ORIGINAL: jester_s1
The club or no club debate comes up more often than I'd care for it to, to the detriment of new flyers. Nitro-pilot, I hate to break it to you but you are a member of a club. It may not have meetings or dues or rules, but it does have a flying site and a regular group of guys who use it and apparently get along with each other. That's what a club is, and beginners need one. However he does it, the OP needs to get someone to at least do a trim flight on his bird and show him how to take off and land properly. If the helper were also kind enough to show him how to tune his engine and do basic aerobatics that'd be even better. Whether the person who helps him is an AMA Intro Pilot program instructor or just a nice guy is beside the point. The truth is though that there aren't many instructors who aren't part of a club and there aren't many clubs that don't require AMA and dues. So, unless there is a guy who is willing to come and help him without those things, he has the choice to either pay for his training by destroying airplanes and having to fix and replace them, or he can pay for it with club and AMA dues. I'd vote for the latter as the experience is more fun and much faster to actually get to the fun flying part.
And that's without including those oh so inconsequential things like liabilities, training, having a government advocate, sanctioned flying sites, etc.
I've seen new members and novices arrive who expect everyone to drop what they are doing to help them out.
Thankfully these are very few in number. More often than not our members go far out of their way to help a novice.
The dues and membership help us all make sure that we have a field to fly at, and a CHANCE of dealing with people who are all to often chomping at the bit to close our hobby down through lawsuits, referendums and laws.
Those who are all too quick to poo-poo the club recommendation often do not realize the damage they they may be inadvertently helping to cause...
e.g. if it's OK to fly w/o AMA membership, certification, etc... then "Joe Bear Buzzed flyer" can take his brand spanking new .60 plane he purchased off a buddy, and fly it on the other side of the Interestate... w/o anyone interfering with him! The same plane that ends up crashing into traffic causing a multi-vehicle pile-up and many injuries....
Nah, that will never happen, will it? Hmmm one of the magazines reported just that last month.