Why all the negativity toward clubs?

[bhursey]

I may be old school or something however comeing back to the hobby after 13 years I am noticeing a lot of negitivity tward AMA and clubs.. This may be because of some personal experiance or a general view biased view of clubs. I would like to ad my views.

Background: I started flying in 1998 after I got a job at the local hobby shop in highschool. Soon after I got given a gas trainer and an AM futaba conquest 6 channel radio. I joined the local club got a trainer and started. The instructor was great did som taxieing and learned how to start and tune the engine for my first lesson. I quickly found out i was not a fan of gas. I went out and baught a hobby lobby skimmer 400 electric balsa kit. I spent about 20 houers or more building it. Went out my first flight no one was at the club my trainer could not make it. I hand launched it glided perfict added throttle. Put my hand on the radio and hit the trim all the to the left and crashed her. The next day was a fun fly spent 8 hours fixing it. Went in erly to get a check ride. I did a flawless flight. First time flying rc.. Anyways i fell in love with the club every one was so helpfull and welcoming. Electrics were brandnew and people seemed excited. Fly club fayette flyers ended up starting the SEFF funfly now its huge and they still host it. Im sure many of you have gone. So in 2003 unfortunitly school caught up and flying time was on the back burner...

17 year old me At Fayette flyers 1999.


So fast forward to april 2015 i get a phone call from best friend asking if i still had my rc stuff. I upgraded and baught a tiny trainer and was hooked. I went back and visited my old club my frend is a member of now. I had a great time every one was welcoming. Unfortunutly they are 100 miles from my house. I am currently about to join a new local club. I have found out In reviewing the change in the hobbby/community it seems opinions of clubs have changed. If you ignore the cost. I want to see why people dont like them? Has there been very negitive experiances? Have all the people that have negative opinions visited more than one club?

Ignoring the cost:

Positives of a club:
1. Comunity of pilots
2 Safe and legal place to fly with amenities.
3. Family events and funflys
4. Most family frendly

Negitives of clubs:
1. AMA rules some people may not like the rules but they do have reasons
2. Posibly people have negitive views of new tech. I havent seen it when i visited but it may be at some. It was the same when electrics came out in the 90s.

Sugestions for positive experiance:
1. Before visiting or joining call or email the club finding if they allow fpv multiroters to get an expectation in what the safty rules are and expectation of procedures.
2. Visit multiple clubs get a feel for the people and flying envornment.
3. Bring a friend

I hope every one gets to experiance a good club in their life. I have some very good memories of my highschool years as a member of a club i miss it and am joining a new local one to share that experiance with my daughter.

disclamer typed with a phone..

 

[FliteTime]

I am not interested in clubs and feel there shouldn't be a need for clubs, fields, fees, restrictions, lobbyist, etc . . . . I also feel that anyone should be able to form, join, and support all the clubs they want. There is a very simple solution to this problem that has already been found.

I should be able to put my contact info on and responsibly fly r/c craft

 

[bhursey]

1. Cost
2. Elite attitudes from some clubs and members.
3. Limiting who can fly what and when.
4. And only a few clubs in the area and 2 are way two far to even justifiy.
5. Just gate a group of mates that meet in a safe area and with common sense. No fees needed like how it should be.

You experianced the elite aditudes? Please expand explination. Unfortutly for me im in a area with not really any places to fly and I moved away so no mates..

 

[guitchess]

For me, I love the idea of joining a club if there were one closer than a 45 mile drive, if there was one with other noobs like me and wasn't dominated by larger/louder aircraft, and if there were one that didn't require AMA membership.

While the first two are probably very common, the last one may cause me to catch some flak. While I have no real dislike of AMA(even though I find it highly questionable that they raised their fees dramatically on the eve of a major FAA power grab), the idea that it be mandatory to join a club is unnecessary, at least with the clubs in my area. The clubs that I'm familiar with are very remote and there's very little risk of damage being done to any thing other than members' cars. I'm sure there are many where the insurance is a necessary risk prevention, but in the local clubs around me it is a waste of money.

 

[bhursey]

I can see where fpv raceing might need a deficated area. If there was enough land you could volunteer to create a course off to the side?

 

[bhursey]

For me, I love the idea of joining a club if there were one closer than a 45 mile drive, if there was one with other noobs like me and wasn't dominated by larger/louder aircraft, and if there were one that didn't require AMA membership.

While the first two are probably very common, the last one may cause me to catch some flak. While I have no real dislike of AMA(even though I find it highly questionable that they raised their fees dramatically on the eve of a major FAA power grab), the idea that it be mandatory to join a club is unnecessary, at least with the clubs in my area. The clubs that I'm familiar with are very remote and there's very little risk of damage being done to any thing other than members' cars. I'm sure there are many where the insurance is a necessary risk prevention, but in the local clubs around me it is a waste of money.

They need ama liability to be able to keep the leases on the land..

 

[BobK]

I agree with the 'elite' thing, the only club around here was just a bunch of guys that were always trying to out-do each other..mainly who could spend the most (wether they could afford it, much less even have the ability to fly it didn't matter). I joined, brought the only electric at the time which was my Tower Hobbies Trainer 40 with an AXI motor and basically sat and waited to fly..when I did get to fly it was only after everyone else had crashed and ruined their expensive garbage, and at the end I was the only one left at the field..on my 4th battery and still flying, that was it for me I never went back.

I never was impressed by the AMA.

-Bob

 

[mjmccarron]

I have had the privilege of belonging to some really great clubs over the years. Most of which had a wide range of personalities to deal with but overall, great experiences. Unfortunately, it is getting worse with the rapid influx of new technology. I imagine it may have been similar to when that new fangled radio control hit the scene. All of the elite free flight guys resisting change. I have two thoughts to share that may or may not help.

(1) I found that when the senior members of the club were being judgmental, getting involved with the club, not just flying but maintenance, fund raising whatever, the judgement seemed to fall off. When someone was willing to roll up their sleeves and participate they gain respect.

(2) With the rapid changes in technology comes diversity in our hobby. Don't pick a fixed wing club that centers on scale warbirds and expect them to welcome race quads immediately. Ignorance on their part will bias them and trying to force a change will only create bad blood. I guess what I'm trying to point out here is that not all clubs are for everyone.

I'm not currently in a sanctioned club and probably won't be in the near future as the two clubs in my area are made up of these snobby elitists. I have found a small group of rogue flyers and we welcome anyone with only one rule. "Don't be a jerk!" Wouldn't it be great if all clubs were that way? Perhaps one day we can band together and secure our own club field and maybe even do it under the sanction of the AMA. We'll see.

I got into the hobby more than 35 years ago and throughout that time I have always thought that encouraging people to follow their interests will yield fun and interesting advancements in the R/C community. The AMA's rule and guidelines do have purpose and if we want to be covered by their insurance, we have to follow them. It is obvious that the growth is faster than the organization can keep up with but give them a chance. The purpose of the AMA is not to recriminate but to defend our right to enjoy our hobby. The rapid growth owing to toy grade multi rotors has caused experienced modelers to be a bit untrusting of new people and multi rotors in general. I don't agree with the bias but I do understand it. If we don't do something to educate newcomers and limit stupid acts, it will impact all of us. Quad racing clubs would be a great thing to see as well. In any event in the absence of formal clubs, we still tend to group together and enjoy our sport. I just hope that the ignorant acts of a few don't cause those of us who act responsibly, whether club active or not, to loose our right to participate.

Mike

 

[guitchess]

They need ama liability to be able to keep the leases on the land..

The two closest clubs to me own their fields. That is why I would have no problem paying their $25 or $35 fees. It's the required, now $75, AMA fees that I would rather be allowed to opt out of.

Also, there's another point I forgot to mention. Most people don't realize that for about the same money, you can have a rider placed on your homeowners' insurance that would act as liability for your hobby. I have never seen this as an option to join a club. Of course, this will vary by insurance company.

 

[RAM]

bhursey, You need a better spell checker

The word you were looking for is dedicated (I hope).

 

[CrashRecovery]

So far the only flying I've done at a club field is with Wilsonman at his field. I have been there twice and they are very welcoming. In fact they are very progressive when it comes to the new stuff. They had no problem with me flying my quads when the field was empty and with enough people watching they all though FPV was pretty cool. Ive flown everything from umx stuff to my Sweepwings Juggernaut there. The only down fall is its about an hour and a half away. So when josh does invite me to come down and fly I don't mind throwing 20 bucks into the field box for visitors. Its a nice field. Everyone has been awesome and very welcoming to me.
I have only contacted one club by me and due to my schedule I have never made it out to visit. I hope to try them out and see how things are.

 

[guitchess]

If i understood their website, it was yearly.

 

[bhursey]

If i understood their website, it was yearly.

Must be a fancy club. There is a local club a not as close i looked at but it was 200. They have a ton of stuff and are big gassers. Like others had said reserch your clubs and what people fly. The club im joining is a good mix of people dews are 100 the first year 75 every year after that. Junior membership for my daughter will be 50 when she starts flying.. There is a club here dedicated to gliders and another club dedicated to multiroters and raceing. Yes its a club for fpv raceing..

 

[makattack]

I count myself as lucky and part of a club that sounds a lot like bhursey's. It's http://www.charlesriverrc.org/newsite/index.html and there's even a free RC sim written by a former member that features the main flying field Davis Field: http://sourceforge.net/projects/crrcsim/

Membership fees range from free (under 19 with AMA membership) to $40 (if joined/renewed by 1 Mar, else it goes up $5 after) and includes access to three fields. Davis, a public town park with shared use, a newer field about a few miles away in the town of Acton that's also shared use but popular with 250/mini quad racers (due to a snaking river, etc), and a lock and key gated field with fenced flight stations, pits, covered field house, wind sock, golf course like landscaped grass field, and shared with another club: MMAC.

Our off-season club meetings usually involve a raffle with FT speedbuild kits as grand prizes, and there's usually a mix of aircraft and multirotors with people flying FPV on both 1.2 and 5.8GHz -- enough that even though we have an old 72Mhz frequency board that usually just has one peg on it, our president ran a motion by and was passed by the club last year to install a 5.8GHz FPV frequency board and guidelines (power up VTX first to see if anyone on channel, etc) to replace the old board.

This is a club of young and old, with probably more mature members than young who without question voted to replace the frequency board they knew had a lot of history with a 5.8GHz FPV board... yeah, I'm super lucky.

Oh, the reason why the president (outgoing) moved the motion forward? He was flying at the field one time and noticed a few non members flying who apparently stepped on each other resulting in a crash. Even though they weren't members, he wanted to help them and include them on this board to prevent future incidents like that.

 

[jhitesma]

I'm just not generally on for clubs of any kind. I helped start a photography club here in town and served as vice president/secretary for the first year...but that was enough to convince me I wanted nothing more to do with it for one of the main reason I'm very wary of our local Flying club. It's not an issue many other places have to deal with the same way but I'm sure there are others with nice winter weather how have this issue to deal with. Snowbirds.

They're nice people and there are some I've very good friends with. But as a group...they drive me up the wall. And for clubs...IMHO they absolutely destroy them for any non-retirees. Our camera club started in the summer...but really took off when the snowbirds came in - and then a few months later they had taken over the club. Events went from being planned on weekends and evenings to middle of the day. Presentations and activities were slowed to a snails pace and dumbed down for the technophobes while the young blood was ignored and left. I worked hard to attract younger upcoming photographers - and they all lost interest in the club because anything they proposed or tried to get organized would get voted down during impromptu mid-day meetings with no prior warning. It was extremely frustrating.

That our local flying club is only active during snowbird season is a big warning sign to me that the same things likely go on there. The field and facilities are available year-round to members. But meetings only happen from October through April.

It's a fairly active club and I know at least one member who posts on youtube frequently is into UAV's and does autonomous flight, there are a number of active FPV fliers, but the club really seems to have a focus on large gas plans. Heck they've got a couple members who are professional drone pilots/instructors for the military!

I've considered looking into it a few times, and more actively now that I have an AMA membership since it's only another $35 a year...but it's $100 one time fee to join. And there's a free public RC strip about 5 minutes further away that's open to anyone...and LOTS of open desert with no restrictions if you don't need a paved strip. So I don't need the club for a place to fly and I get plenty of community on-line.

If I lived somewhere else...I'd probably be more likely to look into a club if I needed it as a way to let me fly at all. But without it being necessary it's really just not something I'm that interested in. The community/family things don't appeal to me. I'm a bit of a loner and my family enjoys hanging out and doing their own thing while I fly (and are starting to learn to fly themselves now too.) Add in the snowbird politics and the high costs...it's just very low on my priorities list.

 

[Pancho]

The first rule of flite club is...

 

[bhursey]

I'm just not generally on for clubs of any kind. I helped start a photography club here in town and served as vice president/secretary for the first year...but that was enough to convince me I wanted nothing more to do with it for one of the main reason I'm very wary of our local Flying club. It's not an issue many other places have to deal with the same way but I'm sure there are others with nice winter weather how have this issue to deal with. Snowbirds.

They're nice people and there are some I've very good friends with. But as a group...they drive me up the wall. And for clubs...IMHO they absolutely destroy them for any non-retirees. Our camera club started in the summer...but really took off when the snowbirds came in - and then a few months later they had taken over the club. Events went from being planned on weekends and evenings to middle of the day. Presentations and activities were slowed to a snails pace and dumbed down for the technophobes while the young blood was ignored and left. I worked hard to attract younger upcoming photographers - and they all lost interest in the club because anything they proposed or tried to get organized would get voted down during impromptu mid-day meetings with no prior warning. It was extremely frustrating.

That our local flying club is only active during snowbird season is a big warning sign to me that the same things likely go on there. The field and facilities are available year-round to members. But meetings only happen from October through April.

It's a fairly active club and I know at least one member who posts on youtube frequently is into UAV's and does autonomous flight, there are a number of active FPV fliers, but the club really seems to have a focus on large gas plans. Heck they've got a couple members who are professional drone pilots/instructors for the military!

I've considered looking into it a few times, and more actively now that I have an AMA membership since it's only another $35 a year...but it's $100 one time fee to join. And there's a free public RC strip about 5 minutes further away that's open to anyone...and LOTS of open desert with no restrictions if you don't need a paved strip. So I don't need the club for a place to fly and I get plenty of community on-line.

If I lived somewhere else...I'd probably be more likely to look into a club if I needed it as a way to let me fly at all. But without it being necessary it's really just not something I'm that interested in. The community/family things don't appeal to me. I'm a bit of a loner and my family enjoys hanging out and doing their own thing while I fly (and are starting to learn to fly themselves now too.) Add in the snowbird politics and the high costs...it's just very low on my priorities list.

I think a big determining factor is where people live, and what and where locations tp fly are. Where I live is a wooded part of the state. Where any fields are the are all fenced off with marked no tresspassing singns most of the parks are wooded also. So a dedicated field is a large draw for me..

 

[RAM]

I think a big determining factor is where people live, and what and where locations tp fly are. Where I live is a wooded part of the state. Where any fields are the are all fenced off with marked no tresspassing singns most of the parks are wooded also. So a dedicated field is a large draw for me..

The ability to avoid the AMA is what's causing this hobby to grow again. Far more people can fly now because of multirotors and small park flyers. No need to add club fee's or membership dues, almost no travel involved and up you go.

 

[makattack]

The ability to avoid the AMA is what's causing this hobby to grow again. Far more people can fly now because of multirotors and small park flyers. No need to add club fee's or membership dues, almost no travel involved and up you go.

Which is pretty much why the FAA is going the route of trying to register all RC pilots... as flawed an organization the AMA and some clubs may be, there's a part of me that thinks if people were knowledgeable about and adhered to the basic (almost logical) safety guidelines promoted by the AMA, we wouldn't be in this mess.

Sure, the accessibility with smaller aircraft with lower expenses is definitely what's causing the explosion of interest in the hobby, but it's not about avoiding the AMA. Heck, people have been flying without AMA memberships and at non-AMA fields longer than the existence of the AMA, naturally. Personally, I wish I had joined my flying club sooner -- I would have saved myself some initial repair work by simply having a flight instructor instead of figuring it out on my own, saving money in the long run and enjoying the hobby more.

I've seen plenty of people try the hobby out once, only to get discouraged quickly and never coming back.

 

[bhursey]

Which is pretty much why the FAA is going the route of trying to register all RC pilots... as flawed an organization the AMA and some clubs may be, there's a part of me that thinks if people were knowledgeable about and adhered to the basic (almost logical) safety guidelines promoted by the AMA, we wouldn't be in this mess.

Sure, the accessibility with smaller aircraft with lower expenses is definitely what's causing the explosion of interest in the hobby, but it's not about avoiding the AMA. Heck, people have been flying without AMA memberships and at non-AMA fields longer than the existence of the AMA, naturally. Personally, I wish I had joined my flying club sooner -- I would have saved myself some initial repair work by simply having a flight instructor instead of figuring it out on my own, saving money in the long run and enjoying the hobby more.

I've seen plenty of people try the hobby out once, only to get discouraged quickly and never coming back.

I saw a ton of times while working at the hobby shop a new pilot would buy a gas trainer. When I told them about the club and AMA and told them about club instructors. They would say nah i have a field i can fly at. A week later they would come back and buy a new trainer and ask for club and ama fourms. Im not kidding. Having a trainer teach you at first saves $ and grief. It is now days definitly cheeper to start. I guess im still am in the hey this is cheeper than the 400-600$ it cost to start in the 90s.