versus them scenario. I belong to 4 clubs over 3 states, but actually end up doing more of my flying in local fields, not clubs. Perhaps you misunderstood what I said, because I never said that one has to be flying at a club to be flying in the right place and be safe. I've said in the past that I believe there are more people flying RC that are not part of the AMA, and that is perfectly fine. Flying where they should be usually goes hand in hand with being safe, ie large open fields away from roads, town athletic fields (with smaller park fliers), private fields with approval of owners.
I have said in the past that I think there are probably more people flying RC that are not part of the AMA than are, AMA membership is voluntary and doesn't have any affect on how someone enjoys the hobby. I'm a proud member and I've derived far more benefits from my membership than just insurance, I've tried to make the most out of it, otherwise why pay the money to join? As with most things we do in life, it's a personal choice.
As for "all the talk about declining club membership", that's usually coming from the same folks who say that AMA membership is 15 year decline. Either they are unable to read, or they are just flat out lying (sort of like the lie that AMA is tricking people into thinking they have to join). Club levels ebb and flow, just as membership to the AMA (which by the way has actually been growing for 4 years). One club I belong to has gone from a cap of 125 to 209 in 4 years, some have had to cap membership. Another club I just rejoined went from almost 200 people down to 70 because the large scale "traditional" folks wouldn't let anyone else fly with them, and only one plane in the air. Nobody is going to wait 2 hours to fly once, then get back in a line. Thankfully new officials were elected there.
Clubs hold their own destiny in their hands. Aggressive ones who get out there and interact with their community and drive traffic to their club, and even utilize programs available to them through, wait for it...the AMA... will be just fine. Clubs that shut themselves off from those things, as well as fun flys and accepting of all disciples of flight will eventually realize the error of their ways. They again, they might want it that way, an "exclusive" type of deal, and that's perfectly fine as well if that's what the membership wants.