"Aviation Consumer" Gone West?

SoCal 182 Driver

SoCal 182 Driver

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SoCal 182 Driver
There's a rumor running around that Aviation Consumer (along with IFR and Aviation Safety magazines) has gone (or is going) west.

Anybody have any info?
 
NealRomeoGolf said:
IFR was just bought last year. Why would you buy something just to kill it?
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Speculation: All these mags were no-advertising. Subscription revenue only. Maybe with all the alternatives, it just didn’t make sense to keep it separate. Roll everything into Flying and have a stable of existing writers and perhaps articles to choose from. For example an IFR magazine article I wrote several years ago appeared in Flying this past year. I didn’t even know it until the person who gave me my first flight in a GA airplane wrote to me about it.

Me, I’m just glad my lost comm article made it in into the January issue before the end.
 
I've been suspicious of IFR's health for quite a while because their constant mailings to renew long before needed suggested cash flow issues.
 
Weird. I literally just got a card in Plane and Pilot suggesting that I could sign up for an IFR subscription.

Personally, I'd like to see Plane and Pilot become a little thicker and really focus on the GA segment flown by the average Joe. I know that they want Flying to be an "aspirational" magazine, but there are only so many articles I can read about the latest $million offering from Cirrus before I start to tune out.

EAA's Sport Pilot is great, although sometimes it feels like it should be called Oshkosh/Air Venture magazine. AOPA's Pilot offering is also really good. I'm a fairly digital guy, but there's something about flipping through a magazine that I enjoy. Hopefully they don't all go the way of the Dodo.
 
I thought that merging IFR Refresher into IFR a few years ago would have boosted readership and also reduced the writing burden. Not enough, I guess.

I have a big stack of unread Flying magazines. Their move to undated issues means that I have no idea how far behind I am. I should take a look at recent issues to see if there's content that's comparable to IFR.
 
subscriber to Aviation Safety and IFR. Aviation Safety said this issue is the final one and all subscriptions will be rolled into IFR. Flying bought them and is going to online advertising based revenue model. I'll have to check out the IFR as based on the Safety comment thought it would survive. I enjoy reading the paper versions outside on the beach etc, away from online distractions.
 
NealRomeoGolf said:
IFR was just bought last year. Why would you buy something just to kill it?
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It happens, though most cases I can think of are when the buyer has a competing product, and wants a monopoly.

I'm looking at you, Microsoft. Netscape had the better browser! Though that's ancient history. Now EVERYONE has the better browser.
 
pdonahue said:
I have a big stack of unread Flying magazines. Their move to undated issues means that I have no idea how far behind I am.
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You probably also have no idea how many issues they failed to deliver.

I gave up on FLYING when they missed deliveries, then despite numerous promises (including in-person assurances at SNF) never replaced them.
 
As an Instrument rated pilot, I found IFR magazine the best source of pertinent information and guidance available.

I had all the copies, from no.1 until a few years ago, in 3 ring notebooks.

I took all the quizzes, writing all my answers on postit notes, so I could loan them to friends, and the quiz would be unmarked for their use.
At first, some of the weird approaches they analyzed seemed too unique to be relevant, but eventually, I found similar ones that were at airports that I flew to, and realized that they were not unique. They were in fact likely to be mis flown, with bad outcomes.

A unique and valuable resource for active pilots, especially GA pilots, who do not have a training and safety department to increase their knowledge in an ongoing manner.
 
The FBO at the airport I trained at always had the latest issues of all of the magazines on the table, and I loved leafing through them to look at the pretty pictures. I never spent the money to get my own subscription because so much of the content didn't apply to me even though it was fun to gawk over.

I wanted the "GA Pilots" Magazine, with cool flight/airplane pictures, maybe some "Lessons Learned" written by pilots about things they experienced, an "accident recap" section that would go over some recent accidents, a neat article about some niche piece of aviation history, maybe some notes from CFIs or DPES talking about common training and flying issues or pitfalls, a couple pieces by A&Ps about engine and plane maintenance, articles about any recent or proposed changes to any laws affecting flying, a reminisce column written by pilots who experienced flying 20, 40, 60 or more years ago, a short "cool gear" section talking about one or two aviation gadgets currently on the market, and a "hangar talk" section where pilots could send in funny jokes, life or flying accomplishments and milestones, etc. Maybe even a "flying-adjacent" column about RC stuff/drones?

If y'all could design your perfect "GA Pilots Magazine", what would it look like?
 
Half Fast said:
Probably something like FLYING was about 30 years ago. General Aviation News comes fairly close, though I'd like to see some travel articles.
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One of my "relics" is a copy of flying from circa 1970. I remember conning my father into buying it for me at the drugstore. I was about 5 at the time. The issue contained an article about Richard Bach and his barnstorming including a bunch of beautiful pictures. There was also a review of the Cessna Skymaster and a safety column which basically rationalized flying over gross if the alternative was to be shy of fuel at the end of the trip. I eventually cut up my original copy and pasted the pictures in a scrapbook. 30 years later, I searched the flymarket at Oshkosh and found and repurchased that issue. THAT is the version of Flying I miss.

I also miss Sport Aviation from the 90's. Enough eye candy to be interesting, enough how-to and technical information to be educational.
 
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Racerx said:
Y'all? The south wore on you that quick?

As long as "Pelicans Perch" made it in, I'd be happy. I'm glad Deakin's articles are archived.
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So sad.

My Texas-raised wife knows that the first y'all I hear will send me to the divorce attorney.

:rofl:
 
I guess the early prediction that these msgs would disappear have sadly come true. I guess flying mag will become the hollow entity like the old weather sites that were bought and subsumed by I B M.
 
midlifeflyer said:
Speculation: All these mags were no-advertising. Subscription revenue only. Maybe with all the alternatives, it just didn’t make sense to keep it separate. Roll everything into Flying and have a stable of existing writers and perhaps articles to choose from. For example an IFR magazine article I wrote several years ago appeared in Flying this past year. I didn’t even know it until the person who gave me my first flight in a GA airplane wrote to me about it.

Me, I’m just glad my lost comm article made it in into the January issue before the end.
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I am sad to hear this. IFR magazine was my favorite read.
However, their online portal has been poor for years. The site is ifr-magazine.com, but when you log in, it takes you to a different site, which makes it look like a phishing attempt. It won't let me login because it says my password is incorrect. When I ask for a password reset, it sends me a link, and then it asks for the old password, and keeps rejecting it. I've been locked out of that account for probably a year. Luckily, I can still update my payment information. None of it makes any logical sense. It's got fantastic IFR content, thanks to people like you, but it is poorly managed.
 
Boo. Aviation Consumer and IFR were the last of the magazines that I would read cover to cover.
 
sarangan said:
I am sad to hear this. IFR magazine was my favorite read.
However, their online portal has been poor for years. The site is ifr-magazine.com, but when you log in, it takes you to a different site, which makes it look like a phishing attempt. It won't let me login because it says my password is incorrect. When I ask for a password reset, it sends me a link, and then it asks for the old password, and keeps rejecting it. I've been locked out of that account for probably a year. Luckily, I can still update my payment information. None of it makes any logical sense. It's got fantastic IFR content, thanks to people like you, but it is poorly managed.
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Yeah, many had issues with the online site. And thanks for the compliment. I know several of the other writers, some of which have become friends too.
 
I love AC. I hope they dont cancel it. A majority of the articles pertain to a pilot like me. And the used aircraft section was always great for some daydreaming.
 
IFR Magazine was very good, and I was about to send in a renewal. No need now. :rolleyes:
 
With more and more articles showing up for free on my email, and with “Apple news” allowing “plane and pilot” as part of my subscription, I think I’ll not renew and see if I can get by without all these “eye candy articles”. I’m finding a good book is more to my interest now that I’m retired with more time.
 
Ugh. IFR and Aviation Consumer are (were?) Great resources for the GA pilot and aircraft owner. FLYING won't cover these topics, and the mag has become more of an infographic than a magazine. Targeting the TLDR generation, I guess. I had to do the same with instruction guides for my undergrads the last 15 years.
 
GaryM said:
It happens, though most cases I can think of are when the buyer has a competing product, and wants a monopoly.

I'm looking at you, Microsoft. Netscape had the better browser! Though that's ancient history. Now EVERYONE has the better browser.
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... but Microsoft didn't buy Netscape. They bought Spyglass Mosaic, developed it into Internet Exploder, and ran Netscape into the ground.

What's the better browser now? I always gravitate toward the best solution of the moment, and at the moment I use Safari. Not a universal solution though.
Dana said:
Air Progress.
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Sorry about your back pain. Don't forget to schedule your colonoscopy. ;)
 
flyingcheesehead said:
... but Microsoft didn't buy Netscape. They bought Spyglass Mosaic, developed it into Internet Exploder, and ran Netscape into the ground.

What's the better browser now? I always gravitate toward the best solution of the moment, and at the moment I use Safari. Not a universal solution though.
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I also use Safari by default, Chrome as a backup. Sometimes DuckDuckGo. It can be eye-opening to see how the search results it reports differ from what Chrome serves up. Haven't used FireFox in years, but I think it's fine. All better than MS Edge in my opinion.
 
flyingcheesehead said:
... but Microsoft didn't buy Netscape. They bought Spyglass Mosaic, developed it into Internet Exploder, and ran Netscape into the ground.

What's the better browser now? I always gravitate toward the best solution of the moment, and at the moment I use Safari. Not a universal solution though.

Sorry about your back pain. Don't forget to schedule your colonoscopy. ;)
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DuckDuck Go and Brave are good browsers
 
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