Went into detail but it didn't post.....

HERE GOES>.....

What does AMA do for it's members???
I learned that they don't apply insurance, unless all others insurance is exhausted...
DO they really help keep our right to fly and keep flying fields to fly on?
Or are they nothing but a magazine company?

I had to search to get the little info I have now from there website.....
I would think that they wouldn't make it the Flying Clubs responsibility to explain there bennifits
but it appears to be so.....

Would like to hear experiences both +and neg.... but stick the main reasons...

Thanks
Justin...

Before I stumbled into RCU, the AMA was my main source of contact with the rest of the aero-model world. They have provided me with a universally accepted contest system, competition categories and of course there is the insurance that serves to reassure land owners and public officials of liability protection.
Once in a blue moon they even furnish a full size 1/2A plan for me to build, too.

Are you an AMA member?

Why do you ask?

Are you writing a book about me?

Sorry, I have no interest in writing a book about you

I'm asking Justin.

OOps, sorry.

Well for background, I have opted for a $5K deductible on my HO, landlord and PUP policies to save costs. If there should be a successful liability claim against me while I am engaged in certain specified modeling activities and the particular cause of my liability is not excluded by terms delineated in Exclusions paragraphs A-W or so of the AMA provided liability insurance policy, AMA will pay me that $5K less any deductible amount that applies to that policy ($750 per my recollection).

In addition to what Combatpigg mentioned, the AMA has twice given one of my clubs money for field improvements. I think we have been turned down three times. [&o] The magazine is also a place to publish your 'how to' and construction articles, and get paid for them. I've been published twice and turned down three times.

Like the NRA and AARP and that other AMA the organization is an interest group that will lobby congress and the rest of the government on our behalf.

(The definitions of "lobby" and "our behalf" are continually debated in this forum)

Well, the AMA helped see to it that we had frequencies to use back in the AM & FM days. Without that, radio controlled model aviation would have died long ago. Most of the advances in engines, radios and the like came about because of competition, which the AMA sanctions. The NATS were testing grounds for all kinds of hardware from various manufacturers. Aside from any of that, the AMA's insurance gives peace of mind to the field owners, absolving them of liability in the event of property damage or injury. If the landlord's happy, we have a place to fly!

That said, I wish there was a way to "opt out" of receiving the magazine...

Naaa, the walkie talkies for kids didn't have an org for them, the cordless phones didn't have an org for them, I could go on an on if need be.

The factorys that wanna sell their stuff sucks up with the gov to get their stuff approved an out on the market. That said, the model plane industry could have did the same thing without the ama. The ama is an insurance, magazine an big boys clubhouse in a nutshell.

Ronnie-

A senior statesman for the hobby/sport ala AMA is a denizen of this discussion group, and was a key player in getting FCC to sign off on assignment of the ~1 MHz of coveted bandwidth that is currently allocated to 50 channels in the VHF band for model aircraft R/C use. There was reportedly a $10,000 off-the-books direct cost involved. Each of us current members is thus indebted to AMA in the amount of about $0.07, which has apparently never been paid off despite members pouring on the order of $7-8 million annually into the organization since that expenditure decades ago. How would you feel about making a one-time payment of $0.07 to retire that debt? I'll be first in line to pay; I don't want this debt passed down to my grandson and his future siblings and cousins.

Now then, what else do wannabe modelers owe AMA for doing on their behalf that some insist warrants impressing them into AMA membership lest they be labeled as freeloaders?

Edit: decimal point goof

Hey, Toolman, you and I pretty well travel the same trails, however here I would like to throw in some extra things to think about.

The '70s and early '80s were some serious times for the RC model airplane sport/hobby. In the late '60's the progress being made was because the established US RC industry was making money making stuff for the US military involved in the southeast Aisa war Games. The industry had money to experiment with. RC went from escapements to reeds to proportional and progressed. Then when the games subsided there was a formidable amount of incoming mail from el cheapos such as Hinode (I imported them) MRC, a big time player nationally, was less than 1/2 the price of a Kraft/Proline and the JR started arriving on the scene. Futaba also came in big time. The US RC industry virtually did not exist by 1982.

During all the problems around frequencies, none of the importers or mfgers wanted the 50 frequencies. They did not want to have to have stock for so many. THE INDUSTRY, as it was, WAS an ANCHOR to getting the new freqs.

In the meantime the big electonic players were grabbing all they could as they knew the future 10-15 years down the road. They did not give a darn about toy airplane folks as that was not a big $$$ market.
Once the new frequencies were alloted to AMA, late 1981, guess who made the market? RC CARS! TOY CARS provided the capital for Futaba, MRC and JR to reestablish the RC market even for model airplanes.

Had AMA NOT fought for the freqs back in the '70s and set up a decent phase-in program, we would NOT be having this conversation. Regardless of a lot of different stories passed around, there was one man that worked tirelessly, as the chairman of the Frequency Committee for a number of years to get those freqs. He is still answering questions in MA. (Frequently Asked Questions) He is a member of the AMA Hall of Fame. (wonder who nominated him ??? ) Mr. Bob Aberle is one of the finest gentlemen I have ever had the pleasure to meet, and a great person in this modeling activity. He is owed so much by so many yet seldom recognized.

Members can thank AMA, and AMA can thank Bob Aberle.

Walkie talkies sell tens of millions of units. Cordless phones sell hundreds of millions of units.

R/C transmitter sales are counted in the thousands. Chump change by comparison.

For Futaba, R/C is just a small bump in the road compared to the rest of their offerings. Same for JR, Airtronics, and Hitec. They wouldn't bother with R/C if AMA didn't pave the way with gold bricks. We'd be back in the 1960's with our radio technology, and the hobby would be a lot smaller.

Well, I'll tell ya what ol' buddy. Back in the 50's an early 60's walkie talkies for kids was a new thing an they didn't sell millions of'em then. They was lucky to sell a few hundred sets in the U.S. at that time. Don't try to confuse the subject by using todays figures for yester-years matters.

I'm not saying the ama didn't help out a lot along the way, but the hobby would have survived without them also. Also, by going to the new 2.4 gig, ama isn't really needed for freq acquisition anymore (sp?) as much nowdays. Somebody along the line wants the freqs we use now an the factorys know that. Thats why they have started the switch to 2.4....

The same thing is starting to happen to 1 or 2 of the ham freqs to use for medical devices, an the arrl can't do to much about it. Besides, how much $ does the ama contribiute to pacs nowdays? I would imagine zero $, an that just don't get it in D.C. anymore.

And because walkie talkie's for kids didn't have an org for them they got exactly 2 frequencies on the 49 mhz band limited to 100 milliwatts (ever try to talk to the kid next door.....What, I couldn't hear you, what, what.)
Cordless phones are a commercial application, not a hobby application, and are therefore irrelevant to this discussion. A much better comparison would be the Ham radio folks, which has a national organization which lobbies for them very effectively.

Please, do go on..........

I would go on an on, but everytime I do, it raises the ama butt kissers from the dead. I could really give a hoot if they are there or not anyway.

Sorry guys, for not getting back to the posts sooner......

Yes, I am a AMA member....
My 1st AMA-(not the Motorcycle ama, I was a member with them while I raced Motocross)
the Airplane AMA was in 2007... I wasn't a member in 2008 because I didn't have time to fly at the field
nor, due to lack of income, did I have the extra money to to join up......

I have always understood the benifits of having like-minded-folks getting together and sharing ideas....
It not only gives me a outlet (my wife gets tired of listening to me talk about planes and engines[])
I get to share ideas and see other planes that I may, or maynot want to purchase......

This is the benifit of Flying clubs.....But I haven't had anyone share the bennifits of the AMA.....
I could have only guessed at what they helped RC aircrafts with.....

I wanted to be armed with information if I were to be asked about the AMA, particularly by a prospective member....
No one shared this information with me, when I was FORCED to join when I joined the flying club....

Did they truely help keep flying fields?? Did they protect land owners?? Did they protect frequencies????

I appreciate the answers to my question......

Justin

Forced to join AMA? All AMA sanctioned clubs will turn you away if not an AMA member. With the 4 clubs I belong to, none have/will ever FORCE you to join.

You can learn ALL ABOUT the AMA yourself in the brouchures given during new membership.

Call the AMA for yourself to have any questions answered... 1-800-435-9262 OR visit the website's "Ask AMA Customer Support". I'd go this route as it's less embarassing to ask the AMA 'what you get' for what you paid them for, as opposed to asking an R/C website the same questions and wade through a lot of bickering.

I value the members of Rcuniverse's opinions....
I most likely learn more from hearing real world accounts of members and there experiences by being a AMA member.

I just recieved my membership card, sticker, and a very brief statement about the member services...

I live and breath RC planes...and some rc cars trucks....and want to get involed with other flyers that like to do the same things ...
perhaps starting a pylon racing event ect.....

Sure the # is a good idea. But the "no one forces you to do anythingā€¯ argument is a bit abstract don't you think????
So no one forces you to have car insurance, but you can't drive without it?
No one forces you to ware cloths but you can't leave your house without being arrested??
No one forces you to buy a house, but you can't build up much equity with out one???

For some, a neg-word sets them off in defensive mode.. This always clouds one's judgment.


I like to hear the both sides of the FOrce.....

The DARK and the LIGHT Side.......


By the way, Ebarrassing, is spelled with 2-r's...... and brochures does not contain a "U"

Sorry, I had to say it..... ..
I am really just Kid'n.....though....I am lost with out my spell checker....!!!

Umm, people drive without insurance around here all the time. No one gets arrested at Blacks beach whether they're wearing clothes or not and the equity example is just silly, not even any kind of comparison.

Since we're doing english lessons...."ware cloths" should be wear clothes and "ebarrassing" also has an "m".

The simple truth [with no spin or word wars] is that if you want to join an AMA flying club, you are forced to join the AMA. To argue that point is being sophomoric.

I couldn't agree more......