Originally Posted by
w9jcm
Well I read this thread and albeit a little old I am putting in my 2 cents worth. I have been in the industry as producer of DVDs ( not anymore) and been flying RC junk for 25 plus years along with full scale and part 107 too. Been in and been out of membership with the AMA. And now I will be perm out of it because I am just tired of the politics within the upper echelon. Go look up what it takes to actually run for VP or even President of the AMA. You can run for President of the United States easier. I don't think they are helping anyone except themselves.
So I live rural and have 5 acres which is next to another 5 acres and I am putting in my own runway. I don't fly at any RC clubs in my area because they are all A holes and clicky. I for one will not put up with having some so called expert in a club analyze my flying to see if I need further instruction to fly with them. Things like this. Also attitudes about drones are horrible and its almost like I need to start a Drone Lives Matter group.
Bottom line is I am going private (pretty much have been for a long time) and if I invite some friends over to fly at my nice site I really don't care if they have AMA or not. I have never heard anyone getting a insurance check from AMA insurance anyhow. I don't need it I don't want it. Sounds like I am miffed yup I am but its a long time coming. It just comes down to are you going to sit around a whine about it and take it? Or man up and do something about it. I choose the later. And for all your AMA backers that are saying oh what if someone gets killed or injured at my property? IF you do something stupid and hurt yourself you pay, if you hurt someone else you pay too. If you don't have money you get sued no difference if you have AMA insurance or not believe me there is none. I bet where there was so called claims with the AMA which I would love to see, there are the same amount of claims and law suits to go right up against. So I will take my chances and enjoy not paying the AMA what is it 78 bucks a year for a crappy magazine that never tells you if something is a POS or not. Heck and maybe I might even have some fun flys here with people that can actually pull there heads out of there butts and be friendly, normal and know how to enjoy a hobby.
Hi W9jcm ,
While your entitled to your opinion and have stated your position well , I believe you couldn't be more wrong about the AMA insurance being non existent as your "believe me there is none" statement alludes to . Every so often , when the subject of AMA insurance comes up it's usually brought up to bemoan the fact that it is a secondary policy which only pays when all other insurance has failed to cover an incident . It is then that the few cases of the AMA paying claims that are publicly known about are brought up and they do serve as proof that the AMA insurance does indeed exist and does pay when the conditions for payment have been met . I really do feel sad for you that your club experience has been so unfriendly and yes sir while there are folks of every walk of life that are power hungry meanies there are also clubs where friendship and helpfulness rather than bullying can be found , I know because I belong to one of them . Just please don't forget the AMA and all RC clubs are made up of people , and people themselves can be a rather "inconsistent" breed , as a quick read around most of these threads will allude to . Some will help ya , some will slap ya , and some will walk on by without so much as a glance in your direction , but that is not and can not be taken as an indictment of all of the various groups folks belong to , because you ARE gonna find that good & bad among all groups of all types even far beyond the model aircraft world .
In closing , I'd like to say that in my opinion , there is no right or wrong about AMA membership , it is a good fit for some and not as good of a fit for others and I'd never diss you for not finding value in it . Your last sentence about "people who can pull their heads outta their butts" sure seems a bigger diss to the AMA membership than I feel is deserved by the far greater majority of AMA members I have encountered in over 50 years of flying model aircraft . The AMA does not fit well for you ? Ok , I get that , but does that poor fit really need to be accompanied by the backhanded slap you gave to the majority of decent AMA members ?