ORIGINAL: PilotFighter
The 20th century will go down in history as the century when tens of thousands of soccer fields and baseball diamonds and basketball courts and parks were built for the masses. The land grab came and went and the AMA did not fight for its share. This needs to be corrected. ITs time that RC modelers got their fair share of the land. This should be the AMA's primary objective. No land = no flying. Its not enough that the AMA helps us buy a group insurance policy. In fact thats pretty weak. We need land. We need it now before its all gone. We need it before we are all out in the sticks. Who drives 45 minutes out of town to play basketball ? Why are we second class citizens ? Why is this accepted ? We pay taxes. We are citizens. We deserve the same consideration as other sports. ITs now or never. Wake up and smell the coffee, AMA. Rocognize the issue. Demand reparation. THis is the issue that will determine if this hobby continues into the 21st century or fades away. Land !
You got some great points. I also feel the AMA isn't focused enough on working with municipalities and acquiring urban flying sites or educating clubs on the benefits of buying their own flying sites.
Of course, the problem is not so much with the AMA as much as it is the membership or enthusiast in general. Just take a look at the typical club, club member, non-club AMA member or most non-AMA enthusiasts. Most do not
buy a place to fly but would rather fly on the cheap and lease or beg a place to fly. Every time it is suggested that a club purchase their flying field, eyes just glaze over and 101 reasons are made as to why not. It seems to me that flying sites where each member has a real share issued apportioned to year of membership dues paid would inspire some real involvement and insure future involvement. As it stands now, most often, a place to fly is just that… a place to fly with no real connection to the modeler. I think fully transferable shares with one vote per share would be the ticket to instill the commitment needed and provide the mechanism to insure the club is ran in accordance to the stockholders desires and give the club the means to go forward in the future. AMA could help educate clubs on ways to achieve this goal IMO.