If you insist on teaching yourself to fly go right ahead. Just get your platinum card ready, because its going to cost you.

I am 1 of our instructors at our field. We don't make people join our club to learn how to fly. It is an unwritten policy that, we will gladly take up anybody that is willing to learn. They just have to have AMA if they are flying their plane.. Our club is willing to give about 5 or XX days of flying before we ask them to join. But we dont' make them pay their club dues before the instructors start w/ them. If they haven't joined the club in 2months and are still flying. we require them to join the club or go somewhere else. Our annual membership dues are a big $50.00 so is really no big deal. But I have read that some clubs dues are in excess of $200.00/year

Our club has people show up all the time wanting to learn how to fly, but don't have a plane yet. Most of the time we give them the flight instructions, etc, then hook them up on a buddy box, and let them fly. We let them fly on several differant days, to see if they are going to like the hobby before they go spend hundreds of dollars on something they might not like.

I think our unwritten policy is fair.