EXCLUSIVE USE OF PUBLIC PROPERTY
By AMA Legal Counsel — Joseph Gelwicks, J.D.
Background
A number of flying sites in this country are located on property owned by a governmental entity such as a county or municipality. The Academy's liability insurance policy provides primary coverage for site owners. In addition, AMA provides one million dollars of liability coverage for chartered clubs, sanctioned events, and individuals. AMA does not provide liability coverage for non‑AMA members.
It is not possible to obtain an AMA sanction and, at the same time, sanction the same event with another national modeling organization that offers its own insurance; a second sanction voids the AMA sanction. Why? Quite simply, you cannot double‑sanction an event because the safety code of the other organization is likely to differ in significant ways. More importantly, for AMA coverage to apply, the AMA National Safety Code must be followed. Generally, other organizations have safety codes that contain differences from the AMA code (for example, they may not have the 55‑lb weight limitation that is contained in the AMA code). Most sanctioned events are run by AMA‑chartered clubs, and the AMA By‑Laws (Article 3, Section 2) mandate that chartered club members operating models must be current AMA members.
Use of Public Property and Restrictions
Because of the realities of the insurance situation, the question occasionally arises as to whether an AMA club can keep non‑AMA members flying on public property. The answer is, quite simply, YES — depending on the rules established by the agency that owns or administers the property.
The fact that property is public does not mean that the public has unbridled and unrestrained use of the property 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. However, there are certain restrictions that are not permissible. You cannot restrict use of the flying field to men to the exclusion of women, or restrict one or more races while allowing another race to use the property. These categories have been determined by the Supreme Court of the United States to be inherently suspect criteria because they abridge constitutional rights. In the grand scheme of things, constitutional issues simply do not come up often when discussing modeling activity.
If we are not talking about a constitutionally protected right, then any restrictions are permissible as long as they meet the test of reasonableness: Is the restriction reasonable and does it further a legitimate aim or goal? As a result, the governmental owner of the property routinely imposes certain reasonable restrictions. Common examples include:
- Restricting use to daylight hours.
- Requiring a minimum amount of liability insurance (often $1,000,000).
- Requiring compliance with applicable safety rules for the activity.
One very common and legitimate requirement is that the user has applicable liability insurance coverage for the modeling activity engaged in while on the public property.
The AMA Insurance Program
An insurance policy provides coverage for those who are within a defined group or unit (a particular person, family, company, etc.). The AMA policy does not provide insurance coverage for the entire world any more than your automobile policy provides coverage for all the people of, say, Los Angeles County. Reasonable, actuarially valid restrictions are not only permissible but necessary if the insurance program is to function. The keystone of the AMA insurance program is its National Safety Code. It is actuarially sound (and common sense) that following the AMA National Safety Code goes a long way toward ensuring that modeling activity is conducted in a safe manner.
Practical Arrangement for Field Use
Based on this rationale, how do we combine the realities of an insurance program and the interest of the public into a workable arrangement? It is simple. To the extent that an AMA club is granted use of public property as a flying site, the club has responsibility for the field during the time it is using the field. Part of that responsibility is to ensure there is adequate insurance coverage and RC frequency control. Therefore, when the AMA club is using the field it has the right and the obligation to require all users to be current AMA members, thus guaranteeing that the AMA insurance program is in place and that the AMA National Safety Code is the standard of conduct to be followed by all fliers.
When the chartered club is not using the field, anyone else can use it, including other organizations, clubs, or individuals with various types of insurance coverage (for example, homeowner’s coverage). If the county wants to take upon itself the policing of individuals to ensure adequate coverage, it can certainly do so; it could assign this task to some other person or organization. This is nothing more than a simple concept of responsibilities following rights.
Since it is unlikely that aeromodelers in a given area would be in a position to occupy the flying site during all daylight hours seven days a week, scheduling groups or individuals to use the field at given times is a practical solution. By this arrangement, each individual and organization can pursue their activities on the public property without unreasonably burdening any person or group with the liability or the obligation to insure (two totally different things) every Tom, Dick, and Jane who wants to fly.
Final Note on Legal Opinions
The next time someone tells you that a certain act or arrangement is "legal" or "illegal," the first thing you ought to ask is: "Do you have a license to practice law?" In my experience, most opinions couched in terms of legality are merely an indication that the speaker has a strong emotional attachment to their particular view. The more information we have on a subject, the more complex and nuanced it becomes.
Happy Modeling
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
