Originally Posted by flyinwalenda

Option out the magazine with a lower cost. If you can't live without it then pay the upcharge and continue to receive it. For me and I'm sure many others it is a waste of postage and paper.

I didn't know you could even do that. I will check into it, as I never read it anyway. I am sure there is information that a lot will find useful, but have tried to sit down with it several times just to put it down a few minutes later, unsatisfied.

The magazine should be sent out online saving thousands of dollars and trees. No need for every member to get it in the mail. You need to be able to opt for an electronic edition. This is 2013. Same goes for MAAC here in Canada.

Originally Posted by MrRCFlying

I didn't know you could even do that. I will check into it, as I never read it anyway. I am sure there is information that a lot will find useful, but have tried to sit down with it several times just to put it down a few minutes later, unsatisfied.

You can't option out at a reduced price or at all and that's a problem. Yes this is the 21'st century ! If ad dollars are that important then yes put it on their site in electronic form.

Whenever I engage in any type of hobby that requires regulation, I make it a point to joing the supporting organization. Many people are under the false impression that AMA somehow runs all these flying clubs. This isn't true. AMA membership is usually required to fly at a club because the AMA sets guidelines for these clubs and also because of the insurance factor AND it helps protect the hobby we all love. We need to support the organizations that protect that hobby from potential political interference. That BTW, is why I belong to the NRA as well.

The magazine really has come a long way in the past few years. I was like you... a quick skim through it and then toss it in a pile to be given away (got a club member that collects old magazines so I save them for him). But the mag is light-years ahead of what it used to be and I find myself reading almost the whole thing.

I've said before and will say it again... it's everyone's free will whether they want to join a club and/or the AMA or not. I respect that. What bothers me are the trash-talkers that don't realize the AMA is doing everything they can to protect model aviation from unnecessary government regulation. The government wants to regulate the NAS and since we fly in the NAS, they WANT to regulate us. I'm not going into specifics as that's been covered as nauseum in countless other threads. The AMA is our last line of defense when it comes to protecting model aviation. And the AMA unfortunately runs primarily on the money it gets from membership dues. More members = more money = greater ability to fight the unnecessary government regulation.

I'm not calling anyone in this thread an AMA trash-talker so please don't misunderstand... just remember that this is OUR hobby and AMA is doing its best to protect it. And like Chuck said in the post above me, AMA doesn't run my club. AMA sanctions my club because we agree to follow their guidelines.

I see I stirred up a hornets nest.

I will rejoin AMA for what they do for our Hobby and not for the Insurance and Mag. I'm a home owner and have home owner insurance.

The club I belong to require I have AMA or I don't fly period. AMA Chartered Club I get it.

So I found a place to fly that doesn't require AMA. I wasn't bound by AMA shackles. "Refreshing"

I support the Rules of behavior at a busy AMA Chartered Flying Field. What is "Refreshing about this field I found is I do not have to share any airspace, Fly a pattern and put up with Glow/Gas airplane noise. Also I do not have to put up with Club politics and EGO.

No matter where I fly I fly by the AMA Code of ethics.

Yes I may be lonely and rejoin the club but for now I'm a free Bird.

Originally Posted by azflyingguy

I see I stirred up a hornets nest.

I will rejoin AMA for what they do for our Hobby and not for the Insurance and Mag. I'm a home owner and have home owner insurance.

The club I belong to require I have AMA or I don't fly period. AMA Chartered Club I get it.

So I found a place to fly that doesn't require AMA. I wasn't bound my AMA shackles. "Refreshing"

I support the Rules of behavior at a busy AMA Chartered Flying Field. What is "Refreshing about this field I found is I do not have to share any airspace, Fly a pattern and put up with Glow/Gas airplane noise. Also I do not have to put up with Club politics and EGO.
No matter where I fly I fly by the AMA Code of ethics.

Yes I may be lonely and rejoin the club but for now I'm a free Bird.

This depresses me every time I read it because I while I can totally understand the put-off of politics and egos in a club, my club has none of that. I swear we have the best club, ever. We all get along and we're accepting of everyone and everything. Sorry you had a bad experience with your club.

Originally Posted by azflyingguy

I see I stirred up a hornets nest.

I will rejoin AMA for what they do for our Hobby and not for the Insurance and Mag. I'm a home owner and have home owner insurance.

The club I belong to require I have AMA or I don't fly period. AMA Chartered Club I get it.

So I found a place to fly that doesn't require AMA. I wasn't bound my AMA shackles. "Refreshing"

I support the Rules of behavior at a busy AMA Chartered Flying Field. What is "Refreshing about this field I found is I do not have to share any airspace, Fly a pattern and put up with Glow/Gas airplane noise. Also I do not have to put up with Club politics and EGO.

No matter where I fly I fly by the AMA Code of ethics.

Yes I may be lonely and rejoin the club but for now I'm a free Bird.

Club politics and EGO?
I know exactly what you're talking about.

It's sad to go to a club meeting and see the adults in the club acting like children and the children in the club are wishing they'd all just go away.

I am known for flatly telling "some" club members, "go away... I have nothing to say."

And if there's another club nearby, the perfect recipe for losing current members is to have drama and dust-ups... they just go elsewhere in a hurry!

In summary, you have no problem with the AMA... and I do not blame you.

hope you can continue to enjoy the hobby...in my opinion we need AMA more than ever before. My state wants to enact legislation to prohibit FPV on all unmanned "drones" as they would call RC.
I understand your issues with club politics and such. I am glad to be associated with a club or I would have no place to fly at all

Originally Posted by davidrd

hope you can continue to enjoy the hobby...in my opinion we need AMA more than ever before. My state wants to enact legislation to prohibit FPV on all unmanned "drones" as they would call RC.
I understand your issues with club politics and such. I am glad to be associated with a club or I would have no place to fly at all

This is the core of the problem. Government regulations. It sucks that they try to do things like this. If people used common sense, and the government did not try to stick their nose in, things would be all the better. I miss the old days, when there was a little freedom left.

Originally Posted by MrRCFlying

This is the core of the problem. Government regulations. It sucks that they try to do things like this. If people used common sense, and the government did not try to stick their nose in, things would be all the better. I miss the old days, when there was a little freedom left.

Which is EXACTLY why the AMA is necessary. I don't know why you think the AMA is the cause of any regulations...they don't make regulations, they make guidlines which are there to try to prevent government regulations from being forced upon us. I know you are entitled to your opinion, but I would not recommend openly stating that you are against the AMA when you are trying to sell a product aimed at an audience that has a large AMA membership. Whether or not you agree with what the AMA stands for, I can assure you that this hobby wouldn't be anywhere close to where it is without it.

I'm also fortunate to belong to a club that has very little drama in it and ZERO egos. For those of you that belong to a club that has issues... Run for a position in the club and fix it. It doesn't have to be that way.

Originally Posted by azflyingguy

I see I stirred up a hornets nest.

I will rejoin AMA for what they do for our Hobby and not for the Insurance and Mag. I'm a home owner and have home owner insurance.

The club I belong to require I have AMA or I don't fly period. AMA Chartered Club I get it.

So I found a place to fly that doesn't require AMA. I wasn't bound my AMA shackles. "Refreshing"

I support the Rules of behavior at a busy AMA Chartered Flying Field. What is "Refreshing about this field I found is I do not have to share any airspace, Fly a pattern and put up with Glow/Gas airplane noise. Also I do not have to put up with Club politics and EGO.

No matter where I fly I fly by the AMA Code of ethics.

Yes I may be lonely and rejoin the club but for now I'm a free Bird.

I's good to have the AMA membership if you like to go to other club events that are sanctioned.
I feel your pain about clubs with Hitleresque ruling ,politics,egos, and outdated thinking. The clubs that are thriving have little to none of it and the clubs that are dying have it bad. It's mostly inbred and hard to break decades of operating like this. Father Time is the only one who really has the ability to change things !

Originally Posted by {}{steve}{}

Which is EXACTLY why the AMA is necessary. I don't know why you think the AMA is the cause of any regulations...they don't make regulations, they make guidlines which are there to try to prevent government regulations from being forced upon us. I know you are entitled to your opinion, but I would not recommend openly stating that you are against the AMA when you are trying to sell a product aimed at an audience that has a large AMA membership. Whether or not you agree with what the AMA stands for, I can assure you that this hobby wouldn't be anywhere close to where it is without it.

I'm also fortunate to belong to a club that has very little drama in it and ZERO egos. For those of you that belong to a club that has issues... Run for a position in the club and fix it. It doesn't have to be that way.

Fair enough. In those respects I suppose that the AMA has done some good. I guess my real problem is that if people took responsibility for their own actions, used common sense, there would be no need for orginizations like this.

My experiences with clubs have not been good. Any that I have tired to join, or looked into were ALWAYS rude, condecending, and upity. I have always associated this with the AMA as it seems that since they are AMA affiliated they feel they can be "better" than other fliers. That is ALWAYS the way is has come across from at least 3 clubs over the past 15 years that I have looked into. I don't get that at all from unnoficial non AMA related clubs. We fly, have fun, establish our own safety and rules, and have never had a problem.

Maybe my feelings are mis-directed at the AMA instead of the clubs. If this is the case, then I am sorry. It has just always come across to me that AMA = rude members.

Originally Posted by {}{steve}{}

Run for a position in the club and fix it. It doesn't have to be that way.

Nice theory but in real life the good old boys only elect their own. When you feel physically threatened it is time to leave and not come back.

While it is in no way the fault of the AMA, it does not help their membership when people are treated badly at AMA sanctioned clubs.

Originally Posted by {}{steve}{}

For those of you that belong to a club that has issues... Run for a position in the club and fix it. It doesn't have to be that way.

Been there, done that too.
When there are ruling cliques it's very, very difficult to make progress or effect positive change. Like I said as long as they don't recruit new clique members, Father Time will effect the change eventually or sometimes things have to fail before they can get better .