In 2017, I may pursue trying to establish a local club, and try to convince my local government board of "somebodies" to establish a field in the community for kids to learn to safely and responsibly fly drones, helicopters, and hopefully a few planes I have seen some suggested rules for clubs or flying fields, and some etiquette suggestions, but I am looking for some help from y'all about successful rules, club policies and general field etiquette. Seems like AMA membership is a requirement at all. I hate monopolies, and so do most of my prospective flight club constituents.:dodgy: Still, suggestions or examples of successful implementation strategies are welcome and appreciated. I have only flown with other people a few times when I was learning, not quite a formal "club" type atmosphere (was more like a mosh pit). And so I have flown solo for most of last 1.5 years, and need some schooling on how to play nicely with others. Little help? :rolleyes:
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I'm not big on joining either...but, when someone puts an airplane through a windshield or someones head, you'll wish your club, or the pilot had AMA insurance. They are a wealth of information and safety rules. Every RC pilot and club should join the AMA. PLUS... do you know how hard they fought the FAA, and won, for the most part, for the RC community? Join...really.. seriously! Thanks, Doc -
I belong to two clubs and the AMA...I have my own field here at home where I do ask that you have an AMA membership or be supervised by another AMA pilot to fly...I think we should support everything we can to further the hobby and educate new pilots.Comment
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Safety is one thing. The AMA has a pretty well established set of safety rules as a base line but may need to be expanded on depending on flying site. For instance, we have an established no-fly-zone to try and reduce a potential risk of flying over a Sheriff's Training compound. There may also need to be restictions placed on noise levels on certain days or times to keep the peace with neighbors. Etiquette is another thing entirely. Some people are more difficult to deal with than others. Basically just don't be a jerk. Clubs can be a good thing or a really bad thing depending. Rules are not meant to be a burden as much as they are intended to free us to enjoy what we do safely and politely. Being a member of the AMA has benefits worth taking advantage of.Comment
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Very well said RCjetdude, one other thing to note is that the AMA offers grants to clubs as well. So if you are looking at starting one, the AMA might be able to help out with some of the costs of adding flight stations or a runway.Comment
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I've got to be a +1 for what everyone has said so far. We've had several people come over to our club from other "unstructured" flying sites. The main reason is that they were not comfortable with the risky behavior and lack of regard for the safety of the flyers.
Our flying field is on a full scale airport, so our rules have some special considerations for that. Here are our field rules. Most are just common sense.
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Twowingtj, Chenango bridge! We camped at Chenango Valley almost every year when I was a kid! I saw the first moon landing in 1969 on a b/w portable TV right there in Pine Bluff campground. Beautiful part of the country! I think OV-10 is in your neighborhood. That said, I am just a bit taken back by this MUST join AMA requirement. It is like forcing everyone that buys a gun to join the NRA. While I may WANT to join the NRA, REQUIRING me to join before I can use my gun at this range or that, or shoot in this competion or that is ridiculous, and does not quarantee competency with the weapon. Sorry but this sounds more like China or Russia to me. Mandating membership is not freedom folks, and we have coughed up or given away enough of our freedoms in the last 15 years. Telling me they do great work and represent hobbyist interests in the political arena is one thing, but required membership to fly is another thing entirely. As you said, most of these rules are common sense. Is there an alternative to AMA membership?Comment
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I believe that requiring AMA membership to fly at a field is to ensure the pilot has insurance. If you are a responsible citizen I believe you are a member of the automobile driving population (call it a club if you like) that mandates you have to have insurance to drive a car correct? Is that contrary to your views of freedom? What sucks is having to pay extra for uninsured motorists. Do you need AMA to fly? No. Do you need it to fly at most clubs? Yes. If you want to start a club and you are the one who asked, then you can go rogue but I would not want to fly with you and risk getting hurt by one of your uninsured pilots. Accidents happen in spite of our best intentions to prevent them. That is what insurance is for. If the NRA provided insurance it might be a mandate to CCW but they don't. Personally I have a CCW and I have chosen to be a member of the USCCA instead which does. Do I need to be a member of the USCCA? No but I have it to cover my butt in the event I had to use deadly force to protect myself or my family.Comment
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So when you join the AMA, are you automatically insured? Or do you have to buy insurance separately?Comment
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The biggest issue is insurance. If you can find another organization that will provide insurance to back up your field and pilots, than they will work as well. The thing is that working with the city or an organization generally requires something to assure them that you flyers are covered and have a good comprehensive safety code. However, when it comes down to it, our hobby isn't big enough to support multiple AMA-type organizations. If you want to make AMA optional, that might work. But, I would personally say there should be a limit on non-AMA fliers. Beginners especially, should be allowed to start without having AMA. This makes it much easier to get people (especially younger fliers) into the hobby. But after they start moving on to bigger, heavier, and faster models that could potentially cause a lot of damage in a crash, AMA could become a requirement. Maybe say that park-sized planes are ok without AMA? Just throwing out a few ideas. However, having a non-AMA field would prevent you from getting funding help from them.Comment
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You are automatically insured. I have to go look some stuff up to find the exact coverage.Originally posted by Westsider View Post
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Coverage is summarized in the first couple of pages here: http://www.modelaircraft.org/files/memanual.pdfComment
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Exactly my concern Delta. It you want to keep some low income families and their children out of the sport, required membership in AMA at $75 on top of your new kit for Christmas would do it in my neck of the woods. I like the idea of a staged approach, and I'm not saying the AMA is evil, just don't like being forced to join anything!Comment
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Westsider, Cool that you know this part of the country.
Our club is sanctioned by AMA. As such, members have to also be AMA members. It's required for us to have insurance for the airport property owner and the full scale pilots that fly from here. The insurance coverage we have through AMA meets that requirement. If we had to pay for private insurance, our dues would have to quite high.Comment
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Youth AMA membership is Free. We also have an Intro Pilot Program. As a student pilot, they are also covered free for a period of time. We also waive club dues for youth members.Comment
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Okay, I see now on the AMA site that youth memebership is free, (didn't see that
las night) that's encouraging. I will have to do more research I guess. Thanks for the input.Comment
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You are automatically covered. It is part of the membership. Our club flies at an old County landfill and we also carry separate club insuranse as well. I believe it was a requirement of the county that we had to have it. To access our field we need a key. Every year the key changes. We don't get a key without having paid our club dues and we don't need to bother paying club dues without being current with AMA. Speaking of dues, if you are looking at starting a club then what fees if any will you have concerning club dues or membership? If you are fortunate enough to secure a piece of land from your local authorities it will most likely not be free. We have to rent the land we use which means a monthly payment to the county. Granted it is relatively cheap but we still have to collect dues from members to pay for it at a minimum. Any improvements to the site come from the dues as well if we want to make them. Establishing a club is a great thing but you need to do it right and if you approach your local authorities about it you will have to abide by their requirements. The other option is to find someone with land willing to take the risk of letting you and others fly on it without the need for the insurance but good luck with that. Maybe in a situation like that it would be acceptable to a land owner for anyone flying to simply sign a waiver. That's how they do it with paintball.Originally posted by Westsider View PostComment
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Yeah, thank goodness for that. I have 6 children signed up with the AMA and members of our club. I pay $75 a year for AMA for myself only and another $75 a year for club dues. No additional charge for the kids but I believe that as they reach 16 they will have to carry their own AMA and I believe there is a family rate for club dues. How much I have to spend will depend on whether or not they choose to continue flying.Originally posted by Westsider View PostComment
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Thanks for the link Delta, :cool:. I'll check it out. Only saw the safety code last night.Comment
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