Minor problems for the balance of benefits.. I'd bet that when showed that kind of interest members would come out of nowhere to help/donate. They don't have to build a hotel + something's wrong if you can buy a lawnmower and some grass seed for 380k A majority of club sites have been secured/developed for nowhere near this amount. Muncie is probably just about the only one in the country that has more than this invested...


I'm sure that a position could be created to oversee the development of the sites. It would be more than payed for by the new income generated..

I think your idea of regional airports is a great one for sure. I know it's successful in Muncie and would be awesome to have these 8 AMA owned fields which can be reserved when your field can't handle the traffic for regional events. The only downside this could hurt the clubs financially because they depend on events to bring in money for the club.

Either way ... it's a gread idea and we should discuss further on it and perhaps make it happen.

It could hurt local clubs a little but I don't think that it would be much and after a little time it would promote many new members which would end up boosting the local clubs and their income. Unfortunately it's a woulda, coulda, shoulda situation. An extravagant amount of money has already been spent and gone which benefits locals to muncie and those few that can afford to travel and take large amounts of time off. I'm sure that given a different goal that the EC and Vp's could have put their heads together and come up with something that would have been very beneficial to a majority of the membership not just a select few... []

Abel,
The $2.5 million came about because the property owners wanted more covereage to cover them in case of an accident.
This started when the owner of Elliot's field wanted an increase from $1 million to $2 million. Elliot contacted AMA and they said they couldn't provide it, so he found someone who could and started SFA. After a while, AMA found a way to provide the increased coverage.
When you think about it, $2.5 mil is not a lot of money anymore when talking about lawsuits.
BRG,
Jon

What happened to the SFA?

When you think about it, $2.5 mil is not a lot of money anymore when talking about lawsuits.
Which is why you need $2.5mil liability coverage to get a drivers license.[sm=thumbdown.gif]

Steering 2600lb at 75mph must not be as hazardous as steering a 2-10lb at 40-80mph, Cause ~ $50k coverage will get you driving 45mph about 5' from a 13yr kid in the Bike Lane, one sneaze away from killing him.

but what does this have to do with the Hate? Don't people care enough to hate anymore? If we all pitch in, we can save the disappearing hate.

Ever been a few feet away from a 12 year old kid operating at helicopter with carbon fiber blades spinning enough RPM's to decapitate a person? I have. Not only do you have to depend on that person not to hurt you, you have to depend on his servos, battery, linkages and his ability to fly the thing. One small glitch and it could be all over for someone.

Why the 12 year old kid reference? I know a 12 year old kid and he's sponsored by many companys and he is an excelent pilot. You might have heard of him. If you want to use your G3 multiplayer function, you can see how great he flys. I know 60 year olds who scare me when they fly airplanes more than most kids flying helis.

50%

yeah I guess 12 year old kid was bad as some of them are amazing pilots. but most adults do have a better sense of responsibility then most 12 year olds and responsibility doesn't matter how good of a pilot you are. the responsibility I'm speaking of is charging your batteries properly, double checking your linkages and flying under the conditions when your not supposed too. either way this hobby could be as dangerous as riding a bike on a road. at least on the road you know everyone is over 16 and they've taken a drivers test. but if they are drunk or not ... of course you don't know. either way ... both can hurt.

All these are good point's, except the hate thing. That remind's me of children sitting around and having a forum on Barney.
The AMA should focus instruction and the safest way to do this. There are a lot of club's that post they teach for free and they teach 100's of people each year, well that is a good thing if this is true?
Do these club's promote the AMA and safety, now I am not saying that they have to or should just IF they do, why are the number's for the AMA going down as far as membership?
That may have something to do with the hate factor, teacher's not doing this but here is a thought, just a thought.
If all you club's out there can sign an overwhelming amount of new member's(, don't forget about the sign 3 fly free program the AMA offer's) do you feel you might sway opinion in the AMA, your way if all your new member's that you sign actually vote.
This is what I was writing about unity for, if everyone can get on the same page, WE would have the voice in the AMA because WE are the AMA. As long as WE bicker among-st each other, as long as WE stay DIVIDED in more than just a few area's than the WE, AMA, organization can do just about anything it want's to because WE don't stand together.
But hey that's just a thought because I am wrong let's just keep thing's the way they are and maybe soon the AMA will be with the SFA and maybe we can tell tale's to our children about how we used to.....

Yeah Jon, Elliot went outside the box. Then he ran into the 800 lb gorilla guarding the box.[]

I hope you didn't think I said a liability judgment of $2.5 mil can't happen, as I intended only that it hasn't happened yet as a consequence of flying a model airplane. I meant that as an indicator that risk facing any one of us getting hit for that kind of liability is exceedingly small. The risk that somebody among the total population of AMA (160,000?) will, is of course much greater. It's not worth much of a cost/risk trade-off for something like AMA insurance, where the coverage in the amount $2.5 mil (for very narrowly defined risks) costs only a few bucks, and reducing it would only save pocket change. When you are looking for broad, comprehensive coverage like a PUP and the premium may be the $100's per mil, then most of us do generally consider more carefully how much is enough. Heck, most people insure their cars for the state mandated minimum that wouldn't cover fender-bender damage to a parked 4-Runner.

Abel

Nobody is forced to join the AMA. If you want to join an AMA chartered club, then it only stands to reason that you need to be an AMA Member. If a person don't wan't to be AMA then they have the right to go find their own flying spot, and hope that everyone else that flys at that spot has home owners insurance. If this was that good of an option for Clubs, I am sure there would be more non AMA Clubs though. ALL I am saying is that there is a reason why the majority of your known Clubs are AMA. If Clubs saw no benefits to it, they would not belong.
This argument kind of reminds me of my buddy who gets mad every year when it comes time to buy a fishing liscense. He believes that you should be able to catch as many fish as you like by any means possible without putting out a dime towards conservation. He believes such things were put upon this earth for the taking, and paying to fish is absurd. My belief is that if you enjoy doing something, and are going to reap benefits from it, then why not invest a little money to insure that future generations can enjoy it as well. Maybe he is right, and maybe I am wrong, but it just makes sense to me that if you enjoy something, you should do what you can do within your means to insure that it does good so others can enjoy it as well. At this point AMA is the only game in town, or one of very few that is trying to preserve the hobby for future generations. So I feel good about sending my little $58 dollar check to them, and knowing that I am at least making some very small effort to conserve our hobby.

Thank god someone else who thinks that the AMA actually does something positive for a change, good stuff Roo.

One things for sure about that comment is that the AMA does not control anything about this hobby. In fact, and if you read Hoss' AMA/FAA UAV post they are helping to make sure that there is as little control over the hobby as possible. Because this crap about the AMA having control is nothing compared to if/when the FAA has to jump in. Luckily they are doing the legwork for not just their own members, but parkflyers too.

[quote]ORIGINAL: ckangaroo70



Right on !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How about another 35 $ then it will fit. Please.

wow I'll do some venting here myself. I'm very pro AMA. For no other reason than the insurance. I challenge any one to go to your local insurance agent and try and get the insurance the AMA offers. Not only you the flyer but the property owner as well. for 55 a year.
ask him while hes writting your policy to run interference with the FAA and the FCC and to look out for your best intrest with those 2 govt agencies
As far as the AMA not caring about the members....thats just plain bull. Bliss Teauge (dist 4 vp) met my ten year old daughter at the Ralley of the Giants in Danville VA. 6 months after she appeared in the AMA magazine. 1 glance he remembered her, and her name.
The next day (sat) called out to show center and gave her a hat and a patch with an invatation to the youth masters. Now Bliss didnt have to do any of that. I think that shows caring.
For me I'll take the AMA and the rules meant to protect our hobby

That's 58 bucks a year.