Originally Posted by
speedracerntrixie
I have to imagine that I will be the only one. Since I personally know Lawrence, we had a few conversations about AMA and drones. I was well aware of his stance. I came here and asked that people who intended to vote do their own research on Lawrence and vote accordingly. Basically asking for them to at least consider Lawrence. That was met with the usual verbal abuse from the RCU good ‘ole boys club.
Good on you, one of the few. Here's Lawrence Tougas statement actually saying something about the direction of AMA:
https://www.modelaircraft.org/2016-tougas-statement
"
Less than 10% of our members list MRM or First Person View (FPV) as their interest. Most of the current MRM and FPV pilots that are AMA members are traditional modelers who have expanded into these areas not new recruits to our fold. So if we are not seeing a large increase in membership in these areas then why is the AMA chasing people who have clearly spoken that the AMA is not for them?"
And here's Hanson's: https://www.modelaircraft.org/2016-hanson-statement. A bunch of vague platitudes, nothing about drones, and this whopper of a lie, "Congress recognized AMA as a nationwide community-based organization (CBO)". That lie didn't age well with still no official CBO designation 6 years later.
This naturally was during the time AMA was falsely claiming you had to be an AMA member to fall under section 336. It was Franklin who first called out that lie with a response he got from the FAA in I think 2017. Then at the Las Vegas Consumer Electronics show in 2018, the director of FAA's UAS Integration Office publicly made the statement that AMA membership was not required for 336, officially ending that particular AMA fraud. This was 10 days after Rich Hanson pissed away any good will AMA had left in his op ed in The Hill calling on Congress to pass a law forcing RC hobbyists to join AMA or be fined by the FAA under Part 107.
A lot of AMAers were all on board the forced membership scheme, no doubt a big part of "active" membership, the 6%ers who voted for liar and swindler Rich Hanson 2 to 1 over Lawrence Tougas. As could be predicted, it all came crashing down with AMA now under the thumb of the FAA.
Now maybe you can see why I want nothing to do with AMA. It isn't the drive or fellow club members. I'd find another hobby before I'd send $.02 to AMA.