Originally Posted by
aymodeler
I'm not sure a "compliance culture" would help much with the AMA's demographic problem though, which in my opinion, is their bigger issue. And FliteTest could never be help up as a shining example of a compliance culture either. I would go so far as to say that FliteTest originally caught on with younger entrants to the hobby because they found the AMA (and AMA clubs) too rigid and stiff.
I was thinking along different lines. The FliteTest crowd may not be the picture of compliance, but nor are they big users of airspace over 400 feet. So in that sense, I figure the rest of the aviation stakeholders don't see that group as any threat to the airspace above 400 that others are looking to monetize. In short, "If you stay below 400', we kinda don't care."
That's where AMA, as a big user of airspace above 400 feet pi**ed away an opportunity to be seen as a non-risk. Non-risk because they followed the rules and held themselves accountable. But instead, they took hands off approach. And FAA (and others) can search any number of popular online forums and read examples of people all but admitting they don't follow the rules. "I never go higher than 399.99" or "The maximum speed of my jet is 199.99." Or, even open declarations that they don't intend to follow rules. Combine that with court cases, videos of AMA events where planes crash into crowds, videos of diving at high speed toward busy highways, or even flights to high altitude in the middle of a Victor Airway (with no spotter), and the sense is a culture that says one thing but does another. Which means self regulation has failed and creates reason for formal regulation.