The old Aviation Safety Digests versus Flight Safety Australia Vive La Difference

[Centaurus]

Older Pprune readers will remember the Aviation Safety Digest magazine which was first published in 1951 and which became universally known as the Crash Comic. In 1964 Macarthur Job an air safety investigator took over the job as full time editor until he left DCA in 1978. I recently obtained almost a complete set of Aviation Safety Digests (ASD) and quickly noticed the marked contrast between the general content of the old ASD and the current crash comic Flight Safety Australia.

Each edition of ASD was packed with accident reports from Australian to overseas accidents.
The editorial work was superb and in many issues the editor condensed USA accident reports published by the National Transport Safety Board or NTSB as it is commonly known now, into a thoroughly informative well written narrative.

It is my view and those of close colleagues, that for many years the Flight Safety Australia magazine has been steadily sliding downhill since advertising was allowed and since graphic designers have been allowed full reign to show their undoubted technical skills. A whole new generation of pilots have never heard of or never seen a copies of the Aviation Safety Digests of old, and therefore don’t know what they have missed. Yet the type and cause of aircraft accidents has not changed. But the editorial content has changed beyond all recognition from the superb flight safety publication of the Fifties right through to the early Eighties.

Flight Safety Australia published in 2005 reveals over just two pages, five advertisements covering RMIT recruiting for managers, flying school ads selling training, other ads selling books and theory examinations, an ad for a National Aerospace Board inaugural meeting and another about obtaining ASIC cards. Flick through more pages of this “flight safety” magazine and see a half page ad for the flogging of Operations Manuals by a private company, a half page promotion ad for FSA “What went wrong” readers contributions, ads for dangerous goods courses, and four pages on airworthiness directives featuring such items as AD/CASA/26 Amdt 1-Steering System Hydraulic Installation and Boeing 747 AD/B747/130-aging aircraft Structural Inspection Programme Cancelled.

Hands up those who once eagerly devoured the pages of Aviation Safety Digest as soon as the postman delivered it to their doorstep. If it didn't arrive in time and your friends got theirs, you quickly got on the blower to DCA in Melbourne and complained bitterly your fix had not arrived on time.

Hands up now, those who look at the cover of Flight Safety Australia only when you get time to spare and flick quickly through the pages ignoring the plethora of glossy advertisements that are about as useful as a Target brochure and maybe go straight to the IFR quiz at the end. An occasional article may arise a passing interest. Where are the well written condensed NTSB accident reports that you could sit down and read and almost be in the captain’s seat as the 727 crashed short of the runway on a black night non-precision approach. Well, you certainly don’t see stuff like that anymore in FSA and more’s the pity.

The aviation internet is full of air safety reports if you have the mind to trawl through the NTSB and British AAIB web pages. But most pilots would prefer to read a dedicated flight safety magazine especially if free and interesting and delivered to your door, rather than spend the evening hunched over a computer screen.

It would be interesting to how many Pprune readers think the Flight Safety Australia magazine has lost the plot and needs a whole new approach. The first thing is to get rid of advertisements, self promotion, flashy meaningless graphic design artwork, letters to the editor, quizzes, aviation news that has appeared on the media months before, CASA hotline ads and so on.

When I obtained my set of old Aviation Safety Digests from my local Op shop I could not believe my luck. I would have willingly forked out ten times the amount of money I paid for them. They were gold to me. If someone offered for free the last ten years of Flight Safety Australia magazine I very much doubt I would be tempted to take them. The odd one maybe.

[inandout]

Toatally agree the new age ones have lost that 707 look and feel.

[Lasiorhinus]

The current style of the magazine is very much a propaganda document by CASA, extolling the virtues of CASA at the expense of most everything else...

[compressor stall]

Totally agree - I barely even spend 2 minutes reading the current one when it turns up.

I was a student reading the crash comics on the flying school lunch table and they left a fair impression of what not to. Nowdays they show that if you look pretty, you don't even need to do up your tie.... :rolleyes:

The difference now is the internet - most of the reports are there on atsb.gov.au et al. I do agree that this is not as accessible as the old mags, but it would be a hard $$ justification to fill a mag sent to every pilot repeating this information.

Also - maybe I am cynical but if all the crashes are published in a mag, hey that would not look good for our industry would it? :hmm: Is this another motive?:cool:

[Chimbu chuckles]

I have a large pile of crash comics from the 60s to the 80s and they're a great read still.

I remember looking at a FSA mag that arrived with a intro to the small group (4 or 5) of people who put it together and my first thought was 'They don't look like they have 4000 TT between them'.

Therein lies the problem I think. Have any of them ever spent significant time in the real world of aviation or is their knowledge mostly theoretical?

And by real world I don't mean the circuit/training area/training navs ex YSBK.:ugh:

[Lasiorhinus]

Nowdays they show that if you look pretty, you don't even need to do up your tie.... :rolleyes:

Hey, thats the best cover that magazine has ever printed!

[bilbert]

Yep still got all mine just missing a few early ones. I don't keep the new ones though. Lost interest when I read an article that proported to be a conversation on some issue between an instructor and trainee and soon realised it was all made up. They lost the plot when they were given the OK to get involved in 'pilot education' and now express opinions and pet theories. Wish they would just report facts.

[Tmbstory]

The older ones were a far better standard, change is not always for the better.


Tmb

[clear to land]

The Flight Safety Magazine- your industry dollars at work. When I was working in a more remote part of the Territory back in the early 91, I came across a COMPLETE collection, yes even No. 1 Air Safety Digest. As far as I am concerned they are priceless. From when I first started in '85, I considered them a fantastic source of hard earned lessons. The editorial content and narrative offered much more than reading a sterile ATSB/AAIB report on the net. They brought the story to life- that is what made them the resource that they are. One day I will get around to digitising them, but that will only be to get them reprinted in hard copy. I guess we can chalk the demise of the ASD up to another victory for affordable safety. :hmm:

[triadic]

Yes, I have a complete collection from No1 dated July 1953 and I agree it is priceless. Have to agree with the above posts, especially the eager wait for the ASD to turn up in the mail and the frustration when it was late!

Sadly the demise of the ASD and the creation of FSA is the result of user pays and the failure of the Government and its respective departments to understand the value of providing such a journal. I seem to recall the ASD winning some international awards. Mac Job was an outstanding editor with a passion for the job. Sadly no body like that around now and the ATSB only gets a bit of a "shared" magazine.

Of interest is the following quote from the final edition of ASD #150 in 1991:

The result of the survey we conducted to identify readres' wishes in relation to the continuation of the Digest, indicated inadequate support to warrant its continuation. However the CAA believes there is a need for the promulgation of information from time to time, and intends to provide that information in an enhanced version of the CAA News. I am sure that this publication, together with the BASI Journal, will provide an appropriate source of safety information for the aviation industry.

Signed Ron Cooper GM Safety Regulation & Standards Division

Mind you I think this Canberra speak was another way of saying we really don't want to pay for it any more!!

And of course we all know that the S in CASA should really be an "R". It is more about regulation than safety!

Sad...:sad::sad:

[Teal]

They were a great mag - I used to work with some of the authors from the old DCA days. One former editor still writes for Australian Aviation Magazine (Macarthur Job) AUSTRALIAN AVIATION MAGAZINE - STAFF & CONTRIBUTORS (http://www.ausaviation.com.au/Aboutus/writer.html)

Some article extracts from the late 60s can be found at the links below:

http://www.aeros.com.au/Downloads/Skill%20Adverts%20Disaster%20Safety%20Digest%20Jan68.pdf
http://www.aeros.com.au/Downloads/Interference%20with%20Controls%20Safety%20Digest%20Jan68.pdf
http://www.aeros.com.au/Downloads/Glider%20Pilot%20Fails%20to%20Recover%20From%20Spin%20Safety %20Digest%20Jan68.pdf
http://www.aeros.com.au/Downloads/Compass%20Interference%20Safety%20Digest%20Mar68.pdf
http://www.aeros.com.au/Downloads/Collision%20-%20With%20a%20Signpost%20Safety%20Digest%20Mar69.pdf
http://www.aeros.com.au/Downloads/Collision%20With%20glider%20Cable%20Safety%20Digest%20Mar69. pdf
http://www.aeros.com.au/Downloads/Fatal%20Obstruction%20in%20Controls%20-%20Chipmunk%20-%20Safety%20Digest%20Mar69.pdf

[dogcharlietree]

Once I approached a govt dept (can't remember if it was BASI or CAA) to put these old ASD's on DVD's, so that we could all access this valuable information.
Answer was mainly as to who would be responsible for it. ie no it's not our area..it must be somebody else. Talk about Yes Minister.
Just let me know if you want to transfer ownership of a full set.....to me :ok:

[AnyGivenSunday99]

When I was a kid in the 80's, most kids read Archie or Batman comics - I read Dad's copy of the BASI Journal! I realised I was aerosexual at a young age...

Totally agree. FSA is missing the point. I have to get my fix off the ATSB website now.... but the thing I miss most is the Swamp cartoon strip that used to be on the last page!

Shame we cant lobby the powers that be to adjust their format to reflect what the avaition community is craving - solid information instead of a glossy advertisement. Just my opinion...

AGS99

[Teal]

Once I approached a govt dept....I'm no expert on copyright but I thought that Commonweath Govt copyright on published materials expired after 25 years. If that is correct, then all the old Digests could be scanned and legally made available on the Internet or on DVD.

Any interest?

[pall]

I have only 8 years of aviation experience and have never seen the 'Crash Comics' as discussed. I find the FSA publication dull reading.

I downloaded the .pdf files as above and find them compelling and relevant. Why can't we get access to these old publications on CD or by direct web download? They are truly 1st class reading. :ok:

[Pinky the pilot]

Regrettably I do not have a full collection of the old ASD and wish I did! I remember that the old Gliding Club at which my late Father used to instruct recieved the Digest regularly and I always read them.

Like Compressor Stall I barely spend a few minutes reading the current mag. Generally turn to the IFR quiz and do that.

I'm no expert on copyright but I thought that Commonweath Govt copyright on published materials expired after 25 years. If that is correct, then all the old Digests could be scanned and legally made available on the Internet or on DVD.

Any interest?

I'd be in that!:ok:

[tinpis]

Pprune has surely taken over the role as an online aviation comic? :rolleyes:

[compressor stall]

Right - here's an idea.

We get a list of every issue of the old crash comics and post this in sticky a thread.

We find a free web hosting service (or a server with data to spare).

Those with crash comics put up a post stating the issues that they will scan to pdf. Maybe only a couple at a time - this saves doubling up. When complete they are uploaded to the webhosting service for all to peruse.

Then the first post on the sticky thread is amended to reflect those that are scanned. In time we should get the whole set.

Mods, how bout this for a plan?

[bushy]

You are right again. Prune IS a valuable communication medium. Sure, there is some rubbish on here, but there is also a lot of good stuff. This should be the subject of a whole new discussion, on another thread

I have a lot of safety digests, and yes everything else had to wait when my ASD arrived. Nothing else got done until I had read it.
ASD had FACTS, well researched. Sure, the autumn issues had lots of articles abou icing and bad weather,with the coming winter in mind, and the summer issues concentrated on things like density altitude, aeroplane performance and required strip lengths etc.
One time there had been a spate of helicopter accidents and the ASD carried an article saying that Australia's helicopter fleet would all be crashed in the next few years if something did not change. That certainly got the attention of the helicopter operators.
But it reported FACTS.
I was absolutely disgusted with an article in FSA which told the story of a pilot who flew a fully loaded chieftain into known icing conditions with a malfunctioning engine, climbed to 10,000 feet and shut it down. He then had trouble controlling the aeroplane, and descended below LSA in cloud. I think he and his pax were lucky to survive.
The headline for this article was"THE RIGHT STUFF"
This was blamed on incorrect rigging of the flaps in the "up" position, and the "old" instruments. (ATSB found no fault with the instrument system.)
I think FSA is a propaganda medium, like my TV set.

[kingRB]

Right - here's an idea.

We get a list of every issue of the old crash comics and post this in sticky a thread.

We find a free web hosting service (or a server with data to spare).

Those with crash comics put up a post stating the issues that they will scan to pdf. Maybe only a couple at a time - this saves doubling up. When complete they are uploaded to the webhosting service for all to peruse.

Then the first post on the sticky thread is amended to reflect those that are scanned. In time we should get the whole set.

Mods, how bout this for a plan?


excellent idea!

hosting is not an issue - easy, free immediate hosting these days through such places as rapidshare etc.

I remember back around 1995 doing a gliding course at Adelaide Soaring Club, one night I was bored & stumbled across quite a collection of ASD's in the club bar. Needless to say, I devoured just about every edition I could while I was there. Fantastic reading.

I dream of having the opportunity to one day have an original hardcopy set like some of the lucky buggars posting here have... I'd settle for just being able to get access to the content on digital versions though :ok:

[CaptainMidnight]

the final edition of ASD #150 in 1991Interesting.

A lot of things started to go down the drain in the CAA about then ;)

[Barkly1992]

Captain Midnight

Thank you - for those comments. I agree. It was the focus on 'cost recovery' and the obsession of others to make sure that the industry paid for regulation. A very interseting concept.

I was the Director of the then CAA Safety Promotion Unit when this happened (although on secondment to the AMATS team) and I worked with many editors of the ASD. I had joined BASI Safety Promotion in 1983 and worked with some good people including Harvey Ritchie, Allan Stephens (in BASI) and then later Dave Robson, Al Bridges and Roger Marchant (in the CAA). However, Mac Job was always the benchmark.

I couldn't believe it when the CAA (based on the fact that safety promotion did not earn income) decided to abolish the Unit and the ASD.

I took a package in January 1992 - yet some nine months later they suddenly decided that they had made a mistake and reintroduced the Safety Promotion function and introduced the FSM which was a totally different concept.

I had all of my ASDs from 1974-1991 bound in hardcover - three volumes. Roger Marchant has written in my last (no. 150) To xxx who got me into all this 11/11/91 - the date of the implementation of the first phase of AMAATS.

I wrote to the CEO of the CAA (the NZlander) and suggested that he might have owed me and my staff an apology given he had abolished the unit - caused havoc to people's lives as they left employment etc and sought new careers only to see the unit reestablished.

I think he replied but it was not memorable.

:ugh:

[Centaurus]

Back in 1969 I was seconded to the RAAF Directorate of Flying Safety and almost immediately thrown into the deep end with absolutely no training and told to get my backside to East Sale where a Macchi had gone in and both pilots dead. I was told to arrange my own transport but get there quick and have an interim report out within 72 hours days in case any political issues came up in Parliament. My boss was Wing Commander Jack Kinnimont DSO DFC and Bar who flew obsolete Brewster Buffalo's against the Japs. A delightful chap.

A Dakota got me to East Sale and I was led like the sacrificial lamb to the wreckage of the Macchi by the Commanding Officer CFS Jimmy Wilson. He was glad to have a DFS "expert" on the scene. Little did he know I didn't have a bloody clue where to start. DFS produced it's own equivalent of Aviation Safety Digest in those days and that was also one of my jobs. It was called "Spotlight" and the content was mainly text with appropriate photographs and was distributed to all RAAF Units. We also did "Crash Critiques" and I did one on the Macchi accident. The RAF produced a much superior product which it called "Air Clues"- but we did the best we could considering we were amateur journalists as well as pilots.

"Spotlight" magazine is still the now Department of Defence primary aviation flight safety magazine. But like the present Flight Safety Australia magazine it has become the domain of graphic designers with double page pictures with colour ridden slogans. One article I have in front of me from Spotlight is called "When the bubble bursts" and the colours are quite blinding in the apparent form of the sun bursting and a Hornet just escaping the holocaust and next page a series of bullet points headed "What factors reduce margins between the bubbles?"

The magazine cover is a klaidascope of colour with a dramatic depiction of a pilot wearing his crash hemet and a seemingly bionic eye with the huge headline "Humans in the Machine." Page 25 is a full page copy of of a Defence Poster 2007/14 with a odd looking character holding his or her head and looking totally stuffed with the title "Are you getting enough?" and further down it says in large print "Quality sleep is essential in maintaining physical and mental wellbeing." It states the bleeding obvious...

Across the page is a depiction of a chap in a yellow shirt, black trousers, red and black striped tie and a airline type eye cover (the idea is he looks tired but seems to me he is enjoying a rest in Business Class) because he is sprawled in an arm chair and at the bottom of the page it says the article is courtesy of the Flight Safety Foundation Aero Safety World.

Of course there is a centre-fold with a weird scene set up like a computer game and its called "Pilot Skills Tester - High Intensity Game -fun for player with good skill level and at the bottom of the childish graphic design artwork it says "Prioritise the pilot skill inputs on the left, right and above, when faced with flying challengers and avert "dropping an egg" - dropped eggs lose points. The winner keeps flying with all their eggs in their basket."

Huh??

At least Flight safety Australia is not THAT bad..

It is surely time for the producers of these magazines to go back to basic good journalism and offer quality flight safety information which includes real accident reports where pilots can learn from others' bitter experience. Captain Marvel type glossy pictures and silly slogans do nothing for the cause of flight safety.
Directorate of Defence Aviation and Air Force Safety please take note.
All this wasted space which could have been filled with a thoughtfully written accident reports. Seems Flight Safety Australia and Spotlight have both gone the same road of mediocracy.

[Teal]

A lot of things started to go down the drain in the CAA about then (1991)Actually from a personnel viewpoint, I would suggest some rot began to set in years before that in the 1980s when all of the DCA/DOT/CAA Central Office functions were progressively relocated from Melbourne/Tulla/Essendon to Canberra. Canberra was such an unpopular destination that the Department/Authority lost hundreds of highly skilled and experienced personnel in all areas - ATC, Airworthiness, Airways Engineering, R & D, etc. Whilst a lot of good people did re-locate, a lot more actually resigned, transferred to non-aviation jobs, or took retrenchment/early retirement packages.

Apologies for being off thread.

The Airways Museum at Essendon Airport may have a full set of the ASD. I'll try to find out if they have any plans for digitizing them.

[Capt Wally]

I don't know guys the FSD is pretty handy for me, I reckon I get about 2-3 mins out of it, pure enjoyment, it gives me a nice warm fuzzy feeling, as I watch it burn in my wood heater !:E

The Melbourne Trading Post suffered the same fate in a funny sort of way. Once upon a time those that used to read it cover to cover ( I know I used to every fortnight) would have realised that there where no adverts at all, purely for selling S/H, very little commecialization but now that publication too is crap !

PPRUNE is the best, lies, funny stories, sad stories,facts, BS, slinging off at each other, better than watching the idiots at a Parliment sitting !:E



CW

[bushy]

Also the early safety digests were only distributed to those involved in the industry, so they did not have to worry about frightening the pax .Tthe articles weere factual (or as near as you will get)

Now we get stories about how the heroic regulators, thier delegates and service providers are bravely saving the australian public.

[Centaurus]

My plan is to drop a line to the Editor of Flight Safety Australia asking her to have a long hard look at the content of her magazine. The comments from Pprune contributors to this thread will be included in the letter (letter - not email) as well as a few well chosen copies from my personal collection of Aviation Safety Digests for her to read.

The improvements I would like to see include a marked reduction in CASA/ATSB promotions, ideally no commercial advertising, deleting of Service Difficulty Reports (Airworthiness Pull-Out Section), scrubbing of aviation medicine section (it's all on the internet anyway) and a return to the general format and content of the former Air Safety Digests with their accent on well written and interesting accident and incident reports. In other words, cut the flashy graphics and brilliant coloured pages with fancy slogans.

If Pprune readers could add a few of their suggestions to make FSA more readable, it would give the editorial staff of FSA something to get their teeth into. I am not holding my breath on this project, but nothing ventured, nothing gained..

[Stationair8]

The present junk-mail thing that appears in the letter box is a disgrace.

The good old Safety Digest is still the best , plenty off good reading and well written articles. At least they had the balls to go and cover accidents in depth and give a true account of what went wrong. The old Safety Digest started to go downhill in the mid 1980's. Anyone remember the cocked up story on Twin Comanche undercarriage systems that was an article in one the late 1980's issues and was totally incorrect and they tried to cover it up!


Barkly1992 the Guru from Dick's AMATS team

[Barkly1992]

Stationair - No.

You must have been 20 at the time.

Tell me about the story - I will look up the article and will make an informed comment on who tried to cover anything up. I was the manager at the time and will recall the details.

Certainly from time to time editorial mistakes were made - but haven't we all made those?

Barkly

[puff]

Probably 5 years ago I was part of a 'focus' group that CASA wanted about Flight Safety Mag at one of those CASA pilot forums they put on.

The complete agreement of the focus group was to make it like the old crash comics, which towards the end as you know ended up being basically a BASI publication.

CASA basically said at the time it was BASI that withdrew from the publication and that they then started the flight safety mag in it's place, but it wasn't their place to do a 'crash' comic really because that was the ATSBs role not CASAs.

Just after they stopped the old BASI publication I called their office and asked for any back copies they had available, and they mailed out free of charge probably 40 of them back from years ago - I guess as others have noted times have changed and if you want to find it, all the data and more is on the ATSB website, but the problem is a lot of people just can't find it, or won't read it unless it's right infront of them.

I found some of the info in those old BASI mags fantastic - as the saying goes - 'learn from the mistakes of others because you won't live long enough to make them all yourself'.

As for the advertising, yup it's a pain but remember your dealing with cost recovery CASA, quite simply these days without the advertising the mag simply wouldn't exist because they wouldn't be able to justify the cost of it.

Also CASA was always keen to point out that the magazine is not just for pilots, it's also for engineers and flighties as well, whereas the BASI mag was basically just for pilots.

[Barkly1992]

Puff

I am sorry you are wrong.

The ASD was transferred from BASI to the Flight Standards Division of the then Dept of Transport/Aviation in 1986. If you look at the nature of the magazine - it changed somewhat but not significantly from how it was written by the BASI editors. The one thing that we did do was to pick themes for each quartely issue based upon areas of need identified by an analysis of the accident and information data provided by BASI.

It was abandoned by the Civil Aviation Authority in 1991 - not BASI.

Wrong also about the target of the ASD - look at the issues during 1980s and 1990s - there is a wider focus and includes LAMEs and flight attendants. I suspect the problem is that no one from CASA went to the library and read them.

Barkly

EDITED TO ADD:

What you may be talking about is that I think BASI started a new Flight Safety Magazine after the ASD was abandoned and they then ceased to produce this when they were absorbed into the ATSB prompting CASA to take over the FSM.

Now that sounds right - I think!

:\

[puff]

I was about to fall on my sword on the basis of your obviously far greater knowledge of the subject, but yes I was probably a little unclear in my discription of the BASI publication because they are all boxed away in the garage, can't remember it's actual 'title'

The prior publication was a little before my time but I certainly had been given some hand me down copies so i was aware of it. IMHO the BASI publication was fantastic.

[john_tullamarine]

Mods, how bout this for a plan?

great idea. Centaurus and I have discussed a scanning exercise on and off .. between what he and I have in archives we should have a good sample of the crash comics. Can't see any reason why we couldn't put a scanned set linked in, say, the tech log sticky so that everyone can have access. Probably need to get the nod from CASA re copyright.

C and I are overdue a coffee so this will be an agenda item ...

[telephonenumber]

Totally agree Centaurus. I started getting the Crash Comic in 1970 and what a brilliant publication it was. It simply reported known facts, no points to be made, only deduced by the reader. No ads, no propoganda, just well written information. I now flick and chuck the current mag. As someone wrote earlier, change is not always good.

[ZEEBEE]

I have EVERY copy of the ASD and treasure them immensly.
Many great lessons there, and is a bible of sorts to those of us who sometimes heeded the message and are still around.

A large part of it was no doubt due to the work of Mac Job, but a large part was the way the piloting fraternity was viewed by both those within and those outside the industry. At that time we could land at any airfield, get fuel and not pay landing fees or massive callout charges.

However, time moves on and I suspect that most of us who swoon over the ASD are from the eras past also.

It is now different. A different set of people read the rag but the message is still pertinent, though it needs to be framed differently to appeal to a different group.

I think we do the people who try hard to put forth entertaining educational material a disservice by belittling their efforts by us trying to resurrect an age that's unfortunately long gone. :{

Better to try to be constructive and suggest ways in which it CAN be made better.

Sad, but get over it.

[Stationair8]

The good old Flight service Units always had numerous spare copies sent to them to pass on .

[CoodaShooda]

ZeeBee

That's a fair comment, if you can define the target group for FSA.

I learned a heck of a lot about flying by reading a neighbour's Crash Comics in the 60's/early 70's. Stood me in very good stead when I finally got my student's license and beyond.

I find little of practical use in FSA, which you could put down to it offering little that is new to an old timer, I guess.

But number 2 son, age 16 and aiming for a career in aviation, also finds it tedious and of little interest.

So who the heck is it aimed at?

[Teal]

Good post Zeebee but I reckon a lot of aviators or would-be aviators - young and old - would still find interest and education in the ASD if it was available online.

Probably need to get the nod from CASA re copyright.JT, if copyright still exists, then it would reside with the Commonwealth of Australia through the Commonwealth Copyright Administration (CCA) body, rather than CASA per se. (CASA might just give you the runaround). My non-expert interpretation is that the copyright may have expired after 25 years from publication but I could be wrong. The Copyright Act also has general exemptions for 'fair dealing' etc which pprune might be able to utilise.

[bushy]

I remember one of the air safety magazines described how a C150 flew from Moorabbin to Essendon, and the pilot phoned to say he had a flat battery. The instructor tried to describe how to hand start the engine, and then thought better and said "stay there, we will come over to you."

So they took off for Essendon in a twin commanche and soon found all sorts of electrical things not working properly. They had to manually lower the gear, and discovered they had a flat battery when they landed.

The article went on to say that the cause of the flat battery was that the pilot had taken off with the magnetos switched off and that pilots must pay more attention to the checklists so they could be sure the magnetos were switched on and the battery was charged.

I had a big chuckle about that, and also wondered how sick that battery must have been to not have enough power to get from Moorabbin to Essendon.

The credibility of the magazine was destroyed, and that was the last edition. it was not just a typo. The whole article was rediculous.

I can't remember which magazine it was. I think it was the BASI one.

[Stationair8]

Good one Bushy that was the article I was referring to!

Much arse covering by varoius people, and excuses included that it was written that way to see if people trick to see actually knew their aircraft sytstems.

[sprocket check]

The last FSA has an article about the Kyeema crash. No author mentioned, but it does mention Mac Job in the footnote. Also noticed Mac Job authored one in the previous issue on Airservicess.

I have never seen the original crash comic, so have no point of reference, but there is usually something worth reading in the FSA mag.

Maybe not a lot, but it's not all bad. Too much propaganda for my liking.

[Centaurus]

I have never seen the original crash comic, so have no point of reference

My guess is that at least 85 percent of current FSA readers have never seen the original crash comics that was Air Safety Digest. This may explain the relatively few respondents to this thread all of whom have a shared nostalgia for the magazine.

I venture to say the readability of most of the Air Safety Digests was due to Mac Job's (as the then editor) uncanny ability to carefully read the incident and accident reports as they came to his desk. He then selected those that he thought would interest his readers from the PPL to the airline pilot. He then used his journalistic skill to edit the original piece and produce the final product that made the magazine eminently readable. In this he was ably assisted by Dick Mclean who was Assistant Editor. It is this skill that is absent in FSA.

Mac Jobs writings were carried on in his Air Crash and the Air Disaster series of books where (in my view anyway) the artwork by Matthew Tesch was superb - one picture is worth a thousand words, comes to mind.

OK, so commercial advertising is needed to pay for the current Flight Safety Australia magazine. But surely not on every page. And I don't believe that technically superb graphic designers are needed to attract young pilots or engineers to FSA. Nor two pages of quizzes. If pilots had to pay for FSA, the readership would very few.

In 1972 Air Safety Digest gained international recognition for the effectiveness of its presentation and content when the United States Flight Safety Foundation named the Digest it's "Publication of the Year."

Despite incredible advances in graphic design, a myriad brightly coloured pages both in advertising and perceived "good gen" in impossible to photocopy print style, does not necessarily attract a discerning aviation safety minded audience. From reading the posts on this thread the editor of FSA must surely be saddened at the lack of enthusiasm for her magazine. All the more reason to re-visit the past success story that was Aviation Safety Digest and learn from it.

[Barkly1992]

Bushy - no it wasn't - it was one of OURS.

I thought that might have been the ONLY one that could be mentioned. But sadly not.

I know exactly what happened and have the copies in front of me.

It was ASD 141 (1989) Al Bridges Editor. "Pilot induced electrical failure in controlled airspace" by Colin Field (page 4).

The analysis was in fact wrong and was picked up after the ASD went to distribution by one of our electrical engineers in Airworthiness. I failed because I hadn't asked for the artricle to be checked by Airworthiness after it was written and accepted the explanation.

There was no cover up.

As soon as we were advised of the error we made a prominant correction Go to page x1 in the next issue - the Yellow Pages - MEA CULPA, MEA CULPA - we had made two mistakes in the one issue. Unforgiveable - but certainly not a cover up. Just not enough attention to detail and I suffered.

I should also point out that I changed the focus of the ASD from how it was handled by BASI. I introduced pilot contributions to issues and encouraged them; introduced letters to the editor and open debate as well as convincing Nikkon to sponsor our photographic competition.

But that was 20 years ago - and I couldn't be bothered with debating conspiracy theories.

Cheers

:p

[Philthy]

There's a history of the old Digest and some sample articles at Airways Museum / Civil Aviation Historical Society (http://www.airwaysmuseum.com) :)

[Lodown]

I'm in agreement with ZeeBee...time moves on. It's very difficult to justify any magazine nowadays that isn't at least a half centimetre thick, half filled with ads, with very few articles exceeding 800 words and lots of glossy, professional photograghs and illustrations.

Liability, legal threats and lawsuits have also done a nice job of killing editorial discussions on sensitive topics. As the newspapers have discovered, it's far more juicy and profitable to speculate immediately than wait to print the facts. By the time the facts emerge, public interest has moved on to the next contrived crisis.

One editorial aspect that I particularly enjoyed with the ASD was the restraint in assigning blame. The facts as determined were described in detail and in most cases, I felt the reader was encouraged to determine the contributory causes; almost like solving a good mystery. This editorial process encouraged what many modern magazine editors strive for: legs. The articles went beyond the pages of the magazine and were discussed at home, at work, over the bar for weeks and sometimes months (or years on Pprune) after publication. There were very few articles that had me saying, "What the hell were you thinking?!!" Instead, the selected accidents and incidents were ones in which I could say, "There but for the grace of God go I." They encouraged reader involvement and discussion.

Modern blogging, RSS feeds and Twitter haven't diminished the need for this information. Instead, they've forced a requirement for the information to become available sooner. By the time CASA gets around to printing a magazine, the items for discussion are old, old news. The facts (whether right or wrong) have been all over the Internet for ages and discussed, chewed over and outcomes determined far in advance of anything the CASA can do. A magazine is not the appropriate vehicle for this type of information in the 21st century.

The Internet has made it extremely difficult or impossible to control the direction of discussion, but it is something that I would encourage the CASA to embrace. The organisation might not be able to dictate the discussion, but it can control the release of the facts. Of course, that implies a professional approach and someone who knows what they are doing and given some room to innovate (currently 10-15 years behind everyone else) in an organization where the managers have heard of the Internet, but it's still regarded as something of a necessary evil that emanates from the dungeons to be cautiously monitored and controlled.

The CASA can't get the regs out of the 1980's. It's no wonder its information delivery systems are stuck in the same timeframe. The early ASD's were edited by an air safety investigator. If the CASA still had them, there would be no way they'd put an aviation experienced professional in charge of a magazine. Waste of resources, when a PR trained person can do the same thing, right?

[Centaurus]

There's a history of the old Digest and some sample articles at Airways Museum / Civil Aviation Historical Society

That museum is absolutely superb and a credit to the hard working volunteers that have devoted their time. It's wonderful aviation library must surely surpass anything like it in Australia. It is just a pity that the museum is so well hidden from the street and only open on Tuesdays for a few hours or by prior arrangement. Fingers crossed that it keeps going in the long term even if the airport closes eventually due Victorian politics.

[scrufflefish]

Centaurus, couldn't agree more about the FSD and particularly Mac Job's efforts. I have the Air Disaster series and dig them out every few years and re-read them...always fascinating.

[djpil]

FSA has an article about the Kyeema crash. No author mentioned, but it does mention Mac Job in the footnoteMac was the author.

[Bob Murphie]

Issue 102/ 1978.

The Ambulance in the Valley



‘Twas a dangerous cliff, as they freely confessed,

Though to walk near its crest was so pleasant;

But over its terrible edge there had slipped

A duke, and full many a peasant.

The people said something would have to be done,

But their projects did not at all tally.

Some said ‘Put a fence ‘round the edge of the cliff,’

Some, ‘An ambulance down in the valley.’



The lament of the crowd was profound and was loud,

As their tears overflowed with their pity;

But the cry for the ambulance carried the day

As it spread through the neighbouring city.

A collection was made, to accumulate aid

And the dwellers in highway and alley

Gave dollars or cents – not to furnish a fence –

But an ambulance down in the valley.



‘For the cliff is all right if you’re careful,’ they said;

‘And if folks ever slip and are dropping,

It isn’t the slipping that hurts them so much

As the shock down below – when they’re stopping.’

So for years (we have heard), as these mishaps occurred

Quick forth would the rescuers sally,

To pick up the victims who fell from the cliff,

With the ambulance down in the valley.



Said one, to his pleas, ‘It’s marvel to me

That you’d give so much greater attention

To repairing results than to curing the cause;

You had much better aim at prevention.

For the mischief, of course, should be stopped at its source;

Come, neighbours and friends, let us rally.

It is far better sense to rely on a fence

Than an ambulance down in the valley.’



‘He is wrong in his head,’ the majority said;

‘He would end all our earnest endeavour.

He’s a man who would shirk this responsible work,

But we will support it forever.

Aren’t we picking up all, just as fast as they fall,

And giving them care liberally?

A superfluous fence is of no consequence,

If the ambulance works in the valley.’



The story looks queer as we’ve written it here,

But things oft occur that are stranger

More humane, we assert, than to succour the hurt

Is the plan of removing the danger.

The best possible course is to safeguard the source

By attending to things rationally.

Yes, build up the fence and let us dispense

With the ambulance down in the valley.

[RENURPP]

Some one earlier on said they would consider scanning the ASD and making them available. I am prepared to put time into that endevour and have the following ASD's.

let me know if you would like me to copy any of them to provide a complete set.

14, 87, 91, 95, 97, 98, 100, 102, 105, 106, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143, 144, 145, 146, 148, 149, 150, and a couple of extras, The human Factor, Special Issue - Visual flight

[john_tullamarine]

Take you up on that.

If you like to scan as doc colour/300 dpi. Either scan to pdf or jpg and we can process the pages into pdf sets. Best to scan at the higher res and then we can look at the quality when resampled lower.

We can worry about what distribution approach to take later on. Centaurus (I hope he doesn't mind my dobbing him in .. but, after all, he started the thread) and I would be quite happy to attend to the hack work.

Will be interesting to see if we can host the sets via the tech log sticky as that would allow the widest convenient coverage.

Between a few of us we should be able to get the whole series on electronic file.

regards, John

[Critical Reynolds No]

There's a history of the old Digest and some sample articles at Airways Museum / Civil Aviation Historical Society

They also dig out some old films on certain Friday nights. Really worth it.

[bushy]

I also have a pile of ASD's, so lets know if you have any missing.

Around about the time of the "takeoff with magnetos switched off" article there had been a flood of ex army people into the industry and the regulator, and most of them would have long forgotten what a magneto was.

[john_tullamarine]

I've sent PMs to those who have posted that they have copies in archive. Plan is to see if we can, if fact, put together a full scanned set. Anyone else who wants to participate and didn't get a PM .. do send me a PM to indicate your interest. If we can get a reasonable number, the workload on each should be fairly small. Aim would be to scan colour at 300 dpi either to .pdf or .jpg for the masters. I'm quite happy to do the collation exercise to .pdf.

Presuming the copyright thing is able to be addressed we can look at a host site to make the files available generally.

If copyright is a problem .. well ... I'm sure that where there's a will, there's a(nother) way to get around the problem.....

Reading a post by bushy brought back a grin and a memory ..

Also the early safety digests were only distributed to those involved in the industry, so they did not have to worry about frightening the pax

One of my folk (now moved on to bigger and better things) commuted from interstate to the workhouse on a FIFO style basis. On one trip back home he was seated next to a not-too-bright-bimbo who happened to observe his reading a crash comic of some sort. I can't recall what it was now but he was reading an aviation masters at one of the the usual Oz universities and it was part of the prescribed reading list.

Anyway .. you guessed it ... post arrival she rushed off to the nearest phone to ring the Feds and report the "terrorist" ... the chap did have an appropriate appearance ... albeit from a continent with little connection to that which she, no doubt, feared.

A few weeks later, after they had spent an appropriate period of time investigating this report, I fielded a phone call from a quite pleasant AFP chap in Canberra .. we sorted out his concern in short order.

What really amazed me was his advice that I should get my folk not to read such documents in flight to avoid giving too much concern to adjacently-seated-not-so-bright-bimbo fellow pax ... reading between the lines, I guessed that he meant something along the lines of "we have better things to do than waste our time investigating aviation folk who read aviation rags in flight .."

[Bob Murphie]

I have a pile that I am browsing through because of this thread.

Put me down as a contributor if needed.

Bob M.

[Philthy]

There are several complete sets of ASDs in the CAHS/Airways Museum collection, plus a scanner on site if someone's interested in putting in the hours to scan them all.

PM me if you dare! :E

[megle2]

Agreed, FSD are basically rubbish compared to the ASD's.
Have them all stored away as treasure.
Not sure how far back they go.
I'll dig them out.

[RENURPP]

As I will be away from home all except two more days this month, I will get started on scanning.

To ensure we don't double up, I will scan from 140-150 for starters. :8

[CaptainMidnight]

There are several complete sets of ASDs in the CAHS/Airways Museum collection, plus a scanner on site if someone's interested in putting in the hours to scan them all.Scan 'em as .pdf files, include an electronic table of contents for each issue with a search feature, and sell 'em on DVD & make a $ for the museum?

Easier said than done, though ........

[Teal]

.....if someone's interested in putting in the hours to scan them allPhil - suggest that the copyright status be established first. You wouldn't want to upset the relationship b/w the Museum and Airservices Australia..:ok:

[john_tullamarine]

I have had a good response from the first set of enquiries and will PM any others who indicate interest. (Unable to PM or email megle 2 - if you would like to be involved, please do PM me with the copies you have on hand).

Suggest that no-one rushes into any scanning until we see who we have and what issues they have so that the workload can be spread in a controlled manner. Also we will need to get some standardisation on scanning parameters so that the image quality is more or less uniform.

I will chase up the copyright matter over the next week or two and then we can see where we might be able to go with the exercise.

regards,

John

[OZBUSDRIVER]

Further to RENURUPP, I can also add 52,56,58-59, 69-83, 85-87,92-101, 104-107, 109-111, 115-126, 128-134, 138 and 147 plus visual flight and human factor.

A worthy contribution to the pursuit of AIRMANSHIP!

[Critical Reynolds No]

Would making them available on a CD (or DVD) with an appropriate donation to CAHS be a good idea?

[Barkly1992]

While copyright is one hurdle - has anyone done the sums to see how many megabyte 1 issue will consume when scanned at 300dpi.

I suspect each issue is going to be huge and each page would be a single jpg file.

[CaptainMidnight]

There may be software available to help do the whole process i.e. integrating the scans, you type up the table of contents per issue and it saves it as a .pdf

Adobe .pdf files are the way to go as they are the standard for this sort of thing.

I did a similar exercise a couple of years ago to archive many mags to cut down space here i.e. turned each mag into a .pdf file but did not bother with a ToC because each January issue had a yearly index and they were for my own use anyway.

I scanned text-only pages @ 150dpi black & white, and images as (I think) 200dpi greyscale. Colour images I think I did 300dpi. Each mag (which was about the same size as the Digest except less pix) ended up about 2mb.

Anything you can do to cut down the file size helps i.e no point scanning a page greyscale if it is text-only. You will also get into making decisions whether something on a page eg. an ad with a pix warrants greyscale, or making the hard call that the priority is the text and go b&w.

It isn't an easy exercise by any means :)

[Barkly1992]

Thanks Captain Midnight

That's what I thought - and if the copyright issue can be resolved, clear instructions need to be given to volunteer scanners.

Also - who is going to host this 'wealth' of data. You are talking about 150 magazines - of which I have about 75.

I haven't seen pprune agreeing!

BTW - the Commonwealth owns the copyright and I am sure will be prepared to SELL it. But not give it away.


Now that was a bit of a rush.

:ugh:

[Stationair8]

Still reckon one of the best articles in the old Safety Digest was the one about guy in the C310 going out of Tyabb to go to Canberra. He got caught with ice and then got below the LSALT going into Canberra at night time.

[megle2]

JT

I won't be able to sort through my copies till my return.
Thats next Monday night.

They are stored in a safe place so I will probably find a few other treasures I haven't been able to find!

[gassed budgie]

Whilst we're talking about the old ASD, I've been trying to get a copy of the report on VH-DBB which was the Mustang that crashed at Bendigo on the 15/2/71 (I think). I remember reading it in a dentists waiting room, probably around 1972, but haven't come across it since. Hoping that someone here might have it and PM me a scan of it. Thanks.

[Lookleft]

Funny how the same story can reappear with a slight difference. I remember that icing story into Canberra being a Navajo flown by a well known Canberra charter pilot. I think part of the story was in the BoM Aviation Met manual. I learnt a lot from the old ASD but the current magazine is in the same league as getting the Royal Auto or Open Road in your letter box.

[john_tullamarine]

Had a play with two sample copies, one of which needed a bit of post processing to remove marks, etc.

Initial observations are

(a) a good quality (for purpose) scan results in around 340kb/page. The set would take around three CDs or a DVD.

(b) an acceptable resample pushes this down to around 80kb/page. This quality is more than usable for a screen read and prints out to hard copy with more than acceptable quality. File sizes around 2-4 Mb would suit ftp downloads.

(c) process is reasonably labour intensive and, allowing for a fast machine A3 colour scan, some tidy up post processing, and pdf collation at both output qualities, is going to take around 1-2 manhours per issue, depending on the time taken for graphic tidy-up. Looking at the very much slower domestic A4 scanners one could double, or triple, this time estimate quite easily.

(d) A3 output appears to be the way to go to accommodate those double page graphic spreads which appear throughout the crash comics from time to time ...

I have asked a colleague to engage CASA re the copyright consideration and will advise what outcome may ensue.

Comments and thoughts ?

[QSK?]

I'm looking for an article that appeared in the old ASD sometime about the early 1970s. The article was named:

"Inspector Day and the Demented Angel" or something like that. Can anyone help? If so PM me.

Thanks in advance.

[Checkboard]

As I recall there was a general release in the magazine that allowed you to copy and distribute it freely, in the interest of flight safety - provided you aknowledged the original source.

[tipsy2]

gassed budgie

Lookie here

197002554 (http://www.atsb.gov.au/publications/investigation_reports/1970/AAIR/aair197002554.aspx)

tipsy:ok:

[AUSTERJ5R]

I was wondering if you have any record of the accident to VH-BPC Auster J5B Autocar at Greenvale Queensland on 29 May 1959 in your collection of Australian Air Safety Digests. It was operated by Bush Pilot Airways and the pilot Len Holland and two swiss tourists perished.
I need it to complete an article for a vintage aeroplane club magagzine as a safety issue still exists with the aircraft type and not many current opertors are aware of the problem.

Regards,

AUSTERJ5R