I guess I’ll throw my two cents worth in here.

As many have pointed out, any where an AMA member flies, the AMA is insuring you. If you are flying your park flier at the park and take out the wind shield of a car, and you have no other insurance, the AMA will pay to fix it. Every Monday morning the AMA gets lots of these calls.

At one time the AMA insurance did have language that would invalidate the insurance if you where operating outside the safety code. But as I understand it, and for reasons I do not understand, an insurance company asked that that be removed. So the AMA does not have a really good way to get out of covering you.

And now to the real point:

As Dr. Sandy Frank put it, in an EC meeting, “The safety code is a gentlemen’s agreement”.

When you join the AMA you are entering into an agreement; in exchange for the benefits and coverage they provide, you will pay your dues and follow the safety code. If you are an honorable person you up hold your side of the agreement. If you can not agree to the terms, then you do not join. It is perfectly honorable to disagree, not join, and operate any model in any manner you like at any site that will accept your terms, and there are folks that do this all over the country.

In the end you can do pretty much anything you want. There are no police out there who will weight your model or check your speed out on the dry lake bed, the local school yard, or the local airport that lets you fly there. It is just between you and your conscience (what would Abraham Lincoln do?).

Steven Ellzey
President, Jet Pilot’s Organization