AOPA Pilot Magazine - March 2008 - (Page 85) everything from touchscreen displays to FADEC to enhanced vision systems. The report was accompanied by an online component, which AOPA Pilot uses to refer readers to AOPA’s increasing number of online resources and for more indepth looks at the subject matter. The year 2007 was dominated by AOPA’s battle against the Bush administration’s proposal to raise revenue by imposing user fees and higher fuel taxes on general aviation operations. A yearlong series of articles on the user-fees issue ensued, which detailed the workings of Congress, the European example of a fee-based aviation system, congressional hearings, and member feedback on the issue. Like many other articles, the user-fee series also had links to AOPA online for videos and late-breaking information. An inspirational masterpiece came in the August 2007 issue when AOPA Pilot published a staff report called “A Day In The Life of America’s Airports.” Staffers at 11 different airports around the United States reported on just what happened on May 19, 2007. And once again, online videos accompanied the magazine stories. Which brings us more or less to the present, inasmuch as it’s March 2008— and the magazine’s fiftieth anniversary. It’s been a long and glorious history, with a proud record of achievement. We’re looking forward to adding more examples of writing excellence, online features, and service to members in the years to come. E-mail the author at tom.horne@ aopa.org. INTERACTIVE AOPA PILOT ONLINE View this magazine and the 1958 issue in a digital format on AOPA Pilot Online. (www.aopa.org/pilot/digitalissue) Designs through the years BY THOMAS A. HORNE needs of those growing numbers of AOPA members with an interest in turbine flying. But let’s return to our flagship publication, AOPA Pilot.When it first came out, its cover logo was smallish and, while it may have served well in its day, it was badly dated by the late 1970s. In January 1979, art director Arthur L. Davis redesigned the cover logo for a more modern look, using flush-left, bold avant garde type. By the July 1979 issue the cover logo was centered, and the book’s inside pages got a redesign as well. In 1988, AOPA Pilot became to an all-four color magazine. Up to this time, many of the pages were black-and-white, and color was used sparingly. Sometimes, there would be a mere eight color photos in the issues of the 1970s and early 1980s. By the 1990s and early 2000s, AOPA Pilot was growing ever stronger—both in circulation, editorial content, advertisements and sheer page count. Some issues topped 200 pages. Until the November 2003 issue, the magazine was bound using a method called saddle-stitching. In other words, three staples driven through the spine. But that method wasn’t an elegant solution to binding magazines with routine page counts nearing the 200 mark. Thus the decision was made to transition to perfect binding with the November 2003 issue. This method essentially glues the magazine’s page elements to a squared-off spine. The result is a more finished look, and one that lets us print descriptions of the main articles on the spine. AOPA Pilot’s last redesign came with the April 2001 issue, when creative director Mike Kline went to a cleaner page look and a heavier emphasis on original, commissioned artwork and bigger photo features using senior photographer Mike Fizer’s imagery. The most recent aspect of AOPA’s member communications is embodied in our ever-growing electronic publishing efforts. Current and archived AOPA Pilot issues, including multimedia components, can be found online (www.aopa.org/pilot). And AOPA ePilot and ePilot Flight Training are weekly newsletters e-mailed to members who have registered for this information resource. These come out every Friday and provide late-breaking news, educational items, and links to additional sources of information and services. Regionalized weekend weather forecasts are also included. To subscribe, visit the Web site (www.aopa.org/apps/epilot/). —TAH AOPA PILOT • 85 • MARCH 2008 O ver the years AOPA Pilot has undergone significant design changes, and its publications staff has launched many associated publications. Here’s a brief review of these milestones. In 1962, AOPA began publishing the AOPA Airport Directory. It included information on runways, approaches, FBOs, and much more. The directory was renamed AOPA’s Airports USA in 1975, AOPA’s Aviation USA in 1990, and AOPA’s Airport Directory in 1996. This popular, large-format book, available free to members, was added to AOPA Online as a searchable database, and remained in print every year until 2001 when the edition began to be published biennially. Now, by visiting the Web site (www.aopa.org/members/airports) you can obtain airport information and fuel prices, call up instrument approach and departure charts, examine taxi diagrams and a thumbnail sectional chart of the immediate area, or look at the AOPA Air Safety Foundation accident database for accidents that have occurred at or nearby the selected airport. From 1968 to 1989, AOPA also published AOPA’s Handbook for Pilots. This was a pocket-sized compendium that included essential material from the Aeronautical Information Manual, Federal Aviation Regulations, a listing of weather information resources, and more. In 1990, information from the handbook, plus the aircraft and avionics directories that until that time appeared in AOPA Pilot in the March and June issues, respectively, were included in AOPA’s Aviation USA. When ultralight flying rose in popularity in the early 1980s, AOPA created an Ultralight Division and published a bi-monthly magazine devoted to ultralight aviation: Ultralight Pilot. It was published from 1982 through 1984. By 1984, the ultralight craze had waned, setting the stage for the beginnings of today’s Light Sport Aircraft initiatives. AOPA purchased Flight Training magazine from Specialized Publications of Parkview, Missouri, in December 1998. AOPA renamed the monthly magazine AOPA Flight Training, and is in publication—and extremely popular—to this day. It’s aimed at student pilots and flight instructors, along with those interested in taking up flying. Another special-interest magazine—AOPA Pilot: Turbine Edition—was produced as a one-off magazine in October 2007. A supplement to the “Turbine Pilot” sections in today’s AOPA Pilot, this issue was tailored as a means of further serving the http://www.aopa.org/pilot/digitalissue http://www.aopa.org/members/airports http://www.aopa.org/pilot http://www.aopa.org/apps/epilot/
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