BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

Not a list exactly but the club search feature at https://www.modelaircraft.org/club-name-search now includes an icon to indicate an approved FRIA

mongo

My Feedback: (15)

all journeys start with a first step, somewhere...

franklin_m

Whether a club is or isn't a FRIA on the AMA's website comes from a database of that info at AMA. If they wanted, they (AMA) could easily extract that list.

ElectriMan

What would be the point of that?

franklin_m

If memory serves, a couple folks in these forums asked for a list ...
Extracting that list from the database that feeds AMA's "FRIA logo" field on the website would do that

ElectriMan

I think it is better to actually look rather than accept misinformation.

The list is already in place. When you hover the cursor over "Club Finder", "FRIA Flying Sites" will pop up. Click on that and the approved clubs will be listed.

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

You can go to
https://www.modelaircraft.org/club-finder

Select the check box for FRIA Sites and hit FIND and it will return a list of FRIA's the only limitation is that it returns 30 at a time so there's 34 pages or so to scroll through.

It's better to refine the search by state or city and then set a radius but the information is there.

franklin_m

FYI, you can't search just by state. Requires city entry (see image).
Also, several states are more than 200 miles in any direction. If I put PA and 200 miles, sites will be excluded. Recommend recode so neither city nor a distance is required. That way one could get accurate list of all in the state.

Also, why limit to 30? Many sites offer option to pick how many you want to see, which includes "all." Why not build to allow all on single page if that's what the user wants to see. Makes text search using built in browser search features easier.

franklin_m

1. Some people don't feel like seaching through 30 pages to find something.
2. Search capabilities much greater if native file is available. Excel for example can easily search by multiple criteria.

Don't understand why AMA wants to keep it so cumbersome to access. If idea is to get people to clubs, why not make that info available in as many formats as possible? For example, it would be easy to export file that includes name, FRIA y/n, and all the fields ... including lat/long. Trivially easy to have excel calculate distance and do one's own search w/o need to find a nearby city and HOPE that the AMA algorithm is correct. You can easily use. your own and be confident.

ECHO24

franklin, it's pretty east to use if you narrow it down to a geographical area, which you'd do searching for a club in your area. Why do you need to look at an entire state? I looked and my former club is down 60% in membership.

Propworn

My Feedback: (3)

Some people are just not happy unless they have something to gripe about.

You know it's been over 10 years since I used to travel to the SAE Aerodesign Competitions with the entries from my local university here in Canada. Each year I took a two-week vacation and flew my own models along the routes I took to Florida, Texas and California. I often used a different route coming and going, so I could visit as many clubs as I could. All of my contact information was gleaned from the AMA website and this was in 2011 and prior. The information is there. It's not a nanny state where you have to be spoon-fed the info for heaven’s sake use some initiative and put some effort into your research.

ECHO24

franklin is not looking to join a club. It would help with his "research" investigating AMA.

Propworn

My Feedback: (3)

I wasn't looking to join a club just looking for interesting ones to visit in my travels. Back then I used Microsoft Streets and Trips with the GPS dongle and bookmarked every site I could in the USA and Canada for future reference. I still use that old program today along with Waze and add more info as I come aware of new clubs. With the info sometimes I have visited 4 or 5 clubs a day along my route. Makes the trip much more fun especially if I have a model or two along for the ride. If I zoom out to include a state or province I can see all the clubs and hobby shops marked by a push pin along the route and can easily plan for side trips.

scale only 4 me

My Feedback: (158)

So true,, Our buddy Franklin just goes way out of his way to find something about the AMA to be upset about, they give him what he's asking for,, but he's upset it takes a little effort to filter the data,, I though he was a Data Expert based on all his data driven rants over the years

Who needs to know what site are or are not Fria, you only need to know the ones you're thinking about flying at,, which is what? a handful at a time,

Another Lame thing to complain about, what a surprise

franklin_m

Little research project I'm doing. Besides, what's wrong with wanting to see an entire state? I wasn't aware that was against some rule.

franklin_m

Data yes, HTML & websites no.

What I would like to see is summarized data. What they're giving is NOT what I asked for.

ECHO24

Franklin's (private) Permanent Select Subcommittee on the Investigation of the Academy of Model Aeronautics, "AMA", kicked off in July 2013 and has been working diligently ever since keeping RC skies safe for all Americans.

Under that authority Franklin demands the AMA promptly respond to all demands for any and all such records as might be of interest to Franklin and in such format as he demands that no stone go unturned in routing out AMA negligence.

ECHO24

Not likely to happen after Franklin reported the AMA (club) to the FAA.

@R_Strowe, can anything good come out of that?

R_Strowe

Probably not. It would be nice for him to put his money where his mouth is, though.

Regarding the origin of the other thread, no trolling intended; I sincerely would like to see him 'walk the walk, not just talk the talk'.

R_Strowe

scale only 4 me

My Feedback: (158)

LOL,, make your own list then,, Do the work yourself,,

Some of your criticismsare legit, but too often they are petty like this and frankly, you loose credibility

franklin_m

Job requires finance degree, which I don't hold. And I'm certainly not going to go back to school to get a degree I don't want. The CFO ultimately does what the EC says to do, and that's the root of the problem - the EC decision making and prioritization.

The latter is what I do for a living, help organizational leaders become more efficient, make better decisions on use of precious resources (usually $$). And I've offered them that help, FOR FREE, and they turned it down. So in terms of "walk the walk," I'd argue I've already offered. And they didn't want the help. Why? Because they're "pretty smart too". And where are we several years later? Same trends, continues spending on things that lose money, and staff costs still growing faster than is sustainable.

franklin_m

Already working on it. Interesting finding already. When you add up all the members of clubs, it's over 100,0000. That would mean that more than 100% of AMA members club members. I'm gonna pull that string and see what I find.

The point was to highlight that whenever asked to make numbers - totals - more visible (and verifiable), the AMA's inclination is to NOT do that. Ask about total member numbers by age group? A: "It's proprietary." Ask about copies of IRS filings? A: "Pay us for them." It's a pattern of behavior that's well less than transparent. Another example? Why can't members get detailed agendas and read-ahead materials about pending votes until AFTER the votes are cast?

If they're as good as they say they are, then one would think they'd be proud to share numbers validating their performance. But they don't, which tells us something.

init4fun

Hi Franklin,

Reading this, I'm left wondering, could the fact that there are more club members than AMA members be indicative of some AMA members belonging to more than one flying club? I know at least 5 or 6 of the members of the club I belong to are also members of other nearby clubs. Speed himself has stated that he belongs to (if I recall correctly) a couple or three clubs.

franklin_m

Certainly that accounts for some of it, but how big of a percentage. Of course AMA could clear it all up by sharing the total number of paid members, but that would require a level of transparency yet unseen.

Not sure if I can do it yet, but I hope to geolocation published locations to see what that yields. Concept being that clubs far are unlikely share large numbers of members, clubs closer might.

speedracerntrixie

My Feedback: (29)

4 clubs, Portland Skyknights, Clark County R/C, Molalla R/C Assiciation and a Portland Area Soaring Society. Many members of those clubs hold memberships in other clubs as well, very common in this area. Don’t recall seeing the same degree of club interaction in California though.