AMA/Model Aviation Magazine Survey

[Dick Pacini]

Received an AMA survey email today, asking for my opinion of Model Aviation Magazine.  I answered their questions and gave my ratings from 1 to 10.  I wasn't kind at all.

[JoeJust]

Yea, I got my "random" chosen survey also.  They wanted to know what I think of MA, so I TOLD THEM!
Joe

[Mike Keville]

A questionaire from the Academy of Multirotors & ARFs?  That should be fun!

[wwwarbird]

 Hmm, I'd like to get that Email.

[Perry Rose]

I gave them all "don't read" except a "good" for Bob Hunt and a "poor" for district one column.

[Bob Hudak]

I got the survey also,gave it poor ratings. They had an article this month about building from kits and where to get them. There was no mention of Brodak's.

[john e. holliday]

I did the survey sometime ago and wasn't too kind myself.  Have you seen the ads on the inter net now.   They show a quad copter.

[BillLee]

AMA in general, and Model Aviation specifically, is irrelevant to the type of activity I wish to enjoy. The organization and its house publication have "followed the money" and are now primarily for and about the toy flyers. The only part of AMA that remains meaningful to me is that they have the lock on the FAI representation, and they provide me with a small bit of insurance comfort. Their support for competition activities continues to diminish, they have chosen to cut off their roots: the modelers and competition.

Perhaps someday NAA, as the OFFICIAL National Aerosports Control of the United States, will recognize that AMA no longer is the organization that represents the model aviation population of this country.   

[JoeJust]

If anyone is in doubt as to what is happening in MA just count the total adds.  55 total pages in a issue with only 115 pages. (this count is taken with several 1/2 pages added together to get the 55 total pages of ads.)  As I noted in the survey, the MA has become just another monthly catalog featuring items I don't consider important to the modeler as we here consider modeling.
Joe

[Randy Ryan]

My Dad and I have long refered to MA as a toy catalog. Articles like how to repair your crashed model and kit building are amazingly silly to me. All things I learned as a boy along with everyone else that fly model airplanes. It's really not surprizing tho, all the various hobbys have gone that way. Turnkey hotrods now bring the best of show trophy to the guy with the fatest billfold instead of the guy building it himself. And th for the "builders" There are products under the name "Ididit" which is clearly a contradiction because obviously they didn't did it! Motorcycles, the same way. I'm not saying this in defense, I hate it all. I hate the store bough models in any discipline but believe they have some value. For me, if I didn't build it it has no value or very little value to me, I never was interested in "pride of ownership"

MA gets trashcanreviews from me, I really don't want it. When it comes I do thumb through it but very seldom does any of it get read. This year I opted for the electronic magazine only so I didn't have to deal with it anymore. I have my license and insurance, I don't need anything else from them.

[John Sunderland]

We are like a bastard child in the magazine. Under appreciated, barely recognized, but hey...lets buy a quad copter!

[dale gleason]

I received the request for the survey....my response pretty well duplicated what Bill Lee said above.
dg

[tim lackey]

Ditto I wasn't kind at all. told them to keep the mag and give me a break on the dues.
Tim

[Scott Richlen]

But they have to send you the magazine!  They make a substantial amount from advertising the quadcopters and other crap, but can only do so if they can show large "readership" (even if we don't - read, that is).  The advertisers pay for large numbers in distribution, not whether their add gets read or not.  It's weird, but works for them.  They'd probably distribute the magazine to non-members for free if they could (but their non-profit status would prevent that) since they could garner additional add revenue by doing so.  So, if they stop sending you Model Aviation, they don't save any money since they lose add revenue.  They simply need to send something out to somebody (in fact, anybody, even if they hate quadcopters) that includes the advertisements so they can get an income stream from the quadcopter manufacturers.

So, there you have it: an organization that is supposed to be educational and is supposed to support model aviation, but does neither.  It produces a magazine that competes with commercial magazines and puts them under (e.g., Flying Models) by sucking up all the add revenue.  It ignores the many different and traditional aspects of the hobby and pointedly does not support them.  And it promotes the "gee!  look at the latest fad.  Let's get one of these!" approach to the hobby that destroys tradition, depresses interest, and awards short attention span and those simply seeking entertainment.

What cracks me up is that they finally did a couple of articles on building and then wrote in their columns like they had an epiphany - like wow!  you mean there are people out there with an interest in building!  who woulda thunk?

[tim lackey]

Wow!! Scott I hadn't even thought of it that way but you make perfect sense. Thanks for the education.
Tim

[Scott Richlen]

Years ago magazines like the Saturday Evening Post went out of business because they didn't understand this.  They thought their revenue came from subscriptions, but that is only half-right.  It comes from add revenue based on subscriptions.  So, they were losing money on each magazine and thought they'd be okay if they just sold more subscriptions.  They needed to sell more add space!

Scott

[Steve Thornton]

How many ads and photo pages go to the giant scale, turbines, quads, etc, which are all VERY expensive?  I'm not sure that I would give my grandsons a MA because the would naturally want plane that they could not afford and see the 1/2A planes I have look like...toys!?  When I was a kid I read the magazines cover to cover, saved my lawn mowing $ and bought a Black Hawk Golden Hawk for $1.49 or some incredibly reasonable price and put the .049 on it and had a blast all day on Saturday and after school. MA has cut off its roots and it is a shame that we have to pay them for their sanctions and insurance. Glad I filled out my survey, just hope they read it.
Steve