I'm not a member so maybe I've got no room to criticize. But, I've been leaning towards joining, so I think I have some room for observations. While weighing the pros and the cons of joining, it has become clear to me that my biggest turn-offs can be nailed down to 2 things.

First, there are the members that come to this forum and complain, complain, complain. Almost everyone, at some time or another, takes issue with with something that some person or some place did or did not do at some point in our lives. If we want to drive, we have to go to the DMV. Being forced to endure long lines, and complicated or confusing laws and regulations can make anyone crabby. But here's the thing: With the AMA....you don't have to be a member. It is NOT a necessary evil. You don't have to join the AMA to be able to fly your plane. If you want, you can abstain from membership and take your chances with the responsibilitites of operating a plane, or drive the long distance to the middle of nowhere to minimize your risk of liability. You can forego the fellowship and camraderie, and go it alone. In fact, if you prefer, you can start your own AMA-type organization and run it the way you see fit. You're not forced or obligated to join, so why on earth would you do so if you're just going to complain? I know you haven't joined just to complain, but would you continue to patron a restaurant you know offers terrible food/service and complain while partaking of that food/service? If you don't like it, quit going.

That said, there's always room for improvement, and yes, criticism. But criticism has to be constructive, and it has to be properly pointed. It does no good to complain about something here, if you haven't or don't plan to politely voice your criticism to the organization. It isn't constructive, it isn't fair, and it certainly doesn't offer anyone the chance to make it right. I'm sure the AMA can't be all things to all people. But, if a vast majority of members wanted something done/changed/adopted, I'd bet the AMA would find a way to do it, change it, or adopt it.

Second, there is the way people treat each other. Please note: Please resist the urge to curse, flame, degrade, insult or embarrass someone in your post. We encourage the free flow of your ideas, but believe that they can be communicated (and received) much more effectively if you keep things civil. If you have to vent, take it offline. We carefully monitor posts and will ban individuals who engage in offensive conduct within the forums. Thanks. I'm sorry, but it seems like both sides of an issue tend to end up this way, more often than not. Sarcasm, riducule, and name calling? No thanks.

Now, you may think this has to do with RCU. It doesn't. It's not even about this particular forum. This is about the face (the face that I see anyhow) of an organization that I've been considering becoming a part of. Before anyone says "if you don't like it, don't read it" let me just say that if I'm going to join, I'm obliged to read it. Yes, there are means of information access, but RCU is my # one choice.

Is there an AMA membership in my future? I'm not so sure. Maybe I'll just continue to make the long drive.

What goes on in this forum has very little to do with the AMA and more to do with the personalities of a few of the more consistant posters. My suggestion is; Join up. Either it will be good for you, or you will be able to pontificate about your dislike from an actual membership knowledge base. Looks like win-win to me.

I hear everything you said, and agree in part with some of it. I'm going to play Devil's Advocate here, though and state why I think joining AMA isn't a bad thing.

First and foremost, the "voice" you hear in this forum, including all the flaming, cat-fighting, etc. actually represents a small fraction of the AMA membership. At least, I don't think we have the entire 100,000+ or whatever the membership is all posting on this forum. This minority makes the whole situation no different, really, than the US and her politics. Most of us are a relatively silent, and for the most part, content group who are comfortable living within the guidelines set forth by AMA, or at least don't have any issues serious enough to raise cain about.

If you don't want to join, okay, but you're then living under the mantle of whatever services AMA can provide without being a contributor to that mantle, whether it be your voice or your dollars that you contribute. It's the same as voting in any election; if you don't vote, you haven't contributed to the outcome, and whether or not that outcome affects or benefits you, as part of the whole, your duty is to at least let your voice be heard. AMA might not be necessary in order for a group of people to get together in somebody's cow pasture or abandoned parking lot and fly their planes, but they do represent everyone who "twiddles the sticks" as a lobby and organized entity to say that there are more than a few who participate in this hobby and that we should have consideration for our desires, that being frequencies set aside for the hobby by the FCC, education that this is a relatively safe hobby so the insurance companies stay out of our hair and landowners are willing to allow us places to fly, just to name but two. Being an AMA member also makes the statement to other members, (like at fly-ins where others congregate) that you're likely to be fairly safe to be around, since you probably conform to most of what AMA stands for in terms of safety and performance.

I don't pretend to see even a miniscule portion of the bigger picture here, just my observations on my own interpretation of what AMA is. The "voices and opinions" on this forum are a fairly healthy exercise of our free speech. If contention arises, it's usually because some people are passionate about their own position on whatever subject is being discussed, or maybe they don't have more than a local picture of an issue and the circumstances are completely different elsewhere. And unfortunately, some people can't express themselves any other way than to "curse, flame, degrade, insult..........." when they can't make the "other side" see their point or accept it.

Join AMA, it's only four gallons of fuel and change for a year.

join, it is a pretty good organization. i have been a member for 27 years. just learn from me. dont post in this forum and dont read to much into this forum. i am learning my lesson as we speak. as a whole though, i find ama well balanced, barry

First and foremost, the AMA is insurance. Insurance for me, insurance for the club, insurance for the land owner where we fly. Typically without AMA insurance, you can't fly with most clubs in the US.

Fortunately, the AMA is not only about insurance. Their participation has secured frequencies for us to fly, assistance in obtaining flying sites, and more importantly, a voice for modelers as a whole in government and the for the hobby in general. Now you may not like the direction they are going at times, but I'm sure if enough members decided they were going down the wrong path, they would voice their opinions.

I have been a member for more than forty years and the AMA has never done anything but good for modeling as a whole.
Who else has fought for our right to use FCC frequencies ?? where else will you find rules and regulations to govern our contest and to recognize our accomplishments, I agree there are somethings that I'm not real fond of, but I feel that the benifits far outway any gripe I might have, Hope you Join,,
Porter Dalton AMA # 47049

Separate what's said here on the R/CU AMA topic, from the realities of the AMA. 160,000 plus members vs. 8-10 people voicing opinions good or bad about the AMA. I can't say all 160,000 member are happy about their membership, they just don't see fit to voice what they feel's wrong, here. I would hope someone whom has an actual issue with the AMA takes it up with someone from the AMA that can address the problem.

Above all, remember the age old adage: Believe half of what you see and nothing you hear(read).

Inasmuch as you posted that here on the RCU AMA topic, why should anyone believe you, if one were to suppose that what you said might be true? []

I am sure that you can find almost any AMA member that might have an issue with AMA. But why try to swim up-stream. Joining is easy and not really all that expensive. Join for a year or two. If down the road you feel it is not worth the money spent don't re-join.

Personally I have been a member for quite sometime. There are a few things I have seen go on with AMA I did not agree with but you will find that with any organization.

If there was a wish list of things the AMA could change #1 on my list would be the magazine. I am beginning to think I should quite flying R-C and switch over to either FF or CL. According to MA that seems to be the only type of flying that happens. That seems to be 75% of what MA covers. Just my opinion.

Carl Anderson AMA# 18633

But the fact of the matter that FF and CL are the roots of this hobby. If MA took it away, it would be gone forever as far as publications go. The AMA's job is to preserve it's roots as well. Afterall it's called Model Aviation, not RC. There are many others that could not live without FF and CL information and I don't blame them, it's much more of an aviation "art" then RC is. Like gliding and soaring is to FS aviation. I think CL Combat and High Speed would have a great chance of being on ESPN before RC would, it's a lot of work, very athletic.

AB-SOOOOOOOLUTLY, only believe half of what you see ME do, here on R/CU, and nothing that Mr. Pranger says! Then, you'll be in good stead, Flannelmouth. [sm=thumbs_up.gif]

Got it

Flannelmouth

Chances are the choice of joining or not maybe
determined by your decision weather or not to
join a club. My understanding is that for the most
part ,many clubs usually are AMA charted and will
require a AMA membership just to in the door.

IMO, 9 out of 10 AMA members just pay the 58 bucks
and could care less about anything as long as they have
a place to fly. For these people , (and I'm now one of'em)
AMA works out fine .

If you decide to join , good for you. If not , good for you.

Regards,
Roby

If you find a club, join it. If it requires AMA membership, join it, too. That's the usual path. Now, if you don't want to belong to a club, you can still join, but what would your reason be? What advantage would it give you? Don't say insurance, because that's secondary to any other you already have. Also, it's not required that you be politically involved in the AMA, so if you just want to support the Muncie site and museum, give'em fifty-eight bucks and have a cold one.

On a more serious note, look for changes in the future. What the AMA provides to its membership will likely change in the near future.

I belong for one reason our club and the clubs I fly at require it. If you plan on visiting any fly-ins or contests you need to join. Its worth the 58 bucks for that alone. I have issues with the organization and how its run but I can't think of any organization that doesn't have issues. This forum attracts a few who just want to rant and rave about anything and the AMA is a hot topic. If you really want to get the feel for the membership check out the other forums where guys are actually helping one another and exchanging ideas in a civil manner. Most I'm willing to bet are AMA members( although I'm guessing here) and just want to fly and enjoy our great sport. The AMA in all there shortcomings provide us a means to do it. Pony up the 58 bucks and judge for yourself.

Pretty much ditto of what everyone else said, just in my own way,and my hands needed an exercise, so you're free to read, or not.
Flannel Mouth, another thing you need to know is that more than 95% of the AMA members out there do not even know about this forum. They may have heard of RCU, but many of them do not even post regularly, and let alone in here. If you were a member for years and years, and then found this website after all this time, you wouldn't even recognize it as real. It's simple, this forum pales in comparison to what really goes on. Everyone that reads this thread has a very poor idea what it's like to be in the AMA, particularly if they've never been involved before. Heck, my view are being distorted and I know this is... hooey. It's almost not real what goes on in here, pretty much non-existent blabber. There is a very large disconnect between what really happens and what is talked about in here. Most people would be better off without the AMA discussion, IMHO. I have seen one discussion on E-zone go from a public draft about electrics, to many revisions, to appearing in the AMA magazine months later, discussing how far behind the AMA magazine was in detailing the progress of electrics. That was a realistic discussion, and it was a lot of fun. ...And the reason I mention it is because that's pretty much the only realistic discussion I can remember. Honestly, don't put too much thought into joining, if you see a local flying field, you want to try it out, just get an AMA, and fly there. You'll have a whole lot to unlearn about the AMA once you start flying, a whole lot of unnecessary and potential anxiety (prepare for deep moral voracious discussion on model airplane regulations! ...Oh, maybe I should just smile and fly. ). That's pretty much what everyone here has been saying in this thread.

The true face of the AMA has been distorted by RCU, and although your questioning may seem to have nothing to do with RCU... it has everything to do with RCU. You'll be fine and dandy with the people you meet.

There's been real epidemic here of late, people claiming to know what the silent majority think and appointing themselves as their spokesmen. Lots of wannabe Pat Robertsons, I guess.

Abel

I think this pretty much sums up your entire post. You are blaming RCU for something that individuals do. RCU is a forum. The posts in this forum represent the more polically active. Not what you will see at the club level where most people pay their dues so they can fly and couldn't care less about the mission of the AMA.

Flannel Mouth, what do you expect from your membership? With that bit of info, you could probably get some real insight here.

I'm a long time member for a few reasons. AMA club members took the time to teach me to fly for free, our flying fields are owned by the parks dept. and they require AMA, notice I said fields there are two flying field within 20 minutes of my house they would not exsist if it were not for the AMA. I could drive to the middle of nowhere by myself and fly but this would take 45 minutes of drive time one way and there would not be a groomed runway when I get there.
So the way I look at it I'm saving more than 58 bucks in gas by not driving to country and alot of time. Besides every event with a 100 miles requires AMA membership and I have won more than 58 bucks worth of stuff at big events.
WYLDMAN

I've been a member since before dirt and have no complaints. Never needed the insurance and that's a good thing. Wish I never needed my car insurance!

All that being said join, you get this really cool decal for your flight box!

SD

I'm an AMA member who doesn't belong to any club. I chose to join because of the people I've met in person who are AMA members.

Bear in mind, I didn't pay a dime for what I list below. Afterward, I decided to join because of what others provided for me.

What the AMA has done for me:
1. Provided their website with a club locator to put me in contact with more modellers in my immediate area than I could find on my own.

2. Introduced me to aspects of the hobby I didn't think I'd care about until I read about/saw them in action.

3. Through #1, I have received help selecting and have offers of help in building my kit.

4. I have been provided a place that is preserving avation model history for future generations.


Those are just a few things off the top of my head. None of this stuff was paid for by me, but after receiving what I did, it was worthwhile for me to join. Now that I have joined, I have many more options regarding where, how and with whom I choose to fly. This forum is a myopic view of the whole and not very representative as far as I can tell

Greg S

I'm just borrowing from the first post saying his decision to join "has nothing to do with RCU." If he wants to refer to RCU as not being involved in his decision process, I'm not going to change the context. It's easy to misunderstand what someone is saying on paper (ok, LCD or CRT pixels), and no one has the time to debug every flaw in their own writing. And my view is the same; the posts flannelmouth saw on RCU caused him concerns about joining.

The benefits of being a member far out weigh those not being a member.

it is the decals for me as well

To me the secret to life on this planet is FLY INS!. No AMA no FLY INS! nuff said!