"Motorcyclists of MAAC" - a new SIG, prospective members step forward.

I have been riding for 48 years. Current machine is a Yamaha FJ1200 sports/tourer. I have owned more bikes than I can remember. I also have a Honda "Cub", used for chasing errant free flight models. The FJ has been all over the continent, two up.

Insurance works out in MAAC to be about 12 or 13 bucks a member when you add up all the policies. I wish I could insure the FJ for that. The remainder of the dues are used for all sorts of other purposes. Pie charts are published at intervals showing the breakdown.

As for categorizing - As insurance chairman, I get asked that all the time. The basic problem is this:

My FJ is insured REGARDLESS of which licenced driver rides it. The machine is specified in the policy, not the rider. In MAAC, the modeller is covered REGARDLESS of the type of model he flies. The modeller is specified, not the model. Interests change, so trying to restrict modellers to models of a specific type is not practical. Besides, how do you categorize? By weight, by motive power.
Park flyers are safer than .40 powered sports R?/C models, but is an electric pylon racer doing 150mph a park flier? Is an FAI pattern flier as potentially dangerous as an elderly pensioner learning to fly with a .40 trainer? Where is the line drawn? Do not even try to go there, or it would start a new thread that would break all records.

To R/Cnerd, there is no attempt on my part to put you down or to belittle your concerns, but when Boards of Directors have weighed these considerations for decades, be assured that there are no simplistic solutions, or they would already be in force.

MAAC does a lot more than provide insurance. If that was all it did, the infrastructure of the organization would be one person, looking after things part time.

Richard Barlow.