Ghost Rider,

I would ask that you don’t dilute the 55-pound weight campaign by suggesting that only the jet crowd (of which I am part of) are the only modelers that are reasoning for a weight limit increase! Your revelation (post #24 this thread ) that BVM has been on a serious campaign to raise the weight limit (that’s what this is) is not the first by a long shot. There are those who have seen the logic of increasing the weight limit for many years to not only to allow jets with heavy fuel loads, but also large scale models and others that have proven their legitimacy in the RC world when built and flown at larger sizes. I assert that we all share a common goal of “dragging” the AMA into the 21st century and understanding the needs of a growing and powerful segment of the hobby. I also contend that it is this large and growing segment that represents (gonna take heat here) the fuel for the growth of our hobby!!!!!!

Each time we get into this discussion the inevitable arguments come to the surface. The “pro-lightweight crowd” points to the (potential) worst-case scenario of a super-heavy, super-fast, loaded-with-fuel (jet) model crashing into a structure or crowd causing horrific damage. With that said I would continue to point out the “pro-slightly-heavier-crowd’s” argument, which goes hand in hand with facts, reality and good common sense. F4u5 mentioned that the AMA is a business. NO the AMA is no business, if they where, they would be out of business by now or not in this situation at all. If AMA wanted to reduce it’s liability it would simply do a study to figure what segment, group, type of model or other “entity” causes the most payouts and therefore insurance premiums. Once zeroed in they could then begin to “structure” that particular segments activities to get the desired results, which would be less cause for payouts. There is no logical reason to assert that the insurance premiums increases are due to “potentialities” as opposed to “PAST RECORDS” Why then does AMA propose to increase the premiums of groups that have not caused the bulk of premium increases and future payouts? The suggestion that they want to “tier” the payment structure is typical of an unconnected bureaucracy whose sole purpose is the extension of said bureaucracy’s existence.
In any case the path of the AMA from this point on, is in my opinion, predictable and unfortunate AND completely OUT of the hands of everyday modelers. The reply that ProfLooney presented from DB says a lot about his (AMA's) intentions.

I guess I have said enough here so I will stop for now. Thanks for listening.