porcia83

My Feedback: (8)

I stand corrected. The voters spoke, for sure.

dmoody19

My Feedback: (24)

I have to agree here. 175000 members equals 8750000 dollars a year at 50 dollars each. I struggle with that amount already. As a disabled vet the money is just not there especially when you also have local dues at the club or field where you fly. There are other ways to raise money and you are doing that now. Get us more involved 175000 letters to congress should make a difference and faa policy does not equal law.

dmoody19

My Feedback: (24)

nosure about your thoughts.. i build my own planes many these days from foam board so the plane costs 4 bucks to build. the motor and esc another 18 and servos? I get 10 servos for 18.95

dmoody19

My Feedback: (24)

not sure about your thoughts.. i build my own planes many these days from foam board so the plane costs 4 bucks to build. the motor and esc another 18 and servos? I get 10 servos for 19.95 and have never had one fail.... ever... I have had some name brands though that seem to fail rather quickly....never have i spent 80 on a servo not even with my giant scale planes some over 120 inches.
Are you saying only rich folks should be in the hobby? How about more accountability from the ama on the almost 9 million a year they get at 50 each. Not to mention all the donations fund raisers and other things they make money on. Have you ever actually known anyone that needed that million dollar insurance policy or ever seen it pay out anything for anyone? Just saying. I am disabled vet and without this hobby I wouldn't know what to do for a hobby. It keeps me sane in a nuts world and by the way there is not a dingle person I know personally or at my club that would ever pay 80 for a servo. Rarely does one have to spend 20 unless you just buy name brand things because that is what you think is important or makes you look big. Not intending to give you a hard time but I had an x wife that only went with names on everything and my generics normally were equal or better at a fraction of the cost. Its not about letting them raise more money its about accountability with the millions they get from us every year........

franklin_m

Shortly after 9/11, I contacted each member of the AMA leadership and suggested they support our active duty members, those kids putting their lives on the line, with a discount equal to what they give Seniors. Not one of the EC even responded, and no action was taken.

That taught me a lot about the AMA's values.

Chris P. Bacon

My Feedback: (4)

How would they be able to verify those on active duty?

Did you you send your request via certified mail so you can verify that it was received?

rcmiket

We took action on our own and do not charge active duty personal club dues and think the AMA should follow our example. I'll shoot them a email.
.

Mike

Sport_Pilot

MMM, how bout sending membership cards to all active duty service members? Then boast to the FAA of the increase in membership. Members with guns, LOL.

cj_rumley

deleted

rcmiket

Since they can track club officers along with intro pilots on club rosters than the active military thing would be no big deal. the club submits the names and dues would be waived. Now getting them to listen is another issue.

Mike

astrohog

My Feedback: (1)

While I can tell your heart is in the right place, I have to wonder if it is AMA's place to support those who have served our Country in the military by offering a discount on dues? The AMA is a no-for-profit and a for-the-members organization, offering reduced dues to certain members kind of defeats their purpose and leave the shortfall to the rest of the membership to absorb. Since it is not an organization that one MUST belong to and is supported by membership dues in order to serve its members, I would think that ANYONE wanting to join understands that their dues go to support their benefits. It makes more sense for a for-profit business to attract customers by providing discounts to military personnel and veterans than it does for a non-profit. In the case of reduced dues for kids, it makes sense as they are the future of the hobby (i.e. will provide a future, steady revenue stream) and presumably, have little or no expectations to be able to provide an income for themselves in order to pay dues.

I like Mike's suggestion better; Our individual clubs are better suited to assess their individual situation and values to determine if they could/should offer a discount to Vets/active military personnel.

Regards,

Astro

Chris P. Bacon

My Feedback: (4)

And how would you verify active duty status to prevent fraud?

franklin_m

Statement of service letters are signed all the time. I've signed literally hundreds of them over the course of my career for Sailors. DoD letterhead, pretty standard letter actually.

franklin_m

Fair enough, but then I'd argue why are the providing discounts for seniors? If you argue the fixed income aspect, perhaps, but then I'd challenge someone to go look at E1 to E6 pay scales. E1's to E3's are no less "the future" than are the free memberships they're handing out now to kids under 18.

franklin_m

Well, that would mean that each of the eight or so email addresses that I copied directly from the AMA website would have been wrong. Also, the absence of any email kickback is an indication it at least got to the server. Lastly, it's a pretty sad state of affairs if someone has to send things certified mail to the AMA to ensure a response.

franklin_m

It's called a "statement of service" letter. We sign them all the time for military members to exercise rights under the Soldier's and Sailor's relief act. I've signed literally hundreds of them over my career.

cj_rumley

It's a pretty sad state of affairs when a practiced sycophant can't dream up a better denial than that suggestive question.

Chris P. Bacon

My Feedback: (4)

I have emailed several different members of the senior leadership team over the years and have always received a response. I also attend several different events they attend so I can address them in person when necessary.

Chris P. Bacon

My Feedback: (4)

Hopefully you're well aware the AMA has a very small staff and "letters" are additional paperwork. Doesn't the military have some integration tools available so active duty verification can be done on-line as a service? It's almost 2016.

rcmiket

That would be the responsibility of the local club to verify and forward that with the annual charter renewal. As I handle that now for our club and we as a club do not charge active duty club dues I can attest first hand that it's no big deal.

I just saw the "statement of service " letter . There ya go problem solved.

Mike

franklin_m

So that's why they send me a letter every year asking me to renew? If it's so much work, why do paper at all? Unless of course it's not that much work.

rcmiket

Burden of proof would be on the local level. Problem solved..

Mike

franklin_m

Well congratulations. Quite honestly, the email to them asking for the discount for active duty (nothing big, just same as seniors) happened to be that mythical one and only first contact email that didn't get a response - well didn't get a response from several separate email addresses.

Again, what's more likely? All eight or so addresses failed, didn't exist, were wrong, or ended up in spam folders, or they just didn't want to do anything about it? Given that all of them went to different servers...it sure looks like the latter.

And that was my first impression of dealing with AMA leadership. Not a single "Thanks for your suggestion...". Not a single response. And you wonder why I'm critical of AMA.

HoundDog

My Feedback: (49)

Now I'm for Discounts for Vets ... Free is good too and Kids stay in till they turn 16 and find girsl and cars then return after they get sick of girls and cars.

rcmiket

Here's a email from the AMA I didn't expect. Normally it's like March (or close) to renew club charters..
[TABLE]
[TR]
[TD="class: drop, colspan: 3, align: left"][TABLE]
[TR]
[TD][TABLE]
[TR]
[TD] Dear Club Officer,
As you may know, the club charter fees will increase on January 1, 2016.
We have a special offer for your club that will allow you to lock in the current rate, but it is important that you act quickly and recharter before December 31!
Here is a comparison of the current rates versus the new ones:
[TABLE="class: dashedBorder"]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[TD="align: center"]Renew by 12/31/2015[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]Renew on or after 1/1/2016[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="bgcolor: #999999, align: left"]Basic club charter[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #999999, align: center"]$30[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #999999, align: center"]$40[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Insurance Certificate for flying site owner
(year-round coverage)[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]$60[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]$80[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="bgcolor: #999999, align: left"]Insurance Certificate for events[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #999999, align: center"]$20[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #999999, align: center"]$25[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

We hope you will take advantage of this opportunity to lock in the current club charter rates for the 2016 year.
In an effort to make this as simple as possible, we are including some critical information. You will find a list of all club officers we currently have on file. The second list consists of names for all flying site owners currently insured on your club's behalf. Please carefully review both lists.
Club Officers:
President:
Vice President:
Secretary:
Treasurer:
Safety Coordinator:

Flying site owners:
[TABLE="class: dashedBorder, width: 600"]
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.

After you have completed the form, you can submit it either by email to [email protected], fax to (765) 286-3303, or mail to AMA, Attn.: 2016 Renewal, 5161 E. Memorial Dr., Muncie IN 47302.
When we have processed your renewal, we will forward your 2016 club certificate to the designated contact officer.
Please note that the currently issued insurance certificate for your flying site owner is in effect until March 31, 2016. We will issue the certificates for the 2016/2017 policy period when we have received the updated policy number information from the insurance company. This will be mid-February 2016. They will automatically be emailed to the designated contact officer and mailed to the certificate holder listed on the insurance certificate. If you provide us with an email address we can also email them to the certificate holder/flying site owner.
Thank you for your continued support!

Lois, Lisa, and Ilona
Safety & Member Benefits Department[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: drop, colspan: 3, align: left"] Mike[/TD]
[/TR]
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[TD="class: drop, colspan: 3, align: left"][/TD]
[/TR]
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[/TABLE]