To Beavertail et. al: You do NOT have to join AMA to fly. You do NOT have to charter your club with the AMA. You can fly at a non-AMA club without AMA. You can fly safely without the AMA, you just need to be sure you have liability insurance for the field and pilots.

One of the largest (about 200 members) clubs in Omaha, NE is not an AMA chartered club. You do NOT need AMA to fly there. You do however need proof of some sort of liability insurance. Their web site is http://www.omahawks.org

They have a good safety record and even host AMA sanctioned events. It is possible to belong to a club and fly safely without the AMA, many do it now. You do NOT need AMA to fly.

So, to all who don't like paying $58 to the AMA so they can fly at their local AMA field, START YOUR OWN NON AMA CLUB!

Of course there is a down side to an NON-AMA club. The main problem is checking guest pilots for insurance and insurance for the club. AMA club charters are real cheap, like $30 or something. It would be hard to find liability insurance for what the AMA club charter runs. The second problem is that if you are not an AMA member, you will have a difficulty when you travel to other events or fields. Of course, if you don't allow guest pilots to fly at your field and you never travel, this isn't a problem.