Flying - I enjoy it. Long gone are the days when Gordon Baxter wrote poetic and wistful columns and it's become a little bit more corporate now. I miss really good writing in it. I understand why they have to have drool-worthy PC12's or Learjet 60XR's on every cover, but it would be nice to see a little more affordable fare once in awhile. Just re-test/fly older aircraft. They either swing from Super Cubs on the cover as one extreme, or to the other and fly a G650. It's like the middle never gets mentioned. But that's a small gripe.
AOPA Pilot - actually a pretty good magazine. I have no complaints, except it gets a little too caught up in AOPA itself at times. Little more flying and less selling.
EAA Sport Aviatior - pretty good, but obviously geared towards homebuilts more. Can get a bit warbird heavy at times.
Plane & Pilot - always a little thin on material, but I enjoy reading about Brian Cox's various ferry flights all over the world.
Flyer and Pilot - I don't subscribe, but buy them every time I get to the UK, which is pretty often. I used to like Today's Pilot a lot, because it felt like a modern flying magazine. It was also a lot better and cleaner designed. My main gripe with the current ones are just how hideously designed and laid out they are. Real student paper errors frequently occur - images that have been uprezzed and get jagged because they've been snatched on the net somewhere, or placements of ads that are not up to scratch etc - just adds to feel of cheapness.
Generally:
A criticism of most magazines, but it's a personal one, is that they're too warbird heavy at times. Im not very interested in reading the 1200th article about how cool the Spitfire is, to be honest. But a I realise this is me - I'm utterly disinterested in military flying and fighters etc. I'm sure they're fun, but my dream was never to fly an F18.
I also really miss a news/new product spread in the beginning where all the latest proposed designs/rumours of new aircraft etc get shown. A bit like all the car magazines have where they show spy photos, or design studies, or concept cars etc. That'd be cool. Today's Pilot had that and that's why I always liked that magazine.
I'd like to read more trip reports with planning etc, or extreme flying. I'd like to read about long ferry flights, flying in bad weather against all odds, stuff like that. "Across the Andes in a Cri-Cri" or something. Stories that add a sense of adventure and even some danger. Or just odd types. Not just a trip report to Cannes in a club PA28 where half the article waxes lyrically about the food in so and so village restaurant.
Last edited by AdamFrisch; 5th February 2013 at 00:13.