What Was Once An Incredible Inspiration, Now Becomes Our Next Step In Promoting Aviation
Life should be lived on the edge of life. You have to exercise rebellion: to refuse to tape yourself to rules, to refuse your own success, to refuse to repeat yourself, to see every day, every year, every idea as a true challenge - and then you are going to live your life on a tightrope.
Philippe Petit
We all have our tales to tell…
How our journey into aviation started, what a long strange trip it's been, and what we hope to do with the rest of our lives – at least where flying is concerned. I don't need to tell you that the world of aviation is not in the best shape it's ever been, and that for many, the dream of aviation is so remote, and so seemingly impossible, that those who would have tried in years past, don't even bother to make the effort anymore.
But, maybe one of the reasons why, is that they don't understand how extraordinary the world of aviation is, how many amazing choices there are by which they can get their aviation jollies, and where to find a little bit of guidance so that as they start their journey into aviation, they're armed with enough information to keep from making some basic mistakes -- and thereby keep the comfort factor is as high as possible as they learn a wholly new skill…
That of learning to fly – in all its many forms.
I'm not sure exactly when the spark started for yours truly—but it happened when I was really quite young…
To the best of my recollection, I think it had something to do with being about kindergarten age, and my Dad’s loading myself and a couple of my siblings into the back of our station wagon in Novi, Michigan, and taking us out to watch airplanes land and take off at the local general aviation airport -- just for something different to do.
It didn't happen much -- only a few times… But what my brothers and sisters put up with (barely), as a fleeting effort from my father to give them something unique to enjoy, became a source of fascination for me…
And it never stopped… it was followed by airplane books, airplane models, and a fascination with aviation that, right now, at the age of 56 not only shows no signs of slowing down, but seems to know no limit. And let me tell you, despite the fact that my path in aviation is often a turbulent one, I can't imagine a better life.
Still; I recall having had a great tool that helped me through some of my early ventures into aviation, one that helped me focus on the extraordinary variety of aviation arts and sciences. It was my freshman year of high school, and while I already was well entrenched in learning to fly gliders and had barely soloed one when I turned 14, it was this funky little book on the shelves of the Indian Hills high school library that opened up so much more of the aviation world to me then I was previously aware of.
The book was called ‘Sky Sports.‘
It was written by Linn Emrich -- a sport aviation aficionado who loved skydiving and gliders and all manners of aviation.
And he wrote this delightful book that featured five aviation sports: General Aviation, Ballooning, Soaring, Gyroplanes, and Skydiving. It was well detailed, and surprisingly well-designed for a book that was written/published over 30 years ago… And of all the things I've read over the years in the aviation world, it was this book that empowered me to dream beyond the Schweitzer's at the Blairstown airport, or even the mighty Cessna 150s at Lincoln Park airport, and realize that there really was an extraordinary and far more varied world of aviation for the taking…
My imagination soared – and the rest of me soon followed.
I met Linn Emrich many years ago, he was a West Coast aviator of some renown, and we immediately fell into an amazing chat. He had an easy matter that quickly belied the fact that he was an aviation junkie through and through. Over the course of a few follow-up conversations, he told me that he had greatly enjoyed all the letters he had gotten through the years from the many people, thousands apparently, that he had empowered to enter aviation in one form or another -- simply because his book gave them enough information to get off their duffs and try it out for themselves.
It became one of the joys of his life.
When we met, Linn knew who I was, and had read many of the many articles and books that I have written over the years, and it was he who suggested that at some point I might want to take a shot at doing a 21st-century version of the Sky Sports book. At the time I had more than enough to do, but in the years since then, the idea has grown on me (and grown on me) and continues to evolve to a point where I am now eagerly involved in the research and writing of a book that I will call ‘AeroSports’ because of its relation to Aero-News, the inspiration provided by Lynn's book, and as an homage to another outstanding sport aviator who still inspires me to this day, the late Jim Moser, who ran the Aero-Sport FBO in St. Augustine for many years.
As you may know, we are well at work on the Third Edition of the SportPlane Resource Guide, and I should have my head examined for taking on another extensive, multi-volume, multi-format, heavy-duty research project while we are updating, researching and creating an all new variant on the immensely popular and comprehensive SportPlane Resource Guide -- this time in e-book format.
None-the-less, as I look out across the aviation landscape, as I worry over all the problems we have, as I look at pilot starts dwindling to a mere fraction of what they once were… I grow concerned that the more positive future I dream of for aviation may never come to pass, and I'm not the kind of guy to sit idly by and watch something that I love so dearly, die off – at least not if I can do ANYTHING about it.
There are so many people who have told me over the years, that they thought they might enjoy one aspect or another of aviation… That they wished they tried skydiving, that they wished they partook in paragliding, that they’d love to build their own airplane, that Gyroplanes sure look like fun, that ballooning looks cool and serene, that soaring seems phenomenally peaceful… Ad infinitum.
AeroSports is designed to be one more tool that we can use to inspire people into aviation…
In any form possible.
AeroSports will document the basics of all kinds of aviation activity -- including some of the very basics -- such as model aviation and ultralight flying. But will progress to cover some 15 or 16 areas we've identified as unique sport and general aviation activities that have the potential to attract new pilots from the ranks of the real world.
The three-volume AeroSports books will cover Aerobatics, Amateur Built-Experimental Aircraft, Ballooning, General Aviation, Hang-Gliding, LSA, Model Rocketry, Parachuting, Para-Gliding, Para-Motoring, PPCs, RC Models, Rotorcraft, Soaring, and Ultralights.
Each AeroSports section, covering these activities (and any others we feel need to be included, in the future) will serve as a Primer to these amazing aero-adventures and will include an Extensive Opening Narrative describing the sport, as well as sections describing the skill sets involved, the training/educational Progression, equipment specific to the activity, licensing/regulatory issues, costs and expenses, community/organizations specific to the sport, affiliated activities/events, a solid look at unique safety issues in each AeroSport, and a compendium of terms/diagrams/glossaries/resources specific to the activity. In other words… serious, solid, fascinating info that can be used to interest a new flyer in joining us… one flyer, one AeroSport, at a time.
I believe that this effort has the potential, in future years, to inspire thousands of new pilots. I know Lynn's book did amazing things, decades ago, and by writing AeroSports for the burgeoning e-book (as well as the print book) market, I think we can do some truly great things. And while we have no intention at this point of turning the massive SportPlane Resource Guide into a print book, we will definitely do so with AeroSports for one specific reason… I found ‘Sky Sports’ in a library over 30 years ago and it changed a good part of my life -- It is my intention to put as many copies of AeroSports into libraries across the country (and around the world) as I possibly can -- even if I have to pay for it myself -- and to do what I can to jumpstart a whole new generation of aviation and aviators, one by one, reader by reader, sport by sport.
I find the concept of what we’re trying to do right now with AeroSports to be one of the most exciting projects I’ve ever worked on… And that's saying A LOT right now because we've had something of an imagination overload in the last few months, at least since our lives became untangled from a number of tough distractions. We’re now at a point where we can dream as much as we dare, as we look to help build a future that brings more and more and more flyers into our community.
Okay… Neat project, no?
We have extraordinary expectations for this effort, but I'm going to request three things right now to ask for your support in making sure that AeroSports kicks all kinds of serious Aero-butt, and makes the kind of difference that I know it can.
Out first request is simply this… For those of you in all the many realms of aviation sports and activities, send me YOUR suggestions, ideas, concerns, questions as well as your stories, YOUR thoughts, and YOUR input as to what YOU think needs to be included for each of the lofty aero-activities that we’ll write about in AeroSports.
Second of all, be sure to order an advance copy of the book as soon as possible, and while it's going to take a bit of time to get all these things done, we will be releasing AeroSports in three segments, starting before the end of this year – with all three volumes completed well before this time next year. Your advance orders will help us stay healthy, help us fund and research this project without having to take away assets and resources from other activities, and aid us in building a better book and putting forth a greater effort so that AeroSports really has the kind of affect we dream of.
And finally, PLEASE recommend it to all your friends. Please recommend it to your library and please recommend it to the people around you. Please order advance copies of the book for those you care about, and those you want to inspire in aviation and be sure to tell your library that AeroSports will be available next year.
Help us get the word out about this one singular effort, among many that are so worthwhile, that seeks to bring more people into the world of aviation so that our community can grow ever stronger, and build a better foundation for the future.
We’ll be releasing advance order information via an online order site in a few days, but if you can’t wait, we welcome your pre-orders by mail.
For the Ebook, send us your full name, address, email, payment, and your preference of either .mobi (Kindle) or .epub formats. AeroSports will be released in three volumes later in the year, with each new volume following the previous each 60-90 days until complete. The price is $29.95.
Pre-orders may be submitted to Aero-News Network, POB 3773, St. Augustine, FL, 32085.
We will not start the print pre-order process until later on, since the Print book will not be released until all content is complete in 2014.
Thanks folks… I promise you that we’ll be putting our hearts and souls into this…
This is going to be an immense amount of work… but it will also be an incredible amount of fun… I can’t wait to get back to work on this thing.
ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (04.15.24)
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