Jim, you did a great job on the Nats coverage. There are not too many people who can both write well AND take good pictures. It gave the readers a fresh perspective and put the vacation back in my vacation. :-)
The abundance of CL in Model Aviation can be explained. Content editor, Bob Hunt, is a hardcore CL guy. The unbalanced space allotments bother me. I have exchanged emails with Bob and he honestly believes that CL is at least as popular as soaring. >From the NATS issue, you would guess that CL is 5 times more popular than soaring. In August Bob Hunt sent a letter to the columnists stating that column space and frequency were being changed to better reflect their relative popularity. The same letter said that my column would stay at 1500 words with half the frequency (changing to every other month). Apparently the data being used is based on which box people checked on their AMA renewal forms. I emailed Bob and asked for a list of the new sizes and frequencies. Here is his response: "I do not intend to supply a list of all the topics for which there are columns in Model Aviation or their frequency. That will become apparent as the new alignment is implemented." He went on to add that Dave Garwood would now be writing a slope soaring column on the months opposite mine. I was initially pissed off at Bob Hunt's reply and the change that could be considered a demotion. Then I started to weigh the pros and cons. In the past I had often wished that the deadlines came half as often. It is easier to find 6 good topics a year than 12. There is twice as much time to research each topic. Also, I agree that Garwood's slope stuff would be a good addition to the magazine. Garwood goes to more slope events than I do. On the downside, the readers get less thermal soaring coverage. Inserting timely stuff in the "thermal soaring" column would be even more difficult. Deadline to delivery lag time was 4 months before the frequency restriction. In the end I decided to sit tight and see how things look after a few months. I AM very interested to see the new space/frequency allotments. If the other columns changed at then same time Soaring did, we should see the results in the next issue. Maybe the frequency of some of those CL events will go to once a year ;-) Mike Garton RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note that subscribe and unsubscribe messages must be sent in text only format with MIME turned off.
