Liability: Alabama to Wyoming
For the past three years I’ve had frequent e-mail exchanges with AMA member and ardent Flying Site Assistance volunteer James Shupe. Jim lives in Illinois and winters in the little burg of Holiday, Florida.
My sense is that Jim spends much time trying to figure out how to make AMA more inviting to the average modeler as well as how to get more flying sites so we can help make the average modeler happy. Throughout the years we’ve discussed revising and reformatting the State Parks Flying Site video, revising the Getting and Keeping Flying Sites booklet, recognition of exemplary volunteer efforts—a whole host of extant issues in need of solutions.
Of late, Jim’s efforts have resulted in the discovery of resources directly applicable to one of the major problems I face each time I present a flying-site proposal to a governmental body: liability.
As it turns out, all 50 states have laws on the books which limit the liability of private and public land owners who allow their land to be used for recreational purposes such as model aviation. These statutes, coupled with the AMA’s own site-owner liability protection, should all but remove the liability issue from the table as we move forward in our quest for future flying sites.
I have a page or so in which to convey useful information to those of you who want to acquire or save a flying site. If you visit the listed Internet sites, you’ll see a multitude of pages from which you can glean state-specific details on owner liability with respect to the recreational use of public and private lands.
If you are planning a presentation to an individual or to a local governmental body in your quest for a flying site, read your state’s information first. The information you discover can be your best ally while you attempt to answer the site owner’s questions as you negotiate to a yes! answer.
As you will see, other organizations whose recreational activities require the use of public or private lands share our liability dilemma. We are indebted to the International Mountain Bicycling Association, the University of Texas at Austin’s Utopia Web site, and American Whitewater for the information on the following web sites.
A word of appreciation, too, goes to Jim Shupe, whose tireless efforts at the computer keyboard led to the discovery of these nuggets.
Well done, and I’ll bet he’s not done yet!
Recreational Land Usage: Resources for Owners of Public and Private Land Used for Recreational Purposes
- International Mountain Bicycling Association:
- www.imba.com/resources/trail_issues/liability_chart.html
- www.imba.com/resources/trail_issues/land_liability.html
- University of Texas at Austin’s Utopia (Equine Law and Horsemanship Safety section):
- utopia.utexas.edu/explore/equine/recreate/recreate.htm
- American Whitewater:
- www.americanwhitewater.org/access/liability.htm
Coordinators
- Wes De Cou, Coordinator — Western Region (Districts VII - XI)
- Voice: (480) 460-9466
- Cell: (480) 296-9515
- Fax: (480) 460-9434
- Address: 202 W. Desert Flower Ln., Phoenix, AZ 85045
- E-mail: [email protected]
- Joe Beshar, Coordinator — Eastern Region (Districts I - VI)
- Address: 198 Merritt Dr., Oradell, NJ 07649
- Phone: (201) 261-1281
- Fax: (201) 261-0223
- E-mail: [email protected]
Finding—Preserving—Maintaining
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
