Seems I am a bit confused by your post so let me ask/answer what I can and we can become more clear.
ORIGINAL: littlecrankshaf
aeajr,
Great post. Your summation of AMA's intents and benefits are generally accepted and therefore so is the rational that perpetuates that widely held philosophy.
The only quandary is the fact... as you say... "it buys me acceptance on top of coverage". Of course, you could buy yourself a PUP... that would cost you a few more bucks...but isn't all those things you mentioned worth it? Sure they are!
PUP? Personal Umbrella Policy????
I have one actually. Costs me a LOT more than the AMA membership for a lot less coverage and the local government agencies will NOT accept it as meeting the insurance requirement where I live.
The real issue becomes the acceptance aspect.
All too often, in this forum, the main theme of the staunch AMA defense team is “everyone should pay their fair share”. Well that is fine and well but how is $58 fair to a modeler that flies rubber powered free flight when compared to a jet jock flying a 200 mph $15,000 model? Therein lays the point of contention in my mind. It has been discussed to no end in this forum about a tiered system and the complexities that make it not feasible.
I understand your point but have no real answer other than to say that, as I understand it, the difference would be about $8. I am no authority so please don't take anything I say as AMA speaking. This is just what I believe to be the case.
So what would be an alternative answer? Event and site insurance costs could be at the producer or club level instead of essentially at a collective membership level.
That is how it is done now. So they are already doing what you suggest, again, as I understand it.
Then AMA memberships at large would not be a basis to fund the entire liability exposure. Each and every flying site could have insurance dependant on use type, location, and experience quotient. Nothing new here…basic and standard for most intents and purposes in the insurance world. AMA memberships could then reflect a due structure in keeping with a real individual need basis, therefore opening the door for growth, especially the park flying crowd.
Can you suggest an insurance carrier that will offer such a policy? AMA buys insurance just like you and I. They are not an insurance company. We get the benefit of very low premiums based on the group buy.
It is even conceivable that the strategy could be turned around so that it is the collective fees from clubs and events might help fund the membership benefits that would have the effect of promoting the hobby to magnitudes only imagined before.
To the extent that AMA collects any fees, that is how it works now, as I understand it.
One of the things that always strikes me as odd is the fact, that collectively AMA members help clubs to acquire flying fields with the implied “acceptance” theory but most clubs return the thank you to those members by severely limiting their use of the field they acquired.
You somehow see the concept of the club as separate from the members. The members are the club. If the club restricts the members it is because the members voted it to be that way. The club has no power or authority over members unless the members grant it. Members acquire a field for themslves and form a club to help obtain insurance and create a group method for funding and managing the field.
Wait… I know what you are thinking! Just why should a club just open its gates to any AMA member? Well… they shouldn’t…unless the precepts of “all for one and one for all” is the mantra… they should have any limits they desire but by the same token they (the club) should not rely on others to insure their particular endeavor either.
I have no idea what this means
In the current system clubs do get a free ride, comparatively speaking. A few more bucks more and an individual member would pay what a club is charged for its charter.
Again, I don't understand what this means
In the end, in this alternate concept model type, the club could have absolute control of its membership, AMA members or not, and decide for it’s self just what it desires within the constraint it adheres to.
This is exactly how it works today. The club exists because the members wish it to exist. The control afforded to the club is given to the club by the members. As the members establish the rules, so they are governed by them.
Seems you have defined how an AMA club works.