Richard Collins pays tribute to his late wife.

Great tribute. Thanks, Adam!

May we all be lucky enough to have such a wonderful copilot, both in the plane and in life. I'm lucky that I do. As Richard writes, she may not be perfect, but she close, and a whole lot closer than I am.
 
What a wonderful and warm tribute. We should all be so lucky.
 
Very nice. Thanks for posting.
 
Fearless Tower said:
That statement makes no sense....Richard Collins left Flying a LONG time ago.
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Sorry, he mentioned Flying specifically in the article and wrote for it when I had my brief subscription. I really don't keep track of which hack writer is working for which worthless rag.
 
steingar said:
Sorry, he mentioned Flying specifically in the article and wrote for it when I had my brief subscription. I really don't keep track of which hack writer is working for which worthless rag.
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Hack writer? I've learned much from Collins over the last 35 years. Have you read his Flying The Weather Map? The man is a pretty experienced aviator and shared much with the pilot immunity.
 
Nice article. I only know of Collins from the Sporty's IFR DVDs, so I've had the piano and guitar tune from the "Air Facts, with Richard Collins" segments in my head since reading this article.
 
LDJones said:
Hack writer? I've learned much from Collins over the last 35 years. Have you read his Flying The Weather Map? The man is a pretty experienced aviator and shared much with the pilot immunity.
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Collins is a hack, as are most other aviation writers, as am I. That's why professional aviation writers don't write in non-aviation settings, they aren't that good. But the tribute he wrote his wife was touching.
 
steingar said:
Collins is a hack, as are most other aviation writers, as am I. That's why professional aviation writers don't write in non-aviation settings, they aren't that good. But the tribute he wrote his wife was touching.
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Anyone who can take the science of weather, categorize it and present it in the form of a book that captures my attention and that I will actually read - is a good writer.

Some of these hacks have likely saved the lives of countless numbers of pilots by writing material that educates aviators on the finer points of weather and decision making.
 
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dell30rb said:
Anyone who can take the science of weather, categorize it and present it in the form of a book that captures my attention and that I will actually read - is a good writer.

Some of these hacks have likely saved the lives of countless numbers of pilots by writing material that educates aviators on the finer points of weather and decision making.
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Fine, but it doesn't make them good writers.
 
steingar said:
Collins is a hack, as are most other aviation writers, as am I. That's why professional aviation writers don't write in non-aviation settings, they aren't that good. But the tribute he wrote his wife was touching.
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That's a pretty bizarre definition....if an accomplished pilot writes prolifically for a target audience (pilots) and receives accolades for his work, he's still just a "hack" because he doesn't write for the New Yorker or mystery novels??
 
LDJones said:
That's a pretty bizarre definition....if an accomplished pilot writes prolifically for a target audience (pilots) and receives accolades for his work, he's still just a "hack" because he doesn't write for the New Yorker or mystery novels??
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I can see what Steingar is saying. Collins was not an accomplished writer, in terms of skill in prose and basic persuasive writing.

But, while he was quite rough around the edges in his articles, I mostly enjoyed reading them, and I very much enjoyed his segments on Sportys videos. I got a lot of information from those videos, and I felt like I was watching my Grandpa, as Mr. Collins expounded on the topic at hand.
 
I wonder why John Grisham doesn't write for Flying magazine?? :dunno: Or Stephen Coonts?? :dunno:
 
Style points might be important for Richard Bach or others who appeal to the etherial element of flying. If that's what you want, read their stuff. If you want content, much of which is somewhat dry by nature (even though precip is a big part of it) then Collins is your guy.

spiderweb said:
I can see what Steingar is saying. Collins was not an accomplished writer, in terms of skill in prose and basic persuasive writing.

But, while he was quite rough around the edges in his articles, I mostly enjoyed reading them, and I very much enjoyed his segments on Sportys videos. I got a lot of information from those videos, and I felt like I was watching my Grandpa, as Mr. Collins expounded on the topic at hand.
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N747JB said:
I wonder why John Grisham doesn't write for Flying magazine?? :dunno: Or Stephen Coonts?? :dunno:
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Because they didn't have to. They were sufficiently accomplished writers that they could appeal to a much larger audience. Were Collins a writer on their level he would have as well.
 
steingar said:
Because they didn't have to. They were sufficiently accomplished writers that they could appeal to a much larger audience. Were Collins a writer on their level he would have as well.
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That's my point, I don't expect aviation/automotive/rodeo/whatever hobby comes to mind writers to have the same writing skills as a New York Times bestselling author. It's probably tougher to write in such a way as to make weather interesting vs spies and mafia lawyers. :dunno:
Don't get me wrong I don't think Richard Collins is a Pulitzer prize winning author, but for aviation writers, I think he's pretty dang good. :yes:
 
wabower said:
Style points might be important for Richard Bach or others who appeal to the etherial element of flying. If that's what you want, read their stuff. If you want content, much of which is somewhat dry by nature (even though precip is a big part of it) then Collins is your guy.
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:yeahthat:
 
steingar said:
Because they didn't have to. They were sufficiently accomplished writers that they could appeal to a much larger audience. Were Collins a writer on their level he would have as well.
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I have yet to learn anything about weather or piloting from Grisham or Coonts, so in that regard I guess their both just hacks. I've learned much from RC....which is the point of his writing, not to make the NYT Best Seller list.
 
N747JB said:
That's my point, I don't expect aviation/automotive/rodeo/whatever hobby comes to mind writers to have the same writing skills as a New York Times bestselling author. It's probably tougher to write in such a way as to make weather interesting vs spies and mafia lawyers. :dunno:
Don't get me wrong I don't think Richard Collins is a Pulitzer prize winning author, but for aviation writers, I think he's pretty dang good. :yes:
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I expect a professional writer to write professionally. I expect to read something I couldn't write better myself. In aviation magazines I rarely see anything written any better than just about any post on this board.
 
steingar said:
I expect a professional writer to write professionally. I expect to read something I couldn't write better myself. In aviation magazines I rarely see anything written any better than just about any post on this board.
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Go ahead and write an article on flying weather IFR. Let us be the judge of who's the better writer, Richard Collins or you.

Everyone is a critic.
 
steingar said:
I expect a professional writer to write professionally. I expect to read something I couldn't write better myself. In aviation magazines I rarely see anything written any better than just about any post on this board.
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Luckily for the aviation magazine writers, my writing skills are somewhere between, not good and sucks, so I enjoy reading their stuff as long as it's about airplanes. :D
 
Sorry for your loss Mr Collins.

I always enjoyed reading your articles and watching your training videos.
 
LDJones said:
Go ahead and write an article on flying weather IFR. Let us be the judge of who's the better writer, Richard Collins or you.

Everyone is a critic.
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For those familiar with Voltaire, Steingar is our local Signor Pococurante.
 
LDJones said:
Go ahead and write an article on flying weather IFR. Let us be the judge of who's the better writer, Richard Collins or you.

Everyone is a critic.
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I couldn't do any better, but I am an admitted hack (though paradoxically enough, I can make the same claim as Mr. Collins to be a professional writer). You'll just never hear me claim to be a good writer. I wish to Odin I could be.
 
steingar said:
I couldn't do any better, but I am an admitted hack (though paradoxically enough, I can make the same claim as Mr. Collins to be a professional writer). You'll just never hear me claim to be a good writer. I wish to Odin I could be.
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I don't think I've heard Collins make any claims as to his writing abilities, although I've always found his work credible and enlightening, whether I completely agreed with his premise or not. I think all of us who've worked to express ourselves via the written word wish that we were much better at the task.
 
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