Here I think a hypothetical might help illustrate the point.

Let's say you are knowingly flying a plane with a takeoff weight of 58 pounds. You are flying somewhere that you think of as outside of the so-called AMA "sanction". umbrella, whatever.

You cause an accident. The victim finds out you are in the AMA, which covers you at all times with 2M of liability insurance.

You tell the plaintiff, "no see you do not understand, my plane was flying 3 pounds over the limit so you can't sue the AMA, really...never mind that the AMA really does not have any formal restriction on its policy for 58 pound planes, but trust me it says on this little yellow card I have here in my flight box, it is called the safety code".

AMA would almost assuredly not deny the plaintiff's claim, unless flying your 58 pound plane is going to be held in the same light as the guy who flew into the blimp, which I have been told was the only case of non payment of a liability claim by the AMA.

So I think Steve's point is, as of now there is no way to passively "opt out" of the AMA insurance....you put the AMA insurance at risk everytime you fly.

Now I did talk to Carl about this, in an effort to find a way to "actively" opt out of AMA insurance. He said to send him a note when you plan to operate "outside of the AMA insurance" and he will take care of it...from his reaction to my question it sounded like a new request to him, not sure if others have tried it or not.

I do not think you would get thrown out of the AMA, but around here, the safety types will say you are putting the AMA at risk if you operate this way, and we are all so safety concious in jets that we do not want to get pounded by our own SIG or peers. Nothing to do with getting thrown out of the AMA.