:thumbup: Very well said, TexasAirMedic. Unhappy people abound and they try to bring everyone else down with them. I wonder where we would be right now without the AMA. I'm sure they have a lot of red tape, bureaucracy and wasted funds, but at the same time they do more for the hobby than any of the people who complain about them.

What I've learned is that most people complain because it's obvious they aren't doing anything productive to help the situation. They somehow rationalize it to themselves that if the AMA (or whoever they're complaing about) isn't performing to their personal satisfaction, then they have an excuse to sit back and do nothing.

I am so glad we have the AMA and that they're doing what they can to make sure the rest of the world knows that we're just a bunch of people trying to live our lives doing what we enjoy without hurting anyone. I don't care if they use our money to promote us to the CEO of McDonald's. Every person who isn't in the hobby who has come into contact with me has walked away knowing more about what we do and MUCH more tolerant of us.

I fly my helicopter in my neighborhood every night. The neighbors don't complain about it. What they do is come up and start asking questions and some of them are even checking into getting their own. It's all about promoting ourselves positively. The nay-sayers and complainers are more of a problem than the AMA could ever be.