ORIGINAL: faras
I agree. I have been an AMA member since 1984. I am an advanced flier but I have seen these AMA clubs taking the hobby a little too seriously. Instead of making it fun it has become a place for people with nothing else to do to scare intimidate and eventually turm off prospective members. I joined a club that is shrinking but they cotinue to insist that to join you must be sponsered and attend atleast one meeting during the weekday. I travel all week am i to stop work for a week so I can become a member. I think not.
Also the liability insurance issue is harming the AMA. Ever seen the ''progressive'' insurance ad where this girl says i can get you a customized policy. The reason for that is that every flier does not need the same coverage. Some may need all some none and some in the middle.
We are going to have to look at this as a sport and invest in big areas like golf clubs and Shooting ranges where people pay and get a great experience. The hobby has continued to grow at the small plane and large plane level and actually no growth in the .40 to .60 size aircraft. So we have a large number of new comers and growing number of baby boomers moving into larger planes.
The new comers in the small plane area are mostly electric. Let me ask the question why not let clubs provide blanket coverage through regular insurance for these members as they pose very little risk with there small aircraft. Let the dues cover the cost of this insurance and let everybody have fun.
We should also be scrutinizing the dues paid to AMA. Has anyone ever questioned where the money goes and who controls it. Why can we not have a member owned AMA where the organization would answer to all. This way there would be accountability and these old outdated ideas would be jettisoned.
Thanks for taking the time to read this.
hehehe....Driving ranges.....we used to fly at one years ago...thanks for the funny memory. I remember how it taught us to ignore little distractions....you know, like golf balls hitting you while you were flying.....I got nailed pretty good a few times. I'd encourage this path to ANY of these guys here who want to go out and show the AMA who is boss!
Personally, I can't think of a way to increase membership faster! Worked for ME!
The clubs go go out and do all you said, self-insure, all that stuff. The BIG issue is ALWAYS going to be that when these fine fellows who are insured at their home field go to other fields to fly they'll be asked for their AMA cards.
That was the reason that the AMA grew so quickly in the first place. One stop shopping.
All it takes is a few moment's of real thought and any rational person will see that the easiest way is ALWAYS going to be the AMA.
You can start your own field. You can fly there. You can insure yourself, or you can pay the 20 bucks to these newbies that RCU advertised here in the thread. And as long as you never have the urge to go to another field, you'll be fine. Change ANY of this a little bit and things can (and usually do) get complicated quickly. Sure, you might create a small network where you can exchange pilots back and forth under the USAMA or whatever it is.... It'll take some work and that'll cut into your flying time.
And you're locked in and it complicates any changes you wish to make.
AMA frustrates these guys because they have made it easy for everybody for a small fee. 58 bucks is a small fee. Filling my gas tank one time costs more. I can go coast-to-coast and fly at fields everywhere, actually further than coast-to-coast.
I never said you CAN'T do anything else. Heck, I've done it myself. Had my own field. Had fly-ins with other small fields. It was a lot of work and took a lot of time. We're ALL AMA members now. It's simple and easy.
That's all. No malice towards other situations, no hate, no attitude. I just know what works, and my time is worth something.
But you may not want to miss that experience of pulling a golf ball out of your fuselage!! It's something to tell the grandchildren some day!
Jimbo