Flyers,

I am thinking of a flight into Ingalls airport in Hot Springs, VA this Fall.
It's elevation is 3,792' and has a 5000+ foot runway. It is surrounded by
several washboard-like mountains. Look at the picture on airnav:
http://tinyurl.com/yn6hrm Also click on this link to see a really nice
hotel near the field: http://tinyurl.com/ygxfez

It all looks like a nice place to see Fall leaves changing, have a nice meal
as long as the weather will cooperate. To learn about this type of flying I
bought Sporty's new DVD with Richard Collins *IFR in the Eastern Mountains*.
I was somewhat disappointed in this DVD.

For one thing Richard Collins has a VERY negative approach to his writings
sometimes. For example, he opens his DVD with: ...the eastern
mountains...are just as unyielding as the bigger ones out west and there are
a lot of accidents in the eastern mountains and even the relatively small
mountains of Arkansas have claimed a lot of airplanes."

Geez-uss-gawd!!!! I'm sitting there with my wife (who's hesitant to fly in
the mountains) and a friend who wants to fly with me, but has been a bit
tentative. Thanks a frickin' bunch Richard...those comments took a
non-pilot fence sitter and cemented his feelings of general aviation in a
negative light! Now he is convinced that *little airplanes* are *flying
aluminum coffins*. That was a bad piece of writing from an elder mentor of
our impassioned hobby.

He could have made the same point by saying, "...the eastern mountains,
although smaller, still have the same challenges to pilots as their bigger
brothers out west. For pilots wanting to visit some of these beautiful
higher elevation airports on the east, this program is designed to teach you
how to make these IFR flights rewarding, efficient, and most of all, safe."

Now I'm not asking anyone to blow sunshine up my a$$, but there's a way to
make your point without scaring the crap out of their audience. And writers
have to understand that pilots aren't the only ones watching these DVD's.
Our spouses, children, family, friends and a very apprehensive general
public is too.

There are many other examples too: He states, "IFR in the eastern mountains
is a place where a lot of pilots fail to measure up...it is where only one
little mistake will PUT ALL THE LIGHTS OUT. That is when my wife walked out
of the room stating, "we're not going."

Geezz...have some tact and judgment in your writing and wording!!

Kobra

PS: This was a very bad commercial, but obviously I am selling the DVD.
Here is the Ebay link: http://tinyurl.com/ymkrwq