God Help Us, We're Just A Few Days From The "Big Launch"
There is an old Chinese
proverb that goes something along the lines of "be careful of what
you wish for, as you may find it." I've come to be very fond of
that saying as Aero-TV has progressed over the last six months from
what was once an intriguing idea, to an amazing (if a little crazy)
program, to be taken on by an even more amazing team of committed
people, to what it is now -- a burgeoning reality that is but days
away. I can't say that I recall any time of my life in which I've
worked harder, or had more fun, or been as enthused about the
future as I am right now. And, the reasons for that have absolute
nothing to do with the business success that we perceive for the
future of this program, but rather in the impact that it is already
having (even in its infancy), and the impact it promises to make in
the future. We aviators have watched a treasured way of
life/business, come under fire by ignorance and malice way too many
times, and in Aero-TV we see a phenomenal tool to not only document
all things right, good, and necessary about aviation, but a
treasured way in which we can eventually come to transcend the
limits of the "Aero-Verse".
So... just what the heck is going on around here?
Well I'm glad I planted that particular question in your heads,
because we have much to say and precious little time in which to
say it before we have to embark on what are most assuredly going to
be some of the busiest days of our lives here at ANN.
First of all, let me tell you how pleased I am with how the beta
test of Aero-TV went. Over the course of a tumultuous week, the
Aero-TV crew (Team leader Peter Riley, Video Journalist Jessica
Wunderlich (who did the cool Aero-TV crew drawing, below), VJ
Nathan Cremisino, VJ Alexander Manning, Web Designer Birgit
Pauli-Haack, as well as the rest of the ANN Crew and I) worked
20-22 hour days (no kidding) to establish the procedures and
produce the content that ultimately resulted in over 20 programs
aired during Oshkosh, as well as the filming of dozens more. Just
as important, we laid the groundwork for the upcoming daily
production of Aero-TV.
We are astounded with how many people saw the videos, are
enthused by the comments that we received, and are truly pleased
with how much we learned as a result of our beta effort. Not only
did we get to cover the 'best air show on/over Earth' in a new and
innovative way, but as simple as our beta sneak-peek was, I am
pleased to report that we really blew away folks with these initial
efforts. Best of all; you ain't seen nothing yet. I am not
exaggerating when I tell you that what we've learned about Aero-TV,
as a result of our beta tests and extensive consults with industry
veterans from both aviation and new media industries, has the
potential to change our aviation world. At a time when aviation
remains under attack by ignorance, amateurism, and entities who
truly want to see us either be curtailed or fail altogether; we
think Aero-TV has the potential to bring great things to the world
of flight -- not the least of which is expert video reporting by
Aero-Professionals who can actually spell "aileron."
Okay... enough of the sales pitch... let's talk about where we
go from here.
Aero-TV will commence daily production with the start of the
NBAA, later this month. Our daily NBAA coverage will be devoted to
business aviation matters, and our normal schedule of Aero-TV
(which includes at least one daily news wrap-up and one feature
story), will commence on October 1. This schedule will dovetail
very nicely with the start of the AOPA Convention just a day or two
later. The first 60 days of Aero-TV will present us with a huge
learning curve, despite all our preperations. We have selected an
amazingly talented staff -- truly, these are some of the best and
the brightest people I've ever worked with -- both on the aerospace
journalism side as well as the video journalism aspect. However;
any undertaking this sophisticated will require us to start
simple and work our way up. As a result, the our initial comittment
will consist of a daily news program and a daily feature
program... though as soon as our procedures and workflow are
better-established, we intend to expand both news programming and
feature programming offerings aggressively. We hope that within the
year, that both Aero-News and Aero-TV will be able to
expand it's offerings dramatically with greatly augmented and
dedicated daily news coverage, as well as a number of daily
features that cover all aspects of the aviation industry.
ANN has compiled an impressive roster of expert VJs (video
journalists -- four so far, with a fifth coming on board shortly),
as well as a number of aerospace journalists who will work
alongside them. We're thrilled to tell you that we're going to be
working with some old friends whose dedication to aviation is
unquestioned, and whose expertise and attitudes about this business
we value greatly.
Aero-TV will be employing some of aviation's "best and
brightest" -- including veteran aviation journalist Dave
Higdon (pictured above), and up-and-coming aviation industry
veteran Jamail Larkins (shown below). Other aerospace journalists
will be joining us, including two highly respected members of the
business aviation community -- who will be announced shortly. Mind
you, we're keeping our eyes open for others who can help us
search, document, and produce the stories that deserve to be told
about all aspects of the aviation and aerospace world. If you think
you might be one of those people, we'd sure love to hear from you,
as our requirements for talented staffers are likely to
continue for some time.
Let's talk about story selection for a moment... I
don't need to tell you that there are thousands of amazing stories
that can be told about aviation and aerospace, but I would like to
ask for your help in searching out some of the very best. We're
looking for your suggestions, your ideas, your experiences, and
what truly fascinates YOU, as we search the country (and even the
world) for stories that deserve to be told on Aero-TV. Seriously,
we need you to be an additional and valued link to everything that
is exciting, interesting, germane, and worthy of your attention.
There are simply too many exciting things going on out there for us
to know about them all, and while we're proud of our News-Spy
network, we need all the help we can get in tracking down stories
that deserve a spot on Aero-TV. Please help us with this, folks, as
the ultimate benefactor of your input stares at you in the mirror
every morning, i.e., YOU. Help us be of more service to you.
While were on this subject, let me tell you that we're not
asking you to do this out of the goodness of your hearts, or even
just to see the stories that you want to see. We're about to
announce a series of prizes and awards that will be offered on a
regular basis to the folks who contribute so generously to our
News-Spy network. We're working with a number of ANN's valued
partners and will start the program with the upcoming award of one
of Clarity Aloft's (http://www.clarityaloft.com,
modeled below by the irrepressible Megan Waterman) amazing
light-weight headsets (a $525 value!) to a lucky News-Spy
contributor in the not too distant future. We're not quite sure yet
how we're going to set up these awards... whether to award them
based on random selection, or by some kind of merit system for
those who really have put their heart and soul into being some of
ANN's bests contributors, but we have a number of these awards
planned for the near future and I assure you that were going to be
able to give out some great goodies with our sincere thanks for all
you do to help ANN stay on top of the aviation news game.
So... keep those News-Tips and story ideas coming!!!
OK... let me touch on something NOT so positive. Something
disturbed us a bit about a few things that happened after our
Oshkosh Beta effort. While we fully realize that the Internet is
frequented by a few people whose ethical and moral beliefs are not
exactly laudable (and we know who a number of them are a lot more
than we want to), we did run into something we did not expect... at
least not as quickly as they transpired. While we're very pleased
that people were so enthused about Aero-TV and the programs that we
produced at Oshkosh, what we did not expect was a number of folks
(who supposedly had some kind of interest in aviation), who not
only copied/ripped-off Aero-TV programming to a number of online
video sites, but edited the videos without permission -- and in
some disturbing ways.
We have made it possible for individual videos to be shared and
embedded on websites across the world, with a simple utility that
is attached to every Aero-TV program. So, if you want to see the
video or use the video in some other place where you think it can
do some good, we're generally pretty cool about it -- with
reasonable limits... though if you do so, we hope you let us know
where the video appears and give us the chance to approve such use.
However, where we have to put our foot down, and for darn good
reason, is the unauthorized copying and editing of our work. We've
worked damned hard (and at great expense) to build a system and a
staff that can produce world-class Aero-Video programming... and
for someone to steal it, change it, and call it their own is
nothing less than felony theft.
Worse; it is particularly disturbing when some yahoo (reportedly
from Belgium) takes our carefully produced, heartfelt, piece on the
tragic crash of a P-51 and the death of its pilot, and republishes
it, with all the identifying material (including our
watermark) cropped out and then puts it to rock music as if it was
something to celebrate. This made me ill. I hope that nothing
tragic ever befalls this idiot (IMO) in such a visual manner that
it winds up in the hands of another person who would subsequently
show it the same disrespect we feel he did to OUR respectful
story about the tragic loss of a valued aviator.
So... we're going to make it very easy for you to use our
videos, and we're not really going to be that upset (most of the
time) if some of our products are even copied to some of the video
sites so long as they are properly credited, unedited/unaltered,
and otherwise respected as our copyrighted property. BUT, if we
find these products, which we worked so damned hard to produce;
altered, edited, distorted, or otherwise changed, published and/or
used without our permission, be advised that we will protect our
work (and our industry) from the illegal theft and the
distortion/disrepute that may occur as a result of such use. If any
of you has a request or a reason to want to be able to work with
one of our products, use it in some way, or otherwise find a
different use for it than we have permitted so far, please be
advised that we're likely to be all ears -- and 9 times out of 10
we're going to be pretty cool about working with people whose
hearts are in the right places. BUT, please understand that
Aero-News is trying hard to do something very positive and very
difficult... and that we would appreciate your respect for those
efforts.
OK... back to a more positive track... let me also note that
those of you associated with organizations, companies, or other
entities with a significant following may want to get in touch with
Aero-TV. We have a number of exciting syndication programs that can
make Aero-News and Aero-TV content available to you for your sites,
via branded portals, or other programs that will be announced
shortly. In just a few days we will announce major alliances with
one of the most respected publications in the world, as well as a
major news network... and that's just the tip of the iceberg (over
70 major syndication agreements are in the works RIGHT now). We
welcome and invite all interested parties to get in touch with us
if they think that they might make a good partner for Aero-News or
Aero-TV.
Finally, we been very disturbed at some of the lumps that GA and
BizAv have taken from the airline world over the last couple of
months. The war of words foisted upon the general aviation and
business aviation community by a number of entities in the airline
world (who wouldn't seem to know a fact if it bit them in the Ass),
has hurt us all. It has destroyed a once somewhat cooperative
relationship between the airline industry and the rest of aviation,
it has bred further distrust for a crumbling airline industry that
really needed friends rather than enemies, and if there wasn't
already a tremendous lack of faith in the ethics and
professionalism of the airline industry their recent disinformation
campaign has all but destroyed whatever credibility they had
left.
Be that as it may, over the last six months of traveling with
Aero-TV crews and the gear that is part and parcel of a
professional video production effort, (not to mention the need to
get to a number of locations with a number of people in short
order), we have to tell you that we've about had as much of the
airline industry as we can stand. It is the rare trip, these days,
that doesn't put one of our staff in some form of hazard, delay or
other problem. We've been delayed. We've been canceled. We've been
re-routed. We've had expensive video gear messed with by TSA people
who not only ignored the attached TSA-Safe locks, but forgot to put
the locks back on and then ALSO forgot to close the bags. We've
dealt with rudeness on the part of airline personnel who often
didn't understand the reasons for delays -- or outright lied when
they did. We've rarely been able to maintain any sense of a
legitimate schedule, and as a result have had to plan in such a way
as to waste a phenomenal amount of time to get people out to
locations well in advance of when they have to be there -- in order
to plan for the eventual and regretfully expected delays or other
problems.
The airline industry is busted... and short of a total overhaul,
I'm not so sure that its current iteration can be fixed. But that
doesn't help us at all... today. Aero-TV is, here and now, making a
commitment in telling you that we are going to use GA as our
primary mode of transportation as soon as is possible -- and
eventually for the great majority of all of our extensive travel
requirements. We are researching a number of aircraft, both new and
used, that may fit our mission profiles and we think that
aviation's most comprehensive real-time news service, and our new
Aero-TV Network needs to make a statement that GA is a reasonable,
valuable, and dependable mode of transportation.
Yup... it's time to build an ANN Air Force.
Unfortunately, what that means to yours truly is that after
spending a phenomenal amount of money launching Aero-TV, that we
may have to put my beloved Glasair III up for sale (hopefully not)
so that I can find ourselves the first of several dependable,
four-seat, IFR capable modes of GA transportation for a number of
our video teams. While some of our teams may be deployed by road or
RV, for the forseeable future, we want our most time-critical
projects to be served by a modern general aviation aircraft...
which will not only be our mode of transportation, but a highly
visible ambassador to the many other media partners -- newspapers,
radio stations, TV stations, networks, and hundreds of other
immediate entities -- that we will be working with over the coming
years. This is not an expense that I had planned for at this point
(hence the reason that my best-ever toy may have to go on the block
so as not to kill rest of the Aero-TV budget), but I think it's a
statement that needs to be made. With all the crap that we're
encountering while having to travel the airlines these days, I
really think that this is more than just a strong and
vocal political move on our part -- it's a matter of simple
business survival. For those of you out there who have had to
travel extensively by GA over the years, and have significant
operational experience with certain aircraft, we'd love to hear
from you about your experiences, long-term, with the aircraft you
own/fly as we prepare to make a decision to pick up the first of
what we expect to be a number of corporate aircraft to cover the
world via Aero-TV.
By the way; for those of you who may be looking to get
information on sponsoring Aero-TV (initial sponsorships are pretty
much SOLD OUT, but we should have spots opening up after the 60 day
warm-up period), please click the appropriate link below... and for
those of you with ideas for future Aero-TV stories, please click
the link that applies... and let us know what you have in mind.
THANKS for all your support... we SO look forward to serving you
with the best Aero-Video programming we can produce.