writes:

On Fri, 09 Apr 2004 15:19:48 GMT, "Maule Driver"
wrote:

Contrarian here... I like Flying

Me too. I'm probably going to resubscribe, since I end up buying it off
the newsstand almost every month. I like reading about the biz jets a
lot more than I used to.

Same here. I remember one of the first Flying issues I read had a
review of the MD11. Obviously, an airplane I will never fly as PIC,
and yet it was interesting to read. Same with the slew of Citations,
Lears, King Airs, and what have you that get reviewed.

As for Collins' self indulgence, as blave wrote, I like to read about
people using their airplanes, and Collins definitely gets to use
his. He comes across a bit pedantic at times, but he's readable.

My beef with aviation magazines in general is that every airplane and
product featured gets a positive review, no matter what. Flaws are
minimized, virtues are extolled to no end.

There's also incessant repetition... I'm tired of reading about
thunderstorms every April and about icing every October. Those articles,
I tend to gloss over.

And finally, the monthly columns can be hit and miss. The monthly by
Tom Block was entirely forgettable, he wrote a lot about equipping his
airplanes but very little about airline flying. I really like the
stuff the new guy (Les Abend) has been putting out. Peter Garrison
has some cool stuff sometimes. Dick Karl seems to relate flying his
twin turboprop in a way that doesn't come across as pedantic. Lane
Wallace gets a little too prosaic at times, but I generally like her
style.

-jav