Hey man, anything to help a "new guy." I know exacly how you feel and totally feel your excitement. I was there about 3 years ago.

Well, $300 for a good trainer, $58 for AMA, and for joining club, I pay $48. Now I don't know how it it for other clubs, but I pay yearly. Some other clubs might be different in Florida, but most are on an annual basis.

Oh, for the instructor. That is a different story. Well, not that much, but many instructors at a club don't charge anything, they just help you out of the thrill if ya know what I mean. IMO (in my honest opinion) I DON"T BELIEVE THAT ANYONE should pay to get instructions to fly. There is a thread somewhere on RCU that has a person that is charging $5 dollars and hour. But, this guy is providing all the equipment, like the plane and engine, so I guess that is a reasonable price for providing everything; and since you are going to have your own plane for insturction (right?) then you probably won't be charged.

Now, you were talking about a one time fee. For the AMA, you can pay I believe it is like (now don't quote me but) $2,500 to become a LIFE MEMBER or AMA and not have to renew yearly (AMA is a yearly pay thing too). I couldn't even come close to that much, but you can have a flex pay of $375 for like 4 years to become the Life Memeber. If you would like more information on AMA and how to join, go to [link=http://www.modelaircraft.org]www.modelaircraft.org[/link] and look around.

If you have anyother questions, please don't hesitate to ask and I'll do the best I can to help ya........HAVE FUN......