Last week was immensely gratifying and completely exhausting. We added 2500 subscribers (please forward this email to your friends and ask them to sign up, created a new but familiar way to communicate about aviation, and I did a lot of writing to fill it. Well, by the end of the week, many of aviation journalism’s finest writers had volunteered to help me feed the beast, to the point where they have written almost all the content for this issue.
Don’t worry. You’re not missing much in the news. BETA has delivered its first Alia electric conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) aircraft to a company in Norway, a Russian helicopter pilot died after crashing on an active volcano in Kamchatka, and India claims it shot down six Pakistani aircraft in their brief border skirmish last May. I could have developed all those into short stories, but it didn’t seem worth disturbing this uniquely beautiful melding of styles, knowledge, and experience expressed in this single issue of an aviation newsletter.
My recommendation is you read every word. You will learn something from all these folks. And you will definitely be hearing from them again. Meanwhile, I think I’ll have a beer and get to bed early. There’s a big week with some huge announcements ahead, and we’ll get back to covering all the news. Thanks for all the support so far, and we look forward to expanding our content and reach, thanks to you.
Ain’t it fun being in business for yourself. Long days, big wins, and the company of thousands in the Avbrief circle to keep it worth it. 😓
One thing I like about working for yourself; You can work 1/2 days…………AND you can pick whichever 12 hrs you want!
Be true to yourself, build it, and they will come. Congrats on this new chapter in your journey!
Russ, I always felt that if you love what you’re doing, it’s not Work. It may be exhausting, frustrating, at times even ungratifying or demoralizing, but it’s not Work. And the worst thing about working for yourself is having to satisfy an unsympathetic boss who always expects more and better. I “retired” twenty years ago, only to discover that I’ve never been paid less to work harder. (Oh, how I miss the 9-5 workday…)
As much as I appreciate your journalism, it’s the gentle and kind spirit beneath them that makes me look forward to reading your words.
That, and the occasional erudite jousting with some of your other subscribers. ;-))
Before I even heard about AVBrief from B25Driver this morning I decided I didn’t need to check that other site anymore. The AI rant was the last straw. I wasn’t sure where I could go for trusted aviation news and information.
And HERE you are! Thank you!
WTG! How can we help get the advertisers to swing behind you? Apart from subscribe.
If you know anyone at any of the folks who advertise in AVweb, make sure they know about us. Thanks for anything you can do. In the meantime, tell everyone you can think of about us and urge them to subscribe. We’ve done really well so far but we need thousands more. Thanks for your support.
Russ
Russ, I see that AVBrief is nominally on Facebook, Instagram, and the site formerly known as Twitter (X). I’d encourage you to join James Fallows, Julie Boatman and many other pilots who have chosen Bluesky (https://bsky.app) as a place to share aviation information without the hate bots of X.
I was going to suggest this as well. Bluesky has good engagement and you can definitely start by simply copying your X posts there.
Russ, I just read every word in this latest edition. (Something I had not done with your previous employer’s product for quite a while.) Loved it all, and it was exactly what I wanted to see in your early editions! Way to go, I think you have a winner here!
Dave
So glad I found this place. I’ve had a feed from the previous AV-something practically since its inception. I found myself bereft when I clicked on recent content from that place and realized what had happened. Guess I shouldn’t have been surprised that y’all would land on your feet. Subscribed.
So glad you all are doing this. I’ve signed up and will be reading with interest.
Any chance you can convince Mr Bertorelli to join? Always enjoyed his contributions
I just dropped by AvWeb to see if I could find any sign of non-artificial life. First thing I noticed was that the tenth “news” item on the first page (of 1,374 pages!) was:
AirVenture: Advance Sales And Vendors Stronger Than Expected
With AirVenture 2021 just eight weeks away, there are signs that this year’s show may look more like 2019 than the reduced event many were anticipating.
Kinds says it all, doesn’t it?