Originally Posted by jcmors

We can argue and discuss all day long about what was done, what went wrong, what should have been done, etc... and at the end of the day we will still be in the same situation with the FAA and the government trying to shut us down. My opinion:

1. The AMA should not have attempted to force membership in our organization using FAA regulations. That was just plain wrong.
2. Call for the prosecution, basically, of everyone not an AMA member who is flying recreational model aircraft in the Hill alienated many folks.
3. As an organization we should have concentrated on our members and not "romanced the drone" for now we are ALL "drones".
4. The AMA is in dire financial straights due to not paying attention to trends and yes, basically mis managing funds.

So, having said all that, and voiced my opinions... what now? It is obvious to me that the AMA is NOT going to save model aviation. FRIAs are really not the answer. Consider the dream of FRIAs causing all of the registered but non AMA members actually being forced to join the AMA in order to fly their existing equipment. Picture 700,000 folks streaming into our ~2000 club sites that are approved as FRIAs, there will be no room and no opportunity to fly there anyhow! We would be standing in line for hours waiting to get a 10 minute flight in!

We can argue all day about what was done wrong, what should have been done, what would have happened if this or that was done differently and we can keep arguing and fighting among ourselves. The past is the past, we are here now and dwelling on the past won't fix our problems. Lets consider something that most of us here may be able to agree on, the fight to save our hobby is now our responsibility, each one of us as individuals. We need to present a positive image of our hobby to the general public and to our representatives in Congress. It is OUR responsibility as hobbyists to come up with ways to make a difference. AMA member or non AMA member, as hobbyists we are all in this thing together and we need to work together towards solutions.

Again, just my humble opinion.