RE: Alternate to AMA
I think RCU is a great idea. I think it would have been great if the AMA had made their , (our) website just like this one. I think the AMA is pretty good. But I wish it was a little bit more forward thinking. I wish they had started this type of site. Feedback and discussion among the membership would be great. Discussing issues and having input into solutions in this way would be awesome. It might be like herding cats ! But what a sense of community ? RCU feels more like a community than the AMA does. That is what I would change.
I really like Horrace's idea about having the newsletter in a couple of national RC mags, and scrapping Model Aviation. What a simple idea. The AMA mag is just not up to standard and hasn't been for at least 15 years. And regional VP's can write their columns on the website. Pictures and reports from members present could be shown in forums about events held in district A or district Z on the website. The whole thing needs to be jazzed up a bit. That might make a good forum here.
Esprit De Corps ! I am one of those guys that wears the AMA's T-shirts and jackets to work. I want people to know that I fly models and that I belong to the AMA. I wish I saw more people come out of the closet and be proud of their hobby and show it. The AMA needs a better image. It needs a better sense of community. People think of AMA as the insurance company because that is all they see. I don't wear an ALLSTATE jacket. I'm not advertising insurance. There needs to be some recognition of the members. Not some peice of tin painted gold. Maybe show the faces of the members that just turned 50 this month or the members that have been onboard for 25 years or SOMETHING. Lets put some faces on the AMA. Not just Joe Millionaire with his new 50% F100 prototype at the invitational. Lets put Joe Nobody from Lancing with his 3 daughters in that national mag, make it the cover page of our 6 page newsletter.