Flying clubs ever feel stifling?

[IanmellorFly]

I just wanted to see people's honest responses. I sometimes really find AMA sanctioned clubs because just the sheer nature of older men , you get certain egos and the hobby attracts many technically intelligent people who are not so good socially..that often they tend to exude a snobbery feeling amongst many model clubs. Especially for those incline towards the new technologies like FPV and Multirotors. It is the white elephant almost no one talks about except in quiet circles but everyone feels and knows it is there. So out of 20 fellow RCers only one or two are usually a part of AMA and I think that will get worse and worse as people want to have fun and find some fields somewhere to fly without some old grump badgering them and discriminating against them.

 

[abieex]

Have fun or being reckless? Badgering or trying to keep field rules. Start again, re think your question and try to be a tad more respectful with your first post. Welcome to the forums, we're glad your here!

 

[Winglet]

Thankfully I can fly from my property. I got over AMA fields years ago. Never flew reckless but somehow was always in trouble for some kind of rules violation. Sure took the fun out of it for me.

 

[MT Alex]

I don't find your first post disrespectful in the least, and I think you are spot on.

 

[whiskeyjack]

This topic seems to come up on a fairly regular basis, the folks who just want to fly and those that choose to fly at an AMA sanctioned field. Now, I do not belong to the AMA but I do belong to the Canadian equivalent the MAAC. Why you ask, for some good reasons I think.
First is the liability insurance. If something should go terribly wrong and you damage someones property or worse, without insurance you are personally liable. In order to keep your AMA insurance in force you must fly according to the safety code.
Secondly, quality instruction. Being someone who came into this hobby later in life then many of you I knew that learning to fly on my own would be a long and frustrating experience. By having an experienced instructor by my side it has proven to be a valuable asset while learning to fly. (A benefit of being a club member)
And lastly a club membership allows you to enjoy the social aspects of the hobby.

The biggest issue when it comes to clubs, any club, is the generation gap. This gap exists socially, technologically and ethically. You will never change that but you can work with it. The older generation seem to believe that a model that was not built using traditional methods and materials is something less than a model. We know different and I am constantly amazed at the reaction I get when I explain the model is constructed from foam board and tape.
For many of us electric power is our primary power source. But if you think about it, even 20 years ago, it was still a relatively new and somewhat cumbersome power source. Technology has advance so quickly since the advent of lipo's that some folks haven't kept up. And lets not even get into FPV and multi rotors how much they have advanced in the last five years.
Just one last point, it is because of the hard work of volunteers at the AMA and other like associations that we even use 2.4 gig radios. Whether you realize it or not our radios must be approved for use as transmitters in your respective country. What a different world this hobby would be without 2.4. Rant over, good luck WJ.

 

[Julez]

Maybe my club is a far cry from what people normally experience, but I love my club. Yeah we've got old guys (I'm 16) but they are all very welcoming and enthusiastic. There's no preaching of AMA rules, they're fine with the younger members flying multirotors as long as we do it away from the main flight line (Which makes perfect sense to me) and they're fine with FPV (We always have a spotter). All of the guys are interested in the new technology, and there's no snobbery.

If you really do feel like your club is full of snotty old guys, start your own club, either as an independent club or through AMA's MASC program.

 

[bhursey]

I just wanted to see people's honest responses. I sometimes really find AMA sanctioned clubs because just the sheer nature of older men , you get certain egos and the hobby attracts many technically intelligent people who are not so good socially..that often they tend to exude a snobbery feeling amongst many model clubs. Especially for those incline towards the new technologies like FPV and Multirotors. It is the white elephant almost no one talks about except in quiet circles but everyone feels and knows it is there. So out of 20 fellow RCers only one or two are usually a part of AMA and I think that will get worse and worse as people want to have fun and find some fields somewhere to fly without some old grump badgering them and discriminating against them.

You peronaly experianced this? I may be some what old school or just happened to have good clubs. I started flying in the 90s. Everything I have experianced have always been positive and suportive. Every one wants to share the hobby. There are some old timers yes but compared to the 90s they are alot warmer to elctrics than they use to be. Why not if joining a club that does not yet have fpv or multi roter. Volunteer to set up and build a fpv channel boad and helb build rules baised on ama rules to stay safe? That will show them that you want to contribute to the club and make it safer for evey one.

 

[IanmellorFly]

Maybe my club is a far cry from what people normally experience, but I love my club. Yeah we've got old guys (I'm 16) but they are all very welcoming and enthusiastic. There's no preaching of AMA rules, they're fine with the younger members flying multirotors as long as we do it away from the main flight line (Which makes perfect sense to me) and they're fine with FPV (We always have a spotter). All of the guys are interested in the new technology, and there's no snobbery.

If you really do feel like your club is full of snotty old guys, start your own club, either as an independent club or through AMA's MASC program.

I'm glad you have a great experience. I don't really have the time needed to run my own club. It is quite a time commitment with paperwork. I enjoy the fellowship with other rc'ers where we fly on private property or some isolated fields and have a blast. We police ourselves and we dont' have that snooty attitudes that you may eventually run up against. In fact , no clubs in my area here in Vancouver Canada actually allow multirotors that I know of. We were working with some friends to start a club in my town but the administrators had a biased against multirotors labeling as UAVs and wanted to be strictly model flying and no UAVs. (mainly due to the fact one main guy just didn't like them and think them worthy aircraft and cancer to his hobby) I fly fixed wing, fpv and multirotors and enjoy them all and I don't think it right or fair to be prejudiced against one or the other. So due to the philosophical differences I no longer want to be part o f anything MAAC and will do my own thing because if the fun suffocated by all this politics and personal agendas then it will kill my passion for what I love and I just won't let that happen. All one needs to do is scan thru even the latest AMA facebook threads to see this issue come up again and again.

 

[ZoomNBoom]

I agreed with most of what you said, but this raised some eyebrows with me:

Just one last point, it is because of the hard work of volunteers at the AMA and other like associations that we even use 2.4 gig radios. Whether you realize it or not our radios must be approved for use as transmitters in your respective country. What a different world this hobby would be without 2.4. Rant over, good luck WJ.

How is the AMA to be credited for this? Spread spectrum / frequency hopping protocols didnt come from the RC world. Even within the rc world, 2.4 GHz radio's where first used for cars, not airplanes. As for approval, every radio transmitter has to be 'approved' in some ways, even your usb wifi dongle or wireless mouse. Whatever the AMA did, they didnt bring 2.4 GHz to us. Nor lipo batteries.