378

My Feedback: (4)

I'll be a helpful, interested, friendly modeler. I'll gladly help a noob out to the best of my own skills, etc etc. But I won't be an AMA member if I have an option. The only benefit that year of membership will have is letting me get buddy boxed and get some practice in at a good field. I don't want or care about any other aspect of the AMA, least of all the dues I can't afford, and you couldn't get me involved in the politics if you held a gun to my forehead. Just won't happen. There's nothing I hate more in this world than politics, but I'll leave that rant for another forum entirely.

rv9-a

And don't forget all those glowing reviews on the packaging those planes came in!!

rv9-a

jessiej

I normally fly alone and on private property. At one time I enjoyed admiring the craftsmanship of my fellow modelers and seeing new solutions they had found to various problems. Now ARFs predominate and I find them of no interest. I do support the AMA, however as it provides a window into what legislation may affect ts. and provides at least a rudimentary lobbying effort. I hate politics as much as the next guy, but I am unwilling to shut my eyes to it and become an unknowing victim.

Further As well as RC, I enjoy CL and free flight which are featured in the magazine along with, wonder of wonders, the occasional construction article.

jess

GerKonig

I just answered the question you had stated above. I do not know your aunt nor where she lives, obviously. But even so, it would make no sense to drive 2x60 miles to go to a field. a) get a club closer and pay the club + AMA membership (much cheaper than all that gas). OR b) Gel a farmer closer to you (if possible), and save the clob and ATA membership. You will not need the buddy box for much longer...

I enjoy my club, and my fellow members. The interaction, jokes, and the learning from others. I guess some people are more of a social creature than others. We are a small group of great people. I find the filed highly boring If I get there and nobody is out. But, that is just me. You obviously are not happy with the club members either. I hope the privet club's filed you are using now at least is close to where you live.

Gerry

378

My Feedback: (4)

There are no clubs within fifty miles of my house. I have to shell the gas out regardless. Actually from what I've experienced so far they're nice guys. I haven't actually been down yet though, I'm still waiting on the money for a suitable receiver.

Rodney

My memory may be somewhat in fault as I was only 9 years old when I became a member in 1936. If I remember correctly, there was a "Flying Aces Club" sponsored by the magazine "Flying Aces" which I had joined. When the AMA was formed, all Flying Aces club members were allowed to become members of AMA, cost a whole $1 a yeara fortune for me back then when I was lucky to have a nickel a month. I have been a member ever since although I did not pay dues for about 4 years while in the service in the 1940's. All in all, the AMA has been a very worthwhile organization and has done wonders for our hobby.

GerKonig

Check this out: http://www.modelaircraft.org/clubsearch.aspx Enter your zip code, choose 75 mile range, and see tor yourself all the clubs around you you might not have heard of. If you are in Lebanon TN 37090 there a a bunch around you.

When I entered my zip code, I found out there are many clubs around my place I never heard of either...

Gerry

xcell23

I see a lot of gripes against AMA and the clubs. The only way these things can be changed is by joining and trying to change them. I am a CD because I didn't like the way the CD was running some of the events, therefore I took them over! Most clubs will let ANYONE do anything if they are willing to take responsibility. If you just want to sit by and gripe, SHUT UP!
The club I am a member of recently overthrew the officers, changed the bylaws, changed the name of the club, got rid of most of the rules and became a fun club to fly at, because some members were willing to do the work instead of just griping.
If you don't like the way someone in the club is doing their job, just offer to take it over! You might be suprised at how quick you will have the job!

eddieC

My Feedback: (2)

"Why did you join the AMA?"

I ask myself that every time I look at my card... 

Wingdinger2

I joined mostly for a place to fly, but the insurance and the magazine are nice perks...

init4fun

Ok , , , So , , Did we or didnt we have someone sitting at the Faa's rulemaking meetings ? Cause ive read that we did ( Do ? ) have AMA representation at the meetings , So id like to hear what the actual fact is . Reading around the AMA forum sometimes aint the easiest to find such info out ..............

378

My Feedback: (4)

It's 15 miles before I hit city limits at all. I'm so far out in the sticks I could fly off my own back yard if I wanted to cut some trees down.


MPRCF is the closest field to me, and that's 50-odd miles from my door to the parking lot, so I'm looking at the same amount of fuel burned getting to the field whether I fly there or at my aunt's house.

cubcrasher

My Feedback: (6)

It's kinda like being in the union, sometimes you wonder why you're in there. Then there are times you're glad you are.


R.L.
Cub brother # 31

rgburrill

Aw, the little boy wants to play with his toys and is mad that there is some semblence of control over it.

THOSE TOYS CAN KILL!

CESSNA 421

My Feedback: (17)

I joined because there are no other choice if I want to fly at our field. I personally don't care much for anything the AMA stands for or promotes and if there was an alternate choice such as the Sport Fliers I would no longer be a member of the AMA.

Bozarth

My Feedback: (15)

Right, and the AMA makes everyone fly safer, just like auto insurance companies make everyone drive safer. Right.

Kurt

378

My Feedback: (4)

I don't need the AMA taking sixty bucks out of my wallet every year to operate my aircraft safely. A little common sense goes a long way, you don't need a bureaucracy to operate RCs safely.

Also you're just making yourself look incredibly immature.

dabigboy

I was an AMA member for years, then I hit on hard times, shelved the RC planes temporarily. Things are going great now, I'm back into RC, and I've even gotten a nitro helicopter which is proving to be an absolute blast. But, I've never quite gotten around to re-joining AMA. I think my learning experience through lean times has made me count my pennies a little more. Even now, it's tough to see spending the equivalent of a season's worth of fuel just to be able to fly at AMA sites. Sure, it comes out to like $5 a month for AMA, but to be honest, the only real reason I would join is so I could fly at AMA clubs. And the nearest AMA club is a good 20 to 30 minutes from home. I like what AMA does for the hobby, from what I can tell on the outside looking in, and I've met some great folks at AMA clubs. But I do not like the notion that I MUST join some organization to participate casually in the RC hobby with other folks.

A basic problem is that RC models typically have pretty expansive space demands, and most of us can't afford to have our own large personal space, or are not in an area where it's even feasible. Therefore, we have to pool our collective resources together to share a site, or find someone who has a good location and is willing to share.

What I don't get is why it seems like ALL RC clubs just go the "default" AMA route. Is it because it's easy? Is it because it's the safe/accepted way of doing things? Maybe some for-profit insurance provider should start offering a cheap "model aircraft" policy for site owners, thus relieving individual pilots of the need for any sort of special "extra" insurance. People drive ATVs, go hunting, swimming, boating, and participate in various other potentially hazardous activities on public and private land all the time, without the need for ANY specialized insurance. If something does happen, there *may* be a claim against the landowner's own insurance, which is one of the things that insurance is for. If there is a claim against someone who was using the land, they may well not have any insurance policy that would help them out, but then that is their problem, right?

I think this comes to the basic crux of my gripe: if land owners are really just wanting AMA coverage to protect themselves, then why don't they just let their existing insurance policies serve that purpose? Why do they care if the people using their land are protecting themselves with insurance? If someone gets hurt and starts suing, they can still claim against the land owner, even if they are also trying to claim against someone else (ergo, the RC pilot involved in the incident). I just don't see the advantage.

This basic principle applies to most other activities that go on at the land, why must RC be so "special"? Let *me* take the risk and worry about my insurance (or lack thereof), and YOU can handle your own insurance situation, if you feel the need for it.

Of course, I'm ignoring all the other benefits and positives of AMA when I focus on insurance like this, mainly because, for a lot of folks who join AMA, the insurance/access to clubs is the only thing that really makes them join.

These days I just fly at a local public park, although I'm just a little concerned about the safety issue there, due to the proximity of houses (a couple of houses are in the approach path if you make a long final). But then, I haven't lost control of a plane since 1996.....driving your car to work can be a dangerous and risky ordeal too, but do we stop driving out of fear? Of course not. Naturally I would love to find a field that does not require formal membership and has plenty of open spaces away from houses, but until then, I will continue to fly at my little park, and strive to maintain the same level of caution, safety, risk-control, and even *professionalism* that I have always striven for in both RC and full-scale aircraft.

Matt

matadco

My Feedback: (1)

Isn't amazing when one really tries one can always find faullt with almost anything. The main reason to join AMA is not insurance. However, if insurance was not important why does the state require you to have your auto insured to operate it on their streets and why do states require you to obtain a drivers license to operate that vehicle and why do you have to buy license plates to operate it on the streets. If it was about driving, why not just go out into a field and drive? Finally why does the public hire policemen just to make sure you have insurance on that vehicle, that you have a drivers license and have tags on that car. Why does the public require you to have your boat licensed on public lakes? Why isn't everything free? However don't consider all the good AMA has done over the last 75 years to improve and promote this hobby/sport. Chances are you would not have the hobby/sport today if it had not been for AMA. Hobby is in the building, sport in the operation or flying. All those advantages are not free and those of us who appreciate AMA are forced to pay for all you "Free Loaders" who try to take advantage and feel no obligation to pay back. Sorry to rain on your parade but there is no Santa Clause no free lunch and no is fun free. If you can't afford it, don't do it! If you can afford it, stop griping!

Garyav16

My Feedback: (6)

Money well spent and used to promote the hobby. Plus it protects the hobby and the flyer.

Your money is also use for grants to help clubs build their fields.

Ask yourself why you have car or home insurance? To cover your butt.

KidEpoxy

Matadco
sorry pal but,
Yes, actually they ARE free and unregulated

Neither the FCC nor the FAA mind,
and certainly dont ask us to license & insure,
many disciplines of the hobby.
When was the last time you seen a FCC sticker on the bottom of a CL handle & wire set

Just who is defending ALL areomodling disciplines?
If you just trim a type of modeling off here, and cast some modelers under the bus there,
then its the AMA.
Just how much effort do you see AMA putting into protecting the M.Hill style of modeling, vs the clear effort they put into castigating modelers in that particular modeling discipline? I dont run around saying the Uncontrolled Un-See&Avoid-able Free Flight discipline is not really part of the hobby at all, yet we somehow pick a different group out of modeling brethren to say that very thing to.... as unilateral edict handed down from the ivory muncie tower

Who is protecting the hobby of recreational areomodeling?
Ask the recreational autonomous and FPV crowd that question.
Maybe those recreational aroemodeling hobby enthusiasts answer will be Only FredMarks and explicitly not AMA

For the guys I was mentioning, its more accurate to say
Chances are you will not have the hobby/sport tomorrow due to AMA

RCNCMAN

My Feedback: (29)

Listed are the most biased choices against AMA. Could it be that we need someone to go to bat for modelers and support us when issues arise that seriously affect modeling in this polarized society? This is the best money I spend. The magazine keeps those that want information informed of issues, modeling events, swap meets and new items available.

jessiej

Insurance is one of the most listed reasons for joining. It is generally required at AMA affiliated fields, and this is prudent policy. I would encourage everyone though to examine their personal liability needs (and not just for the hobby) andsee what you might want to get for yourself outside the hobby. The government requires us to uy insurance for our automobiles and may soon require us to buy insurance for our health, but some things are up to us. I recommend talking to ones lawyer and perhas sn investment counselor to help dcide one's needs. that obviously is a persinal decision.

As to the cost of dues, that is such a small pecentage of my annual hobby cost as to not be a blip.

Despite what some will say, if you have a safe and secluded spot to do so it is entirely possible to learn to fly RC without an instructor. It is more difficuld but can certainly be done.

jess

dabigboy

I thought someone might pull the auto insurance card.

The logic behind car insurance I believe arises out of the fact that cars in the US are so necessary to our way of life, that ownership and operation of a car is seen almost as a basic right (which is not accurate). However you cut it, it's certainly true that having a car to drive around in is pretty critical to doing just about anything in this country. It's also true that cars are operated with unreasonably tight margins for error....think about it, you pass within 2 or 3 feet of something with a combined speed of 140mph+ in relation to your own vehicle, and both vehicles may well be loaded with families, pets, possessions, etc, and weigh anywhere from 2,000lb to 5,000+. That's a LOT of energy.

So, in the unacceptably high likelihood that someone's car will hit someone else's car, it is not unlikely that serious injury will result, and almost certain that at least one vehicle will no longer be drivable. This deprives a person of their means to get around and conduct their business. Society, and state governments, felt that this was so critical, there should be some safeguard against it to ensure that the vehicle is fixed or replaced, even if neither driver has enough funds to do the work.

Compare this with model planes: they are not a necessary part of daily life, but rather a hobby/sport that a relatively few people participate in. The models typically weigh 5 to 20 lbs, (easily 100 to 400 times LESS than even the lightest car), have a speed range of say a little over 100mph tops in most cases (and usually much less), and are deliberately flown AWAY from other planes, cars, people, houses, airports, streets, trees, poles, water towers, UFOs, and strange small creatures. I dare say injuries from RC aircraft are lower than just about any other outdoor activity....and yet so many folks feel the need for "special" insurance.

Boat/car registration is just a way for the state to collect money. Nothing more. (The crime-stopping/tracking thing is just a handy side-benefit, and completely unrelated to our discussion either way.)

Matt

jessiej

My auto insurance card is still firmly in my wallet. The need for liability insurance arises not so much from what we do as from what assets we possess.

If one causes (or is perceived to have caused) damage or injury to another, by driving, flying a model, throwing a rock, or any other means he may be held liable for damages. The more the liable party is worth the harder lawyers will work to get that wealth.

We Insure against the unexpected. The expected we budget for.

jess