Richard Bach and Pharisee

weirdjim

weirdjim

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weirdjim
I"ve been writing magazine articles pretty steadily for the last 40 years, first in "Private Pilot" and then when they sold off to "Kitplanes" for a very long time. Each article was highly technical about how you could use this integrated circuit or this capacitor to make a little circuit that will be useful in your aircraft.

I was heavily influenced by Richard Bach's series of articles in "Air Facts" which were collated into his book "A Gift of Wings". I thought that his approach to flying and the regulations were about as reasonable as any I'd ever seen.

So I have a monthly bully pulpit in my current magazine, Kitplanes. We haven't seen a successor to Bach in nearly 40 years. If I start to wax ethereal about flying and my personal interpretation of the FARs, do you think it would go over? WIth all due respects, my publishers are there to sell magazines, not ideas.

Thanks,

Jim
 
What are these “magazine” things you speak of? Do they still make those? ;)

Nowadays musings and rants usually go on blogs.
 
Well, Jim, run a few of them past us and we will give you our opinion. LOL
 
If your writing style lends itself to such topics, I say go for it. The key is to write in your style, and not attempt to be the second coming of that iteration of Richard Bach. I've seen more than one writer try to adopt his style, and thought the results paled in comparison.

On the other hand, Martha Lunken has found a niche in Flying, writing in her own voice about being a guerrilla inside the FAA.
 
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Jim,

Go for it. With readership down and subjects repeating, my sense is that any new slant or voice is appreciated.

I've been writing for IFR for about a year. A new experience. The good and bad news is it sounds like me :D but so far, the response has been positive and it's been a blast.
 
Here's the problem with trying to wax ethereal to the FAA: They still have to sign the paperwork. And if you **** them off, they just won't. I actually had an FAA person (who's autograph I needed on a document) state emphatically: "I don't care what the standard says. I don't like it and we won't sign it."

Granted, you have no skin in the game, and if a reader wants to do battle with FAA over it, that's their deal. I once did a tongue-in-cheek article about what constituted "portable" avionics, and created a scenario with something like a dozen 12v plugs daisy chained together that would give my simple VFR Citabria a cockpit functionally similar to a glass panel Cirrus. Had some interesting conversations with FAA folks before publishing it, and they got even more interesting afterward.
 
I have always enjoyed your articles. Even though I'm a EE I like how you can explain things so people can understand them, must be from teaching electronics for so long. What I think doesn't matter, only what Paul thinks matters as he is EIC. But go for it.

Bob
 
Will it get in the way of what you are writing? Will your information still be clear and concise?

My opinion is that you are currently writing a technical article to help those who don't have your expertise. I find your articles to be interesting and useful. The FARs are a different message, having little to do with electronics, so ask your editors if you can have space for an article on a different subject and give it a go. Having a different space, your current "bully pulpit" doesn't get watered down.
 
Jim judging from what I've read about your opinion on experimental vs certified aftermarket avionics, I say go for it and Godspeed. There aren't enough authors who either share your opinion or have the balls to speak out against the man. Good on ya!
 
Bach was a huge influence on the kind of flying I like to do. While I was writing my recent Kitplanes article on my Starduster cross country flight, I reread some of his stuff... and knew I could never come close to his skill with words. Pity he went all new agey and stopped writing about flying.
 
Dana said:
Bach was a huge influence on the kind of flying I like to do. While I was writing my recent Kitplanes article on my Starduster cross country flight, I reread some of his stuff... and knew I could never come close to his skill with words. Pity he went all new agey and stopped writing about flying.
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It is called "playing to your audience". He sucked them in with a 350 knot seagull, then a messiah that could walk through walls, and the step from that to new agey wasn't a great leap.

Jim
 
weirdjim said:
He sucked them in with a 350 knot seagull, then a messiah that could walk through walls, and the step from that to new agey wasn't a great leap.
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Jonathan Livingston Seagull started as a two-part (maybe three?) series in Private Pilot magazine, shortly after that publication started up. I'm thinking that was around 1969-70. We've moved three times in the last couple of years, but I think I might still have those issues packed away in a box somewhere.

Bach had his own style when he was writing for Flying. His articles on Bill Lear and the LearJet (April 1964), and the Mooney Mark 22 Mustang (December 1964), were classics, as were his accounts of flying his Fairchild 24R (October 1963) and Detroit-Parks P-2A Speedster biplane (July 1964).

It was Flying magazine, with the stirring poetry of Gill Robb Wilson, and the self-deprecating humor of Frank Kingston Smith, that first stirred my interest in aviation back in high school. Later on guys like Bach, James Gilbert and Gordon Baxter set the hook.

We need more writers who can challenge and inspire.

Go for it, Jim!
 
Pilawt said:
Jonathan Livingston Seagull started as a two-part (maybe three?) series in Private Pilot magazine, shortly after that publication started up. I'm thinking that was around 1969-70. We've moved three times in the last couple of years, but I think I might still have those issues packed away in a box somewhere.

Bach had his own style when he was writing for Flying. His articles on Bill Lear and the LearJet (April 1964), and the Mooney Mark 22 Mustang (December 1964), were classics, as were his accounts of flying his Fairchild 24R (October 1963) and Detroit-Parks P-2A Speedster biplane (July 1964).

It was Flying magazine, with the stirring poetry of Gill Robb Wilson, and the self-deprecating humor of Frank Kingston Smith, that first stirred my interest in aviation back in high school. Later on guys like Bach, James Gilbert and Gordon Baxter set the hook.

We need more writers who can challenge and inspire.

Go for it, Jim!
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Not to mention Gordon Baxter (Bax Seat) who has been one of my luminaries for a VERY long time. I met him at an Oshkosh party once and sort of alluded to the fact that my wife wasn't an aviation aficionado. His comment, that is etched into my brain was, "My first wife was like that too.".

Jim
 
My Lord, I appreciate all your good wishes, but you are asking me to step into shoes taller than my ceiling (room as well as airplane). I'm a poor electronics tinker and I'm not sure I'm up to it, but I may just give it a go.

Bless you all for your comments.

Jim
 
weirdjim said:
Not to mention Gordon Baxter (Bax Seat) who has been one of my luminaries for a VERY long time. I met him at an Oshkosh party once and sort of alluded to the fact that my wife wasn't an aviation aficionado. His comment, that is etched into my brain was, "My first wife was like that too.".

Jim
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I loved Gordy, also met him a time or two at OSH. Remember his annual "Readers become Writes" column? I wrote him a fan letter once and he quoted a couple lines of my letter. We communicated back and forth for awhile and he later sent me 2 pencil drawings, I never knew before that he was an artist also! I have those, along with the column hanging in my hangar. What a great man he was. Glenn
 
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