[JKovats]

Hi Jon:

Here's the short ans accurate answer - NO you do not need MAAC to fly, there is no law of any kind about that. Having said that, I can maybe clarify a couple things. If you join a MAAC sanctioned club you will have to join MAAC. A condition of Club MAAC sanctioning is that all members of the sanctioned club, be MAAC members. You will have diffuculty finding a non MAAC sanctioned club but they do exist.

One of the benefits of belonging to MAAC is the $5,000,000 group liability policy that is arranged for the members in the event of a personal injury or property damage claim you may get involved in if you have an accident with your plane. You may be covered under your parents home insurance or your personal home insurance, but it is doubtful, you should check with your insurance broker.

As far as the claims/statements by others that someone should get a more competitive quote and MAAC has a monopoly on this, don't be holding your breath on that one. I am an insurance broker and I can't even imagine the change it would take in the insurance world and the liberal court awards to end to let this happen. The day in fact may come that MAAC will be unable to arrange the amounts and types of coverage we currently have.

Don't pay too much head to the guys that apparently jumped on you, they mostly mean well. It is a deal. Be aware of the guys that will tell you there is probably something cheaper and better / they say that about everything.

Welcome to the hobby and the sport. You'll get a lot of help if you ask, and have a lot of fun too. Be cautious about asking for opinions, because everybodies got one whether it is from sound fact or they dreampt it up last night during some kind of vision.