I didn't mean to disparage R/C planes by calling them 'toys'. I have a fancy for them after all. But I also called my MX bike a toy and I had well over $9000 in it. Semantics. And no, I did not travel halfway across the US to ride my MXer - and I got paid to race. I sure ain't doin' it to fly a model.
So- thanks for that airfield in Muncie!
As for injuries from R/C planes. Someone have any solid statistics out there? More people die on golf courses every year than by R/C anything (except maybe Hellfires from a CIA Predator UAV!!!) and I don't know of a single golf club mandating supplemental insurance. Nor on a GUN SHOOTING RANGE!!!
The AMA insurance is a red herring.
You don't want to imagine the injuries I've seen racing motocross, and yet no track or club I raced in ever required supplemental insurance. Not at the amatuer level. Heck, even when I raced a few Arenacross events (PACE Motorsports sanction), all I had to do was display a PACE sticker on my bike to have coverage for the event. wasn't a member of that AMA or PACE.
Do people suffer badly from R/C injuries on rare occasions? Sure, but c'mon, what is there, like 1 fatality you have for evidence? And remember about who would actually get sued- not likely you but the property owner or club. Even the manufacturer might get named in a lawsuit, but proving you were negligent, in the legal term, is almost impossible. A lawyer will not chase Joe Tentpeg with a mortgage and kids (doesn't play well to judges) when he can go after clubs and land-owners instead- then it's a simple matter of liability instead of proving negligence to win.
Spend that money on increasing much more useful insurance like homeowners. That will cover your whole life, not just a single hobby. My homeowners would already cover my planes if say, my house went up in flames. AMA would never even pay out on it! And Homeowners will replace MY HOUSE while they're at it. Thanks but no thanks, AMA.
I'm not hung up on $58, but I don't feel like pissing away money for something that affects the few elite of the hobby. Someone with a 70 pound jet doing 150mph every weekend may need the AMA to argue for bigger and faster limits. He very well may need insurance, if just for the cost of the model itself. But I'm a hobbyist- I do other things like play bass. Why should I pay the same insurance premium, flying my 6 lb 25mph trainer maybe a dozen times a year, as the jet jock? I don't drive a Ferrari, and consequently don't pay Ferrari insurance premiums.
My wife is an insurance agent with Progressive (with absolutely no interest in R/C). I asked her to take a look at the AMA insurance deal. She agrees that the cost is low for the amount of coverage, she agrees that the insurance is really nearly useless with some very specific and extreme exceptions. Better to bump your regular homeowners policy. Homeowners may cost a little (very little) more and not cover $2,000,000, for the same price, but it covers close to it, and it covers EVERYTHING, not just this one hobby.
So will I join the AMA? It depends on how hard it is to find a place to fly outlaw. I have the entire Rocky Mountains and plains East of them. Doesn't look good for the AMA....
I'm just glad I can say that the AMA palace in Muncie didn't get built on my dollars. Nor will the next selfish project. They should have spent that money on subsidizing local clubs to pour hard runways, establish facilities, and run events- or keep that membership fee down. Instead a priveliged few got a shiny new flying park.