Originally Posted by
ECHO24
I'm have to to disagree. I don't think AMA was desperate or it was all about money. AMA was at it's peak with a claimed
200,000 members with affiliates when Hanson came out publicly for forced membership. I think AMA having their way
for so long under 336 went to Hanson's head. He believed he was right. He brought it up again the following month in
his column in Model Aviation. It was like Hanson talking to himself and wondering why the FAA didn't agree with him.
Originally Posted by
franklin_m
They "desperately" needed revenue ONLY because they DECIDED not to slash spending.
Echo, I do believe it was about money, but more so it was about power. The AMA, driven by Hanson, wanted to be THE "authority" on R/C aviation. You have to remember, they did circumvent the FAA to get 336 into law in 2012 so they weren't trying to work with the FAA, they were trying to show the FAA that the AMA was a force to be afraid of. When it came time to have the next round of dealings with the FAA, the playing field had changed with the AMA trying to force membership of pilots flying anything R/C and make the FAA and Congress the organizations to make it happen. Needless to say, it backfired. The FAA refused to play the AMA's game and slapped the AMA down hard, something the AMA had coming.
Franklin, I think it was more than just the about being desperate over capital. The AMA (i.e. Hanson) wanted the funds to keep everything they were already spending funds on as well as the funding to build their indoor flying facility and any other "pet project" they came up with. The fact that they weren't willing to "cut the fat" shows that it wasn't a matter of how to spend in a "fiscally sound" manner as much as it was a matter of greed