The AMA Club Model is Failing. Here's Why.

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What are your feelings on the traditional AMA club model? What reasons do you think have led to it not being as sustainable in current times - and what things would you do to try and fix it? Let us know. 🛩☁

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Happy Landings! Fly outside the box. 📦✈

[sacrificialrubber]

After the remote id issue and the AMA not listening to the members At All, I refuse to join again. I’ll fly at the park or anywhere else

[davidhuryn]

The AMA lost me when they grabbed their ankles over remote ID. They saw this as a way to further monopolize flying via FRIAs and AMA Club fields. They serve their own interests only.

[sacrificialrubber]

I’m almost 47, been flying since I was about 13-14, didn’t fly at/join a club till about 8 years ago and it’s just not worth the hassle/cost. Just disappointing.

[FPVREVIEWS]

When the AMA stood there next to Michael Huerta of the FAA and stood silently while we were criminalized, with our clean record of safety, while people are dying almost every day in GA, and 737’s full of people are making smokin holes 🕳️ in the ground, that’s when they dug all our graves. Thanks 🙏 AMA

[That_Puppet]

Genuinely the only thing keeping AMA alive is the idea that you need their insurance, and that membership is required to join basically any club in america

[CR-rbhl]

First year membership at AMPS Glendale AZ is $225 plus AMA fees. That more than twice what I paid for my whole setup starting out. $225 is the cost of 8 cases of foam board. That's a lot of planes I could build. Also it's a 40 minute drive one way and sadly they weren't very friendly either. I wish them the best, but No thank you. I'll fly at the park 5 minutes from my house. FliteTest is the way to go. Plenty of free online plans, foam board, BBQ skewers, popsicle sticks, hot glue, and creativitey keeps this hobby cheap and fun.

[scable-eqbp]

Great video guys, for many years I was an AMA member and belonged to a local club and really enjoyed it but in the last ten years I have seen a change of attitude in a lot of our club members, they all seem to think that they are the safety officer of the day and have become real assholes. And I feel like the AMA abandoned their members when they started kissing the FAA's ass, so for me their membership was and still is useless. So did I quit flying, absolutely not, I went out and bought 40 acres of very flat land with very few trees on it and created my own private rc flying site. I do let a few of my close friends who fly have use of the field and they help maintain it. It's nice to get together with a few friends and just enjoy the hobby that we love so much. This property is 10 miles from town, about 100 miles from the closest airport and the closest neighbor is about a mile away. Life is good.... No AMA required and no yearly dues....

[JeffWok]

1987 - I got my first job. Dreamed of flying RC. Joined AMA, bought 2 pay checks worth of gear got no help at the local field. Did it my self, killed my plane. 2015 - I discover Flite Test and I'm a better pilot than your mom. The AMA has never done anything for me. In fact, it's quite the opposite.

[codemaster]

No, i've had several friends try to get their vehicle fixed after a plane crashed into it. They tell you that you have to use your home owners

[rc-fannl]

They also didn't seem to do much when remote ID was being introduced, possibly because their terrains would remain exempt from the obligation to use Remote ID, so maybe they were hoping to get more members. But the modern RC flyer is more individual, either flies alone, or with a few friends, and look for info on the internet

[AchronTimeless]

AMA intentionally threw multi-rotor pilots under the bus when they were given preferential treatment by the FAA. Being the only CBO for a while, their rule book literally became law, and they made sure to effectively make common racing events illegal by limiting battery sizes, limiting FPV use until you complete a series of training (which you have to pay the AMA for) which doesn't even make sense for multi-rotor, rolling over on the whole Remote ID thing because they saw FRIAs as a way to force people to be members... What have they ever done for me that I'd give them a cent? May they crash and burn, we don't need them.

[MachRC]

Love this video. This all needs to be talked about more. Or maybe just listened to more. I got into the RC hobby this year and everything said in this video is 100% accurate. The entire hobby feels like it's generations behind and there are simple things that can be done to update or at least make it not so intimidating to get into. Really appreciate this video and I hope the AMA gives it a watch. Would love to see this hobby get a breath of fresh air!

[scottmilano]

The FAA gave the AMA FRIAs and to legally fly without RID you have to join both the AMA and a club. Their "lobbying" is very self serving. I'd rather join one of the other CBOs.

[drewc]

I only fly sub 250g aircraft now. Plenty of them out there, don't need to be a member of a club, the AMA, no FAA registration and can run to any number of schools or parks in the area.

[SobeMe]

I would argue that part of the reason AMA did very little with the Remote ID and FRIA fiasco is to force people to join clubs again, instead of actually putting an effort in on their side to make it enjoyable and beneficial to join a club.

[twillison]

There's only one hobby store left in my area, and they only stock vehicles. When I was young, there were many.

[gryfandjane]

Excellent video! I got into RC via Flite Test, building my own aircraft from their plans and buying a few of their kits. I’ve also been to every Ohio Flite Fest to date (ten years)… I love the atmosphere, seeing entire families embracing the hobby, kids building planes in the STEM Tent, the crazy experimental builds, and the simple joy of making things that fly. Flite Fest has become an annual pilgrimage where I can rekindle my enthusiasm for RC flight. I love the whole grassroots feeling. Even though I’ve kept up my membership in our local RC club, I haven’t been to the field in over a year. Let me state up front that I’m a bit of an introvert, and not the clubby type. That said, the atmosphere is so different at the club field that I just can’t get that interested in going anymore. I can understand the good-natured razzing about my “cardboard” FT models… I just tell them that I fly the boxes their store-bought planes came in 😊… but the overall impression is that of a handful of older guys (and I’m 68 myself) keeping up traditions. There are usually no kids or younger folks present, and I miss that a lot. I’m just a big kid at heart.

Again, I feel bad saying this, but the club approach no longer appeals. Your video nailed many of my feelings, and I wanted to send you a big thumbs-up and a Thank You.

[zstanman]

Stop waiting for the AMA to grow your club. That's like waiting for the government to make you rich. Put your big boy pants on and get to work. Our club has grown over the past couple of years after a long downslide. We simply got to work. We began networking with the community. We have a booth at every air show, public event, hobby show, etc. We chose a charity to support for every event and invite charity representatives to every event. We also aggressively went after youth. We started a whole youth division and created their own events, instruction and budget. We also raised our dues...which is no problem when you're offering something worth while, just ask Apple. Now our problem is too many people at the field.

[andyerwin]

The AMA has lost its way and traditions,

Bending over to the FAA didn’t help

[mattthomfordb]

Great works guys, I know a lot of time & research went into this, so TY.
I have been piloting RC planes for 20 years now, and yet to have seen any club offered event to visit or fly at that would allow anything other than the traditional 1 pilot, 1 plane out flying at a time. I suppose this is why I envy watching your videos so much. I could imagine walking passed the imaginary line at my club and being screamed like I was 4 year old.
I can't even bring my kid to the field to see if they want fly, there is another rule, needs to go.