I'm the president of the Aero Modelers of Perrine (AMPs) in Miami Florida. We've used the same flying site for 15 years now. Originally 5 acres we owned in the Everglades. The state purchased the 5 acres from us and leased back 13 acres.

I think every club has problems with non-members flying. After the state bought our property, they dug a trench around the property and suggested we put up a gate to control vandalism. The gate with a combination lock has solved all our vandalism problems but does nothing about the non-members. When there are members present the gate is open. Obviously the gate stops non-members when no members are at the field. The only way a gate will help is if every member closes and locks the gate after entering.

What has finally helped control the non-members at our field was educating our membership. You have to get the membership to understand that they are all responsible for controlling non-members. All members are required to display their membership card on their person while at the field. If a member sees a person flying without a membership card, it's the members responsibility to approach that person and ask them to show their membership card. If that person cannot produce a membership card they are asked to leave the premises. Even members are not allowed to fly without displaying their membership card. It may seem harsh but sometimes that's what it takes. All guest pilots (non-member) must be pre-registerd with one of the Board members before the day of the visit.

If a non-member refuses to leave, the membership has been told to call the county sheriff. Unfortunately, the county doesn't care about us (or anyone) so most people realize that calling the sheriff is an empty threat.

The laws in Florida are much the same as Texas. If a person refuses to leave the premises, many of our members carry, including myself and we will escort a person off our property. This of course is considered a last resort and we've yet to go that far. Although we did have to escort an aligator off the premises a month ago. Our lease from the state allows us full control of our property.



Bob Cox
President: The Aero Modelers of Perrine (AMPs)
Miami, Florida