In a message dated 1/1/2008 5:41:53 PM Eastern Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
I do not find it strange that there is seldom if ever input by any EOC officials. Lee, I, for one, find it very strange. From what I can tell, this Yahoo mailing list is "the" means of communication between Coupe enthusiasts. Certainly there is more up-to-date technical information, questions, news, advice, etc, etc, distributed through this mailing list than by any other means. I would think that anyone who was publishing a monthly Coupe newsletter would be monitoring this list, participating in it, soliciting more information for inclusion in the monthly newsletter, asking people to write articles about their recent projects or flying experiences, etc. I would think that when someone mentions that they just upgraded their original Goodyear brakes to Clevelands, or replaced all the Plexiglas in their plane, for instance, that person might be contacted by the newsletter editor(s) and asked to write up the details of that little project, or at least provide all the details so that a good informative article could be written in the newsletter. What did it cost? How many hours did it take, where did the parts come from? How happy are you with the results? Why did you decide to upgrade? Etc, etc. I'm no expert on Coupes, but over the past several years I've done a few things on my plane (like 1800 hours worth of labor on a complete restoration) that I've mentioned more than once on the mailing list, and nobody from the newsletter has ever contacted me or asked me to contribute a thing to the newsletter. Maybe it's due to some other reason, but I've interpreted this as a general lack of interest. Either not enough interest to read the mailing list, or not enough interest to follow up on anything that's posted. Yes, I know, I could write an article and send it in, and I've done that, but why isn't this type of info actively pursued by the editor(s)? I honestly don't know the answer to that question, and it is not my intent to bash or attack the editor (or editors). Like I said before, Coupe Capers has been around for years and years, and I applaud anyone who has the stick-to-itiveness to publish a monthly newsletter for that length of time. I've always believed that if you're not doing at least what the next guy is doing, then you don't have the right to complain about what that guy is doing or not doing. And I sure don't have 50 or 100 extra hours a month to publish my own newsletter, as much as I would like to. My original point was, and continues to be, that I'm just not interested in paying $30.00 a year to get a newsletter that doesn't hold my interest any more. And it's not the $30.00. I'll probably spend $30.00 tomorrow just to have $10.00 worth of gaskets sent to me by overnight mail so I can go flying on Saturday. There's been a whole lot of discussion about this subject over the past few days, and prior to that it has been discussed on and off for years. My interest in the EOC newsletter has been fading over the past several years, and it's to the point now where I'm just not interested in renewing. I have to admit that I'm more interested in technical content than social content - I guess that's just the engineer in me - and many people might not have any interest at all in technical info. So it may be that the current newsletter is fulfilling the needs of the majority of its readers. If the EOC adds some good tech info, adds some features like a detailed "plane of the month" article, adds some real reporting on upgrade projects and rebuilds, etc, to Coupe Capers I'll happily continue (and contribute) with that. Heck, I think I've been reading Coupe Capers for 30 years now. It would be a shame to quit now. Best Regards, Wayne DelRossi Alon N5618F Hours logged since restoration: 347.5 "Nobody has ever scientifically proven that life is supposed to be serious." **************************************See AOL's top rated recipes (http://food.aol.com/top-rated-recipes?NCID=aoltop00030000000004)
