ORIGINAL: the_joker through some of my research they only cover you if your at a ama sanctioned field
That is not true. They cover you pretty much anywhere you fly, as long as you have some semblance of a flight line, and flight area where there are no people (to make it short).
ORIGINAL: the_joker also with everything i've looked up on the net people talk about the declining numbers in the ama and club memberships nationwide so maybe i'm not seeing the whole picture but to increase membership in the ama it makes sense to get the clubs to open there flying fields up to ama card holders even if the club was to charge lets say $5 a day for use it seems the ama and the clubs would stand to better themselvses .
Most clubs let other AMA members that are visitors fly. As you mentioned, most have a limit on the # of times you can fly without joining. The reason for wanting people to join, is clubs cost money, from the lease for the land (or tax if it's owned), to costs to upkeep the field and such. If people were a little more free roaming perhaps more clubs would have a pay to fly sort of thing, or as ours does, an associate membership. With that if you are a full member of another club, you may join at the associate price (which is much cheaper) and fly... you just have no voting rights on club matters as an associate.
ORIGINAL: the_joker 1 more thing if the county owns the property and makes the club follow the same rules as county parks then isn't the flying field really a county park ???
It depends on the land use agreement with the club. Many such fields really are open to any AMA member to fly, some are exclusive to the club. Sometimes you need to go to the local offices that
deal with that land to find out for sure, but most places will let you know up front. I've only run across one club in my years flying that tried to force everyone into membership to fly on a place that
was open to anyone with AMA. In the end due to their behavior they lost the field.