An interesting question… whether to renew.

Most of us realize that most of the fields inhabited by the 2500 AMA chartered clubs probably would not exist without the insurance provided to the landlords by the AMA. Beyond that, I can make you a pretty good list of reasons you should belong. The personal liability insurance is secondary and of marginal value to most. The question is, are there other valid reasons to be an AMA member?

Let’s start with the magazine. Other than the financial issues, I usually don’t say much about Model Aviation. I have always felt it is one of the better reasons for the existence of the AMA. We see those that will say that there are plenty of magazines and information is easy to come by on the internet. To them, I would ask: can you get past information from RCM or Model Builder, RCAirport or TorqueRoll? With the advent of ARF’s and all that they imply, the day may come where building is truly a lost art. Model Aviation offers the promise of archives where one can look back and reconstruct those skills. At least that is the promise. In the Member’s Only Section of the AMA site appears the following statement: “Our newest addition to the Members Only section is the Model Aviation Online Archives. Here you can browse through past magazines and articles from 1975 through 2000. Please note the AMA plans to update the archives with issues published in 2001, 2002, and 2003 in the future.” The 2005 publishing year is gone and the promise remains unfulfilled.

The audited financial statements were added as in item in the same section. The most recent statement had not been posted and is several months late.

Also in the section is a list of committees, their chairpersons, and members. It has not been updated for well over a year.

There are many other items missing. i.e.: In previous EC minutes is the promise of a listing of instructors and a continuing databases of same in the Member’s Only Section. Again, a promise gone unfulfilled.

You might say, OK, the web site is not being taken care of, but it is really one item. Not so. Each of those items is the responsibility of a different individual. However… speaking of the web site, a web master has been budgeted for a couple of years, but not hired. Why?

Now let’s look at Muncie, itself, for a minute. Often we see the newer AMA members gripping about the national flying site and it’s costs. The fact is that they have no gripe coming. The land was bought and paid for, long ago, by the older (in terms of membership years, not necessarily age) AMA members. The money came from the insurance reserves. Today’s members contribute $4 or $5 of their dues to the upkeep, etc. of the site. To be fair, one must look at the HQ building and museum as separate entities. Not surprisingly, however, the EC seems to find time to keep the promises made of adding to the flying site. Isn’t it peculiar that scanning back issues of MA comes way behind the planning of a new free flight facility at Muncie?

The topic of UAV’s has been raised again. In the last year, Dave Brown had some health issues. Jay Mealy and Don Koranda did the heavy lifting with the FAA. Now Koranda is gone. What happens if Mealy is hit in a cross walk? Should it be the case that with any governmental agency, several AMA representatives should be present at the meetings? Do we really want 165,000 members with one or two persons representing them, or even to have those persons making reports to the EC that >might< be biased?

Certainly, issues involving legitimate concerns of liability at the landlord level are an exception, but, I am getting really tired of having every move the AMA makes reviewed in terms of the liability risk each action or inaction might carry. This is slightly misleading, but, what the heck (get the minutes and appendices to see why). In the appendices of the latest EC meeting, portable outhouses were a topic. I was amazed that the liability of having, or not having, spring loaded doors on outhouses was not raised. Potentially, one might whack someone on the way in or out causing injury and a lawsuit. On the other hand, if they were not be equipped with springs, there is the possibility of unwanted organisms getting in the air, causing illness thus leading to a lawsuit. Should have been good for an hour or two in executive session. They missed a real opportunity.

I would suggest to the Committee looking for a new Executive Director that a lot of time could be saved by eliminating all who are not lawyers from consideration.

This diatribe could go to an indefinite number of items. I’ll stop here.

I have, in the past, made a conscious decision not to become a Life Member of the AMA. I am sure it has cost me money not to. I choose not to in order to be able to cast a vote that counts, each and every year. I vote my wallet by either continuing my membership, or choosing not to. My yardstick measures not insurance, but the promotion of model aviation.