Dumping Flying Magazine

Contrarian here... I like Flying

I enjoy Mac and Dick. I always find it educational - especially from the
standpoint of using GA aircraft for travel. I usually like Dick Karl. I
like Garrison as long as he stays technical but I don't care for his
aftermaths. I rarely read the jet & rotorwing reviews.

I would suggest that most non-pro GA pilots think and speak about safety in
Dick Collin's terms. Those pilots may not know it and may not agree with
him (pilots agree?) but he is responsible for 'setting the table'.

I always feel a bit empty by the time I get to the end of the AOPA mag but
don't know why. I seem to be the target market but the mag comes up short.
I think the world of the organization though.

Private and P&P just don't have the writers.

IFR is great! I rip thru that. IFR Refresher is full of reruns so I
stopped.

Lane is OK and can get better.

I miss Bax but then who doesn't.

"Dave" wrote in message
om...
Is it me, or has Flying become among the worst GA magazines to read?
Why does it seem that all I read about are trip reports from Mac and
Dick Collins that, personally, offer little educational value? Each
of these guys write serveral articles per issue. Are they that hard
up for good writers, or do these guys just like to write everything
themselves? When I open AOPA Pilot, Flight Training, Private Pilot,
Plane and Pilot, etc. I find a good balance of education, reviews, and
good tidbits. All I feel I've gained from reading Flying is knowing
every detail of what's in the Avionics stack of Mac's Barron and
Dick's Cessna P210.

I always feel a bit empty by the time I get to the end of the AOPA mag but
don't know why. I seem to be the target market but the mag comes up
short.
I think the world of the organization though.

Funny, I think the world of the magazine, and think the organization comes
up short.

Private and P&P just don't have the writers.

Their mags are more hit and miss -- but Private Pilot "hits" often enough
for me to subscribe. P&P gets my dollar at the newsstand only when it
looks interesting.

IFR is great! I rip thru that. IFR Refresher is full of reruns so I
stopped.

I subscribed for a while when I was actively pursuing my IR. After deciding
to put that on hold, the magazine turned into a real snore...

Lane is OK and can get better.

I miss Bax but then who doesn't.

Lane runs dry once in a while, but she is still the best of the bunch.

There will never be another Bax.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

On Fri, 09 Apr 2004 15:19:48 GMT, "Maule Driver"
wrote:

Contrarian here... I like Flying

Me too. I'm probably going to resubscribe, since I end up buying it off
the newsstand almost every month. I like reading about the biz jets a
lot more than I used to. And, like you, its interesting to read about
people *using* an airplane, rather than playing with them the way I do
most of the time.

I enjoy Mac and Dick. I always find it educational - especially from the
standpoint of using GA aircraft for travel. I usually like Dick Karl. I
like Garrison as long as he stays technical but I don't care for his
aftermaths. I rarely read the jet & rotorwing reviews.

I like to watch Karl try to justify a jet. Garrison's too technical for
me; he's the only writer there that I almost never read.

Private and P&P just don't have the writers.

Private Pilot has regular helicopter special issues which I appreciate
as a concept, but the writing is very marginal in places. This is one of
the things that Flying and (most of the time) AOPA Pilot have got *down*
- the ability to write, and to spell.

The other thing that honks me off about Private Pilot and P&P is their
photography. I am a nut about cockpit photos, and they just don't get
it. I could take better pictures with my $400 Canon Digital Elph.
Further, sometimes they'll have twelve pictures of the *outside* of the
airplane and not a single one of the panel! Unacceptable. I've almost
written them about this more than once... I'll get around to it someday.

It just goes to show - again - each to his own.

Dave Blevins

writes:

On Fri, 09 Apr 2004 15:19:48 GMT, "Maule Driver"
wrote:

Contrarian here... I like Flying

Me too. I'm probably going to resubscribe, since I end up buying it off
the newsstand almost every month. I like reading about the biz jets a
lot more than I used to.

Same here. I remember one of the first Flying issues I read had a
review of the MD11. Obviously, an airplane I will never fly as PIC,
and yet it was interesting to read. Same with the slew of Citations,
Lears, King Airs, and what have you that get reviewed.

As for Collins' self indulgence, as blave wrote, I like to read about
people using their airplanes, and Collins definitely gets to use
his. He comes across a bit pedantic at times, but he's readable.

My beef with aviation magazines in general is that every airplane and
product featured gets a positive review, no matter what. Flaws are
minimized, virtues are extolled to no end.

There's also incessant repetition... I'm tired of reading about
thunderstorms every April and about icing every October. Those articles,
I tend to gloss over.

And finally, the monthly columns can be hit and miss. The monthly by
Tom Block was entirely forgettable, he wrote a lot about equipping his
airplanes but very little about airline flying. I really like the
stuff the new guy (Les Abend) has been putting out. Peter Garrison
has some cool stuff sometimes. Dick Karl seems to relate flying his
twin turboprop in a way that doesn't come across as pedantic. Lane
Wallace gets a little too prosaic at times, but I generally like her
style.

-jav

Javier,

My beef with aviation magazines in general is that every airplane and
product featured gets a positive review, no matter what. Flaws are
minimized, virtues are extolled to no end.


Try Aviation Consumer.

--
Thomas Borchert (EDDH)

Aviation Consumer gets my dollars too. Good sheet.

"Thomas Borchert" wrote in message
...
Javier,

My beef with aviation magazines in general is that every airplane and
product featured gets a positive review, no matter what. Flaws are
minimized, virtues are extolled to no end.


Try Aviation Consumer.

--
Thomas Borchert (EDDH)

Thomas Borchert writes:

Javier,

My beef with aviation magazines in general is that every airplane and
product featured gets a positive review, no matter what. Flaws are
minimized, virtues are extolled to no end.


Try Aviation Consumer.

Yep, I subscribe. I should've mentioned them separately.

-jav

In article , Javier Henderson wrote:
Same here. I remember one of the first Flying issues I read had a
review of the MD11. Obviously, an airplane I will never fly as PIC,
and yet it was interesting to read. Same with the slew of Citations,
Lears, King Airs, and what have you that get reviewed.

The trouble with 'Flying' is that's pretty much all it is, that and
rehashed articles.

The mag that gets it really right I think is the British magazine,
"Pilot". It has stuff about bizjets. But it also has stuff about
microlights, helicopters, gyroplanes, normal light aircraft, vintage
aircraft, safety stuff and some very good trip reports by people flying
normal GA singles on real proper go-places trips all over the world.

--
Dylan Smith, Castletown, Isle of Man
Flying: http://www.dylansmith.net
Frontier Elite Universe: http://www.alioth.net
"Maintain thine airspeed, lest the ground come up and smite thee"

I find that all the magazines are fairly poor. Sure, there may be an
interesting article or two every now and then, but it wasn't worth the money
to wait for the infrequent decent bits. I also canceled the much praised
IFR "magazine"/newsletter. It is also pretty poor. Maybe there are no good
journalists/writers in the aviation field.



"Dave" wrote in message
om...
Is it me, or has Flying become among the worst GA magazines to read?
Why does it seem that all I read about are trip reports from Mac and
Dick Collins that, personally, offer little educational value? Each
of these guys write serveral articles per issue. Are they that hard
up for good writers, or do these guys just like to write everything
themselves? When I open AOPA Pilot, Flight Training, Private Pilot,
Plane and Pilot, etc. I find a good balance of education, reviews, and
good tidbits. All I feel I've gained from reading Flying is knowing
every detail of what's in the Avionics stack of Mac's Barron and
Dick's Cessna P210.

"Richard Hertz" writes:

I find that all the magazines are fairly poor.
.... Maybe there are no good
journalists/writers in the aviation field.

You are correct. There simply is very little good writing in
aviation. Perhaps it's because there is relatively little money to be
made, and thus little new blood. We've all noticed the nearly 100%
old farts at airports and fly-ins; few young people, with their energy
and creativity, can afford or are interested in flying.

That's why I started subscribing to the Atlantic. Not an aviation
mag, but very good writers, including the son of Wolfgang
Langewiesche. After a bit you get accustomed to people who know how
to use English, and at that point Lane Wallace and the others read
worse and worse.