AMA has chosen Tyler Dobbs as the next Executive Director.
Unfortunately, AMA's downward direction will remain the same.

Did you apply for the job?

If you are referring to the downward membership trend you are correct. That trend has nothing to do with any of the AMA staff, that is directly connected with the lack of interest the general public has in our hobby. Models are no longer exciting to our youth. Video games and social media are the major forms of entertainment. Just getting kids outside is a challenge, when was the last time you saw a group of kids ages 10 to 14 riding bicycles down the street?

In other words, it doesn't matter who's in charge of AMA, the hobby will still decline.

Ahh, well I guess we will see, but maybe save the negativity and see how he does first eh?

No negativity towards the new ED. The OP said it best. There is nothing that anyone at AMA HQ can do, it's out of their hands.

"If you are referring to the downward membership trend you are correct. That trend has nothing to do with any of the AMA staff, that is directly connected with the lack of interest the general public has in our hobby. Models are no longer exciting to our youth. Video games and social media are the major forms of entertainment. Just getting kids outside is a challenge, when was the last time you saw a group of kids ages 10 to 14 riding bicycles down the street?"

Well, think about it for a minute. With the current technology it’s never been easier to have an R/C model ready to fly and it’s never been easier and less expensive to learn to fly. Think Aeroscout as a good example. Now think of all benefits what being an AMA member with access to a FRIA brings. No requirement for RID and now in most cases being able to fly above 400’ being the big ones. Yet the membership continues to drop. Reason? Lack of interest in model aviation or aviation in general. Example, a group of civilian women take a trip into space and for the most part nobody really cares and in some cases they faced some negativity. Do you think the general public would have reacted the same 40 years ago? I don’t. Our hobby is like that $400 bottle of wine. It appeals to a very small number of people and unfortunately it always will.

OP = Original Poster aka YOU

You mean Speedy....he's right and its our job, everyone that wants to see the hobby continue, not just Tyler, to counteract that trend.

On my end I'm working on an article with a number of pilots and industry and UAV people to explain how they got their jobs or the love for their jobs after getting their start in model aviation which in my case led to a career as a P-3 crewman in the Navy and after that computer network engineer. All because I got hooked on model aviation when I was a kid.

Very good, something proactive. Safety in numbers.

My bad, I thought OP was the Other Person. lol

Never quite got everything figured out on forums. lol

The AMA magazine I saw was lacking towards the next generation of pilots; 60 pages of old timers and gliders doesn't get them to want to be involved.

It's not safe to ride a bicycle in the street, anywhere in America that is was in, when I was a child. Every childhood neighborhood I was in, was perfectly safe in the 80's. Revisiting them is painful. Now a kid would be abducted or go missing, in no time at all.

Kids still love airplanes and rockets. Parents are pushing other kinds of daycare.