I admit to being an employee of the owner of 'Pilot' and a member of the board of the business which publishes the magazine 'Archant Specialist'. I was also responsible for the deal which brought Pilot to a well funded community media business which has two active pilots on the four strong core management team. I am not, however, responsible on a day to day basis for the magazine (although I do have an involvement in both the web activity and the creation of a photo archive). The Publisher is Bob Crawley and the Editor Dave Calderwood.
Now you know where I am coming from I can offer some thoughts:
I have learnt before that debating through forums such as this is both futile and inappropriate so I won't take issue with any of the comments here. I am saddened and concerned that there is a body of readers who are keen to reject the publication but ultimately in a market where there are three titles a magazine lives and dies by its ability to interest purchasers in buying regularly or subscribing. Pilot contines to be the highest selling GA magazine in the UK (circulation figures are independently auditted) and has an increasing subscription base. Despite the changes in content and contributor base Pilot must be doing something right.
We are all entitled to our views though and I both respect the right of posters here to criticise the magazine and support the freedom of speech a forum such as this creates.
I know that the team involved in the magazine take a great deal of pride in it. Many are very active pilots and some of those who are not yet active pilots have embarked on PPL training. They are all open to suggestions of how to improve.
Nick Bloom can be contacted via the Pilot office and is always willing to listen and discuss issue concerning the magazine.
I know that one of the main areas of concern for the team has been poor photo reproduction in issues going back many years. They have been striving to improve this and will continue to do so. The Spitfire cover recently is a good example of the quality which can be achieved and this issue was one of the best selling for many years.
If subscribers receive a copy late the team would like to know about it - it is normally something outside the direct control of the Pilot team but they are keen to try and improve the service offered by external organisations.
If you have received a copy which has an article printed twice and some content missing this is indeed a printing issue which the team has already been made aware of. As far as we know this is restricted to a small number of copies. We believe that most of them are in the North of England and we have had copies pulled from the shelves to be reprinted. If you have one of the rogue copies I am sure the team would want to arrange for you to get a corrected copy (I have not spoken to them about this but knowing their desire to serve the reader base I would expect them to help - at worst I will send you my copy). Feel free to contact Nick Bloom at the office or contact me direct (
[email protected] - 07802 611647).
We do read the various forums and try to react where helpful criticism can point to changes for the better.
I am sure the contribution from LPL will assist in creating a better magazine in the future!.
Finally some of the posters here have direct experience of the Pilot team and in some cases providing contributions. If you believe you can do better the team is always keen to hear from people with a story they have been dying to write.