Just a little side thought here to Appowner's mention of an FAA mandated "check ride" to insure one has flying skills ;

The club I belong to has all new members prove to the club safety officer that they can actually fly an RC aircraft before they get to fly by themselves . If they have skills , great , they get to fly and if not they get to have a few sessions with the club instructors , before getting the OK to fly alone once the instructors give their OK .

So the precedent of flight tests already exists , how many of you gents clubs have a similar policy for new members ? Having the FAA administer such a test wouldn't bother me in the least , if I couldn't pass the check ride why should I be allowed to endanger the rest of the population by flying beyond my proven skill set ?