Waypoints

This issue of AOPA Pilot marks 40 years since AOPA embarked on a brave new mission to offer members their very own monthly magazine. As Editor at Large Tom Horne writes in " Look Who's Forty" (see page 68), prior to March 1958, AOPA members received Flying magazine with a special "AOPA Section" included in it.

I had skimmed through Volume 1, Number 1, of The AOPA Pilot, as it was called in those days — the The was dropped in the late 1970s — a number of times over the years, but only recently did I take the time to read it from cover to cover. What's most interesting is not how different that magazine is from the one you're holding, but how similar it is. From a technical standpoint, publishing has changed dramatically over the four decades, and today's magazine reflects it with its full-color design and glossy cover. The photos in today's publication are the best in any aviation magazine — bar none — and I'll pit our stable of writers, editors, contributors, and graphic artists against any other magazine any day. Your association's magazine is the very best aviation magazine available and also the largest in the world. I am proud of that. I am also humbled by the courage and fortitude shown by the founders of this publication, namely Max Karant, the first editor, and Joseph B. "Doc" Hartranft, Jr., AOPA's president at the time.

We have a system for creating a new issue every month — certain things happen at certain times and in the end, a magazine arrives in your mailbox. You count on it. Along the way, we have a pretty good time and, occasionally, find ourselves in some unusual situations — but that's another story.

I can't imagine what it must have taken to start from scratch. Sure, the staff had been producing the nine-or-so page insert since AOPA's inception in 1939, but that's a long way from the 98-page magazine it produced for the first time 40 years ago.

Reading that original issue provides a great sense of nostalgia. On the cover, there's a new white, green, and black Cessna Skylane, "the de luxe version of the Cessna 182." Obviously, the name stuck and the Skylane is still with us. Interestingly, there is no story inside on the airplane. The advertisements, though, are both familiar and surreal. Hertz, for example, is in there and is still an advertiser today. Then, they had an ad on the back cover for their Rent A Car service (you could rent a "neat, new Turboglide Chevrolet Bel Air with power steering" for $7.85 a day plus 9 cents per mile). Inside the magazine, Hertz advertised its nationwide Rent A Plane Service (with or without pilot). The service was initiated in some areas but never really got off the ground, so to speak. Other names that you'll recognize include Textron Lycoming (Avco Lycoming back then), which was celebrating its fiftieth anniversary in 1958; Beech; Mooney; and Piper, which suggested that you "wait till you see what 160 horsepower does to the Tri-Pacer!" We'll let you know later this year when our 1998 sweepstakes project, a 1958 160-hp Tri-Pacer, is complete.

Elsewhere in the magazine, Nancy Narco, who has apparently retired, offered tips on using your radio, while enumerating the virtues of the Narco Omnigator Mk II and all of its 27 channels. Lockheed's latest was the Jetstar; Rockwell heralded the Aero Commander. A portable weather radio that you could buy today at Radio Shack for $10 cost $64.95 back then. In 1958, Lear made autopilots and flight instruments, not business jets. The U.S. Air Force was selling surplus airplanes at Norton Air Force Base. A dozen B-25s, 10 C-46As, and 27 T-28As were among the offerings. If we'd only known.

In the editorial "The 'Pilot' is Born," Karant — presumably, since it is unsigned — lays out for the members a number of objectives he has for the magazine. "First and foremost," he notes, "AOPA — and The Pilot — are dedicated solely and exclusively to serving AOPA members." That's still true today and is the reason that — with a few exceptions outside of North America — you will not find this magazine on the newsstand.

The editorial notes that the magazine will confine its coverage to general civil aviation, leaving "articles on guided missiles to the many publications currently dealing in such matters." True again. "We will concern ourselves with new developments in civil aircraft and their accessories, safety devices and practices, flight techniques, rules and regulations; interesting people, interesting flights, airports and their operators. We will concern ourselves with both the beginner and the more advanced pilot in preparing articles on navigation, flight planning, meteorology, aircraft flight characteristics and radio techniques." Sound familiar?

In this issue of AOPA Pilot, you'll read about new developments in civil aircraft, such as the Piper Malibu Mirage. Look to Bruce Landsberg's "Safety Pilot" for safety practices. See our series called "Instrument Insights" for the flight and navigation techniques. Novelist and AOPA member Stephen Coonts tells the tale of an interesting flight in "Reflections on a Cross-Country." Tom Horne's "Wx Watch" fills the meteorology bill. Our "Pilots" column at the back of the magazine shares the story of an interesting member each month. Beginning pilots will find a wealth of information in our "New Pilot" section; advanced pilots should be receiving our special "Turbine Pilot" editions every other month.

Our founders apparently got the mix just right, and we've been following suit ever since. It's good to know that while plenty has changed over these 480 months, we have maintained our focus on providing AOPA members with a magazine that meets their needs. Other publications have specialized in particular types of articles or some smaller segment of general aviation, but none has been able to maintain the breadth of coverage for pilots of all types the way this one has.

That original magazine carried many articles written by AOPA members, a tradition that continues even today. Back then, only two staff members toiled full-time on the magazine, so the contributed material was required. Today we have 17 full-time staff members, although most of us wear many hats. Now, we use member-contributed material for "Never Again," which debuted in Volume 1, Number 1, and in "New Pilot's Journal," "Fears of Flying," and the occasional feature. In our readership surveys, by the way, "Never Again" consistently comes in as the most-read article in the magazine.

Having also worked on more traditional consumer publications, I like the feeling of belonging that comes from working for an association publication. AOPA Pilot is really the best of both worlds. Unlike most association magazines, this one competes with consumer publications for both readers and advertising revenues. As a result, we are afforded the opportunity to produce a first-class publication that is dramatically more sophisticated than most association magazines. Yet, we still enjoy the benefit of being a membership publication. Members believe that the magazine is their magazine. We have an open dialogue with members that other magazines do not have with their readers. Have a comment or a concern? Write to us, if we publish your letter, it will be without tacking on a smart-alecky response. We have a respect for the pilots who send us their membership dues that is unheard of at publications where a reader is just another subscriber.

In the old days, when one of the 70,000 AOPA members called The Pilot, he or she was as likely to get Karant as not. Even though our staff is much larger and our readership of 340,000 is dramatically larger, the editors at AOPA Pilot are still highly accessible. The editors work at booths at every major aviation event, meeting members and hearing comments. No other aviation magazine puts the editors' e-mail addresses at the end of every feature article. No other aviation magazine has a Web site that is updated daily — sometimes hourly — as news happens. Call us, fax us, come and visit us (unlike most aviation magazines, our offices are right on an airport — imagine that). This is your magazine and we'd like to know what you want in it.

While the look, feel, and even the name of this publication has changed over these many issues, my goal each month is the same as the half-dozen others who have occupied this office. We and everyone who bring you AOPA Pilot want nothing more than to capture the same spirit in these pages as was intended by those who set out on this publishing journey 40 years ago — to bring you the very best general aviation magazine possible. AOPA members deserve nothing less.