Aviation journalism has been undergoing many changes over the past few years. The paper publishing business has gotten more and more difficult while the staggering number of online sites to get aviation content has grown exponentially. Social media sites give you quick short bites, voluminous video options suck hours out of your day, and forums (for just about every type of aircraft you can think of) take whatever time you have left.
And yet, sometimes you just want to sit down and read a good old-fashioned, well-researched and organized magazine feature article. Maybe it’s about how to fit a cowling, maybe a review of a new kit aircraft—or maybe it’s just about shooting splash-and-goes to a mountain lake as the sun sinks slowly in the west. Regardless of the topic, quality online content like you used to get in glossy paper magazines is hard to come by.
Until now. Today, AvBrief.com is introducing a new section of their rapidly growing website, Experimental Aviator. Intended as a place for you to find some of your favorite experimental aviation authors, it promises to be a great place to visit for the content you have gotten used to seeing on a monthly basis but without the limitations of a monthly publication schedule. Most print magazines you have gotten in the past have worked with a four-month lead time. Now you’ll get informative articles on a timely basis, things that will help you choose your kit aircraft, assist you with information during the build, make your test flying safer, and broaden your world once you have your machine ready to enjoy!
AvBrief has been growing rapidly in both readership and content—content provided by a growing roster of the best in aviation journalism. It is rapidly becoming a jam session for authors who you have enjoyed reading over the years, a place where they can try out new licks with the same old flavor, no matter if you are looking for how to drive a rivet or just hoping for a belly laugh. Many of us already have other outlets for our writing but are choosing to contribute to AvBrief’s content because it’s a community resource serving the greater GA community. We hope that our little corner here in the Experimental Aviator will grab your attention and have you coming back on a regular basis to see what’s new every week.
To be completely honest, we’re not entirely sure how this will turn out but then, neither did the Wright Brothers when they flew their first “experimental” aircraft from the sands of Kitty Hawk. Let’s watch (and help) it grow together and see what it becomes. What we promise is that when you read it here, you can trust it. Our experienced authors keep tabs on (and are willing to challenge) each other to make sure that you’re getting practical information you can use with confidence.
Fantastic!
Great news. I was hoping and half expecting something like Experimental Aviator to appear here. Thank you in advance!
Good advice as always Paul, I’m looking forward to future articles..
This, along with AvBrief itself, is the best news in GA publishing in a while. Very much looking forward to reading your new material in my favorite recliner and a warm beverage when the snow starts flying here in good old Oshkosh!
Outstanding.
I am so looking forward to hearing from my favorite aviation people and contribute to the readership of this exciting renaissance The opportunity to see the collected wit and technical content we may have never seen before.
Looking forward to this as I own an experimental CH2 and I am always looking for more info.
I’m in!
A garage full of aircraft should equal a brain full of knowledge about them. Thanks. Will be fun to read.
Great news! I hope now and then authors will write about Rotax engine matters. Thank you Paul, Russ and the AvBrief team.
We EAB & EAA’s (Experimental Aircraft Assemblers) – with the upgraded technologies involved with high end kits these days, for the most part we are no longer builders in the truest sense of the word. And, “scratch” builders, as purists, still denounce the moniker of “builder” for those of us that have been building (pretty raw) kits from the ’70’s & 80’s. Oh well, to each his/her/their definition of builder.
As long as pertinent information flows forward, we are all better all off for it – not only about the building part, but the who and why as well. Please keep this avenue open by contributing your time, experience and good will.
Looking forward to this! I’ve been missing the great info we used to get.
It’s all about eyeballs, folks. That’s what pays the bills. AI-regurgitated press releases are a poor substitute for the lilting prose of experienced aviation writers, especially when they are also pilots, builders, industry professionals, and other aviation SMEs.
The simplest metric for success in that effort is the amount of reader commentary they generate. Like all hangar discussions, member engagement on the old site was not always kumbaya, but it was always interesting reading. Sometimes you had to question the intelligence, but it was never artificial.
Excellent news! Looking forward to giving you all something to write about soon!
Great news.
Now we need Martha Lunken on here for bit of levity.
I should have said additional levity.
Looking forward to great content!
Really looking forward to this!!
This is great news to have you back with the rest of us! You are indeed a storehouse of Sonex info!!
Great to have you here Paul! Been reading you since the Vans Airforce forums!
As a homebuilder this sounds like a great idea.
“And, “scratch” builders, as purists, still denounce the moniker of “builder” for those of us that have been building (pretty raw) kits from the ’70’s & 80’s.”
Hmm… Hopefully, these fusspots will stay in their black hole of piety.
But should they somehow break free into the light, this new coming forum just may challenge their old useless concepts of what a builder – or even a pilot – is.
Levity – and popcorn – indeed.
Wonderful news, Paul.
Taking another bite out of crime.
What good news. I’ve always enjoyed Martha’s columns and appreciated her “jockular?” wit in her past articles in “Flying”. The “flying” community is small but it’s still there and when authors like Martha contribute it’s quite grand. Whether Experimental or otherwise there’s frequently a fact to “hoist in” as my old boss used to say. Sometimes the hard part was keeping it between your ears, but usually worth the effort. Here is where we can dig and learn. There’s a big pile of knowledge here together with lifetimes of experience and real accounts of “concerning and real” outcomes. Good choice to add to Avbrief!
awesome
Wow! Paul Dye. NICE! Welcome aboard, Paul.
I am really excited about what I am seeing here on AvBrief. Russ and the AvBrief team should be rightly proud of the community that is being built here. This is coming together organically and getting better by the day.
Awesome. Just … awesome.