Originally Posted by
astrohog
This is yet another fallacy propagated by the AMA shills and execs. "We MUST grow the hobby!"
Our hobby is how some choose to use excess money and time. Does anyone ever stop and ask, "Why? Why MUST we grow the hobby?" Who does growing the hobby serve? The AMA and the manufacturers, PERIOD.
I was drawn into this hobby for my love of all things aviation and the urge and ability to create something with my own two hands. Once I had built my first plane and took it to the club field, I also found the joy of camaraderie with others who share the same passion and that, also, became a "part" of the hobby for me. As my skills and knowledge progressed, I also found a passion for helping others to be successful and enjoy the hobby and that became a part of the hobby to me as well.
I don't think that my experience is a whole lot different than the majority of members, therefore, it is my conclusion and belief that it is the members' and the clubs' responsibility to be the avenue for "growth", or at least provide a positive environment for the beginner to engage and be positive ambassadors for our hobby where the general public is involved and it is the responsibility of the AMA to support that membership and those clubs in those endeavors, working on our behalf to advocate our great hobby to the powers that be in order to assure that we can thrive and continue to enjoy our flying privilege's as we have for generations. In that model, growth will happen organically, by attracting folks who are genuinely interested in and passionate about the hobby, not because, "I need insurance to fly", or because they want access to telemedicine, etc, etc. It insures that we have an active, interested and engaged membership, whether it be 100,000 or 1,000,000 strong.
just my humble $.02
Astro
With regard to growth, our hobby is highly dependent on specialty products obtained from hobby manufactures. This includes electronics (like radios, receivers, motor controllers, servos), power systems (gas, nitro, brushless motors), consumables (like nitro fuel, LiPo batteries), specialty tools (like battery chargers and covering irons) unique and hard to fabricate items (like props, EDF units, retracts, wheels, other unique hardware), specialty construction materials (like covering film, balsa) and of course the ubiquitous ARFs that make up the bulk of what is flown today.
If there are not enough people consuming these goods, the hobby industry dries up and these items become harder and harder to acquire. True enough that some of these items have other applications and may still be available through other sources, but the availability may be limited (you may have to buy from a primary source in large quantities) and the costs would jump. Specialty items (like props and retracts) are likely to be almost impossible to come by at an affordable price.
Even just to maintain the industry at its current level, we need to keep new entrants coming into the hobby every day, because every day some number of people age out, loses interest, or just becomes too busy. More to the point, the industry itself needs to actually grow to survive (a plain fact of business life is that companies that are not growing are dying). So growth is necessary to have a vibrant hobby industry that enables us to have a vibrant hobby.
A slow decline and slow death may be OK for many of us old farts who will age out over the next decade or so, but for the future, the hobby needs new blood and growth (regardless of what happens to the AMA).