Is there a market for old Pilot magazines?

[hugh flung_dung]

I've got a vast pile of many hundreds of these going back to 1975, is there a market (if so, where?) or are they just good for recycling?

HFD

[gyrotyro]

Ditto !

I have an almost complete set of Pilot and Flyer mags going back to the same time for Pilot and since the start of Flyer.

[Talkdownman]

Ditto....'Pilot' (seventies and eighties) and PBO. As common as muck. Since they are probably exceeding the design limitations of my loft I plan to consign them to the bin, Over...

[stiknruda]

Last w/e - I had a wee tidy out!

Several hundred of mags, Sport Aviation, Flying, Private Pilot, Pilot and the PFA/LAA mag all consigned to the incinerator!

I offered them to my mate the GP for his surgery but he preferred The Field, Country Living and The Lady!!


I had my money's worth - can't imagine there being a huge market.

Stik

[Jucky]

HFD,

Check your PM's.

[cambioso]

Ditto....'Pilot' (seventies and eighties) and PBO. As common as muck. Since they are probably exceeding the design limitations of my loft I plan to consign them to the bin, Over...

No Malcie they're talking about old pilot MAGAZINES, not old PILOTS..........
Get out of that skip Old Boy............There's years of life (and landings?!) in you yet!!!!
Love,
Jezza

[QDMQDMQDM]

I got rid of mine into the recycling, ripped out the few articles I wanted to keep. There are only very few classics, actually. Chuck 'em.

[IanPZ]

If any of you with spare mags are in the north London area (or north of London) and want someone to "help" with the recycling, I'd be happy to. Send me a PM.

[Windy Militant]

Try offering them to your local Air scouts or Space cadets! ;)

[Cusco]

I used to take mine soon after I'd read them into the waiting rooms of my dentist , GP and expectant dads' room ot the local maternity hospital, to dilute out the almost exclusively wimmins' content of most waiting room mags.

Then came swine flu and a request to stop bringing them in because of the risk of infection.

My advice is to recycle 'em.

Cusco

[irish seaplane]

I'd be very keen to get a collection of old pilot magazines to predate my 1993 collection. I have found, and written to "Pilot" on more than one occasion mourning the death of intelligently composed aviation writing. One only has to compare an old review of an A/C written in 80's/90's to the present day piece to see the scale of what is being left out. When I challenged the editor Nick Bloom on the piece on the J3 Seaplane of 2009, he told me that they had to "dumb down" the magazine as it was losing readership when he took over. The new generation of pilots, which should have included me, seemingly couldn't stick the content. Notably I won the letter of the month but I'm still awaiting the famous £100 Transair Voucher, and the offer of Colin Goodwin's attendance to write an article which would set the record straight on the J3 Seaplane.

Last months piece on the Cessna 180 would have been better composed by my little sister who has would probably have a clearer grasp from her single flight in my 180. It seems to be lost to the Pilot flight test team that an aircraft should be evaluated in flight conditions similar to one would expect that A/C to be used in. Going for a bimble from one big grass strip to another yields little of the star qualities of the C180. One would expect a Mooney to be blast off to France on an IFR trip to get a feel for how it fits, similarly a Cessna Skywagon to be dropped off a 300m hillside strip loaded and flown through its paces then back into same or rougher in various wind load/conditions. If the unique abilities and mission profiles are not assessed and mods/drawbacks/maintenance issues illustrated then the article just misses the point. If you read car magazines they manage to frame things much better.

So stick them mags on Ebay, I'll bid. Perhaps "Pilot" could do me a reverse subscription starting with the year I was born, but if their current form is anything to go by I'll grow old waiting.

Over

[IO540]

You could donate 30 year old mags to the local flying school.

They would go perfectly with the fleet parked outside, and would not induce the punters into thinking the grass is greener on the other side of the fence :)

[Laundryman]

Put them on E-bay and find out

[spittingimage]

I did put mine on eBay - about 30 years worth, of which most were bound in the nice blue Pilot binders - and got .... £10 , IIRC ! They were collected by a fellow pilot and they nigh filled his car boot.

Not quite the goldmine I thought they were.

[cavortingcheetah]

Might the same then be said for thirty five years of Flight International?
Any suggestions as to what to do with the same number of National Geographics which schools used to love long ago.

[Phil Space]

Irish Seaplane wrote
Old Pilot Magazines
I'd be very keen to get a collection of old pilot magazines to predate my 1993 collection. I have found, and written to "Pilot" on more than one occasion mourning the death of intelligently composed aviation writing. One only has to compare an old review of an A/C written in 80's/90's to the present day piece to see the scale of what is being left out. When I challenged the editor Nick Bloom on the piece on the J3 Seaplane of 2009, he told me that they had to "dumb down" the magazine as it was losing readership when he took over. The new generation of pilots, which should have included me, seemingly couldn't stick the content. Notably I won the letter of the month but I'm still awaiting the famous £100 Transair Voucher, and the offer of Colin Goodwin's attendance to write an article which would set the record straight on the J3 Seaplane.

Last months piece on the Cessna 180 would have been better composed by my little sister who has would probably have a clearer grasp from her single flight in my 180. It seems to be lost to the Pilot flight test team that an aircraft should be evaluated in flight conditions similar to one would expect that A/C to be used in. Going for a bimble from one big grass strip to another yields little of the star qualities of the C180. One would expect a Mooney to be blast off to France on an IFR trip to get a feel for how it fits, similarly a Cessna Skywagon to be dropped off a 300m hillside strip loaded and flown through its paces then back into same or rougher in various wind load/conditions. If the unique abilities and mission profiles are not assessed and mods/drawbacks/maintenance issues illustrated then the article just misses the point. If you read car magazines they manage to frame things much better.

So stick them mags on Ebay, I'll bid. Perhaps "Pilot" could do me a reverse subscription starting with the year I was born, but if their current form is anything to go by I'll grow old waiting.

A fairly good summing up of how I feel things have evolved over the last 30 years. James Gilbert, Alan Bramson etc and old those old writers deceased while GA reacreational flying in the UK, Australia and the USA is ever more restricted. Len Morgan and Gordon Baxter wrote great stuff in Flying but today there is nothing to entice me to buy it.

The other problem is that whatever your hobby you find yourself reading the same old articles receycled.

My old avmags went in the bin several years ago.

[sunday driver]

At last I have the cash and time to buy into a (cheap) group this spring - so I'll need my 300-ish back issues for my homework. Then they're firelighters.
I have to agree about the quality of the current flight tests - e.g. this month's look at the Piper Sport LSA .. the air-to-air shots are nice (you can count the rivets) but the panel shots are useless -can't read most of the legends.
Also nothing on price or availability or running costs.

OK, OK if I'm so picky, why don't I try writing them ... :zzz:

SD

[POBJOY]

All this sort of stuff from the 70-80's should be treated as "restricted material" as if it gets into the wrong hands it would cause civil unrest amongst the current generation of new or "would be" pilots.
When i mentioned about a "breakfast patrol" to someone recently they thought it was about motorbikes and macdonalds and had no idea that these events actually happened.
On one notable operation Gatwick phoned up the Tiger Club at Redhill early one morning and asked if we could inform the pilot of a certain biplane in the Leith Hill area to stop intercepting some of their departing smaller traffic (one was a Heron) (the pilot of which objected to his number being taken whilst the aircraft was inverted "above" him) as he had no intention of claiming a free breakfast anyway.This early morning "winter" occasion produced over 100 visitor movements and only 2 free breakfasts (who cheated) and was all non radio of course.
Another "attack" on an airfield near london saw a Stampe finish his "arrival" dive with an inverted (smoke on) 200ft run alongside the runway from the east, this really looked really exciting to the "cooks" below,but even more exiting to the occupants of another aircraft doing the same thing from the west !!!
The strange thing is these were "normal" w/end events and i do not recall they caused any problems mainly due to the fact that pilots were used to "looking outside" rather than "asking about traffic".
So you better get rid of those mags so as not to make todays pilots feel they are missing something.

[7AC]

I have fond memories of Doug Bianchi in Pilot, I wonder if anybody put them together in
a book. He could be wickedly funny.

[ChampChump]

What a delicious (?) can of worms has been opened here. My collection will have to go very soon but I may keep one issue from each year, for comparative purposes.

The deterioration in standards of journalism seems to me to be more noticeable in this specific market. There is little excuse for slipshod grammar and non-existent proof-reading, both of which distract from the subject matter. I want professionals to maintain the standards we know we should strive to achieve. I cannot be the only reader who thinks we deserve better and have said so, but my latest comments attracted only the equivalent of an editorial shrug, to the effect of "it's beyond my control". :ugh:

Things took a new turn when one issue contained a leaflet advertising herbal viagra, or something of that ilk...

[IanPZ]

Champchump. I've got to agree with you about declining standards of journalism, but unfortunately, it seems to be many hobby magazines, not just flying. I've seen it in my motorbike ones, my sailing ones, electronics. I've even seen it in what should be a real quality weekly, New Scientist.

So, here's my theory, and feel free to shoot it down. I think its down to editing and proof-reading. There seem to be few editors in the magazine world who actually spend their time putting red lines through articles, and asking for rewrites of sections. Editors are now "the big cheese" but just expected to write articles, that's it. As for proof reading, I think a lot of these magazines rely on spell-checkers and grammar-checkers, rather than a person that can say "Hey, that doesn't scan right".

Finally, I do think you are right about advertising. When the purpose of a magazine stops becoming about the hobby or interest, and starts becoming about product placement and unrelated items, then it really goes downhill.

Ah well, as I said to my wife after coming back from the flying show and the Bike show at the NEC. I'm just going to have to stop going to exhibitions and reading mags, and actually start going out and doing things instead!

waddayathink?

[deing]

I collect old Pilot magazines, contact me if you still have them available

Thks,
Jan

[ChampChump]

Agree. I only take aviation-related magazines, but this side of the pond, there is no evidence of any proof-reading, presumably because the software is so good. :rolleyes: Incomplete paragraphs that fall off the page and chunks of repetition are two common examples.

Of course the spelling and grammar are only as good as those deploying them; if an article has been accepted from Joe Adventurer who has a good tale to tell, I accept that slightly different standards might apply. When the editor and sub-editor have the run of the pages, I hope for better and am constantly disappointed.

Anyone who inherits my magazines will find my exasperation has seeped into the pages, ready to fly out like a Hogwarts screamer.

[JW411]

I find it quite difficult to even give away my old copies of Pilot and Flyer.

I'm probably completely mad but I still have a complete collection of FlyPast, Aeroplane Monthly and Propliner in binders.

I just cannot bear to part with them.

[aussiefan]

The old man has every edition of Flight International from 1962 to about 1995 bound into 6 monthly volumes. No idea what to do with them when the time comes.....

[John Miller]

Irish Seaplane wrote:

Last months piece on the Cessna 180 would have been better composed by my little sister who has would probably have a clearer grasp from her single flight in my 180. It seems to be lost to the Pilot flight test team that an aircraft should be evaluated in flight conditions similar to one would expect that A/C to be used in. Going for a bimble from one big grass strip to another yields little of the star qualities of the C180. One would expect a Mooney to be blast off to France on an IFR trip to get a feel for how it fits, similarly a Cessna Skywagon to be dropped off a 300m hillside strip loaded and flown through its paces then back into same or rougher in various wind load/conditions. If the unique abilities and mission profiles are not assessed and mods/drawbacks/maintenance issues illustrated then the article just misses the point. If you read car magazines they manage to frame things much better.

Hey, thanks for the feedback Irish Seaplane! I'm humbled now that you have taken my miserable flight report to pieces. Whilst I understand it's easier to diss something than to say a few nice words, It was in fact written for those who have perhaps never flown a Cessna 180 before rather than Billy Bush Pilot. I wish I had the major formula enabling me to please everyone all of the time... and perhaps you can tell me what it is. Anyway, thanks for the critique - I'm suitably shamed.

Perhaps, when you and your 'lil sister are next down here in Africa, you can call me up and I'll introduce you to a few of my Cessna 180-owning mates and you can tell them that seeing as they don't throw them off 300m hillside strips too often, they have bought the wrong plane. They are going to hang on your every word but don't be upset if they don't volunteer their aeroplane for a demo ride.

Cheers
John

[fireflybob]

The old man has every edition of Flight International from 1962 to about 1995 bound into 6 monthly volumes. No idea what to do with them when the time comes.....

Donate them to the Shuttleworth Collection at Old Warden?

[irish seaplane]

Funny that John. Maybe your a better pilot than you are an aviation writer, but I certainly don't intend to travel many thousand miles, borrow an aircraft just to illustrate what makes the C180 different from its siblings. The article could easily have been written for those who have never flown... let alone never flown a C180. They might have even been able to draw inspiration as to what those pilots wear - as that too was well covered in the same issue. :8 Nick Bloom seemed to share the same view's when the journalistic standards of Pilot were called into question by saying "you must be able to do better" , but then never kept his end of the deal. Anyhow it seems that I am not alone in my view point of the failing standards the flight tests in Pilot. I wont be renewing my subscription, just buying back issues from the James Gilbert era.

Pity you seemed to think of Billy Bush Pilot being the flyer your piece doesn't cater for. I thought we all aspired to be able to fly right down the exacting standards required to get the most from our aircraft. Maybe those of us who care about developing our flying repertoire beyond big airport circuit bashing will continue to seek out and learn from those with the necessary experience - but the necessary magic bullets won't be coming from Pilot Magazine IMO. :suspect:

[Phil Space]

I was a great fan of Pilot during the 1980's when it was the only GA magazine for UK pilots.

James Gilbert ran a good team and every month itwas a good read.

It was hard to imagine that they could ever be knocked off the perch.

Archant really destroyed what was a great GA mag and lost the race to provide a great online community such as this or Flyer's forum.

[John Miller]

I sit here looking at PILOT magazines circa 1975, which I still have and these are the 'James Gilbert' issues that fed my early aviation passion. There was no competition in those days. I'm looking at black and white images and 38 pages. The only colour photos were the front and rear cover and the pictures were truly horrible - grainy and poorly exposed. The prose, what there is, is long winded and highly colloquial, though grammatically correct (as it would be). Adverts for used aircraft are non-existant.

And some of you guys consider the 'old' magazine days better. Yeah right! Then there should be a great market for back issues of the James Gilbert era.:ugh:

Just spent a weekend flying around in a Cessna 180 and the group of us were chuckling at your 300m hillside launches Irish Seaplane. We were both keen to know where exactly you have flown your Cessna 180 into these strips in Ireland and indeed how you have acquired these amazing skills, especially at gross weight :D. The guys around here haven't flown in Ireland but are pretty useful at operating into the bush. We all agreed, you are obviously the person to come to for some serious instruction, even if it's only ground lectures in the pub :ok:

Not sure how you can judge other's writing skills or lack of, when your own are barely beyond Grade III. :ugh::ok: Maybe you have some agenda we don't know about, which is why you don't want to put your real name to your posts :O

[irish seaplane]

Funny how your drawing amusement from operating a C180 from 300m - that's 3 times what a well flown one will need. I can practice what I preach....

YouTube - Cessna 180K Landing Dunnyvadden (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kv4aUvhiqDs)

So John can you? Or are you a dry land swimmer, it is easy to write about it but can you do it? :p

Maybe you should familiarize yourself with YouTube and see what an aircraft is really capable of. And if you think I'm talking rubbish, try google. Tell the flyers of Idahao, Alaska and PNG what they are doing defies your experiences. Tell the men landing in Mile Hi - that 170m isn't safe.

Mile Hi Airstrip (http://www.mountainflying.com/Pages/airstrips/id_mile_hi.html)

Just because it doesn't happen in SA - doesn't mean the world is flat... kid

[John Miller]

Well, that's pretty impressive if that is really you flying Irish seaplane. I don't normally have folk taking video of me to place on Youtube - I guess I don't need the adoration. But then that nice grass runway would also be perfect for a 182 as well. Even a well flown 172 can be pulled up in under 100 metres. At sea level you'd even get it back in the air again in under 170 metres with a light load - they do that regularly in Alaska and idaho too.

However, I wonder how your 180 will behave getting out of there at gross and with a density altitude of 9000 feet. I'd be very happy to hold the video camera.:*:ok:

[irish seaplane]

Well, that's pretty impressive if that is really you flying Irish seaplane....

It is and it is. Done correctly it wont use anymore than 65m to land a C180 in nil wind with a clear approach (unlike here), I bring a meter wheel to verify same. Lands the same as at gross, indeed an aft centre of gravity is favored by those who can do it better than me. Standard STOL flap lift gives rotation at 34 knots gross and 29 knots solo both GPS speeds. There are no high density operations here in Ireland or the UK, just high winds, bad weather, snow, axle deep mud and scatterings of awkward microlight strips close to most of my destinations. As for camera work, happily managing that too.

:ok:

[John Miller]

Well, I like Cessna 180s Irish but we also played with a tri-gear Helio Courier this weekend too. The only footage we took was in the air unfortunately but I'll try to find the Youtube link. :D:ok:

YouTube - Air to Air Tight Formation Shoot (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_jW59t3N9A)

[hugh flung_dung]

Tch, all I did was start a thread and turn my back for 5 minutes ... and look what's happened: two silly boys have started comparing the sizes of their willys:) Let me assure you that mine is bigger than both of yours put together so let's all calm down and play nicely:E

Thanks to everyone that responded to my original question, and to those that sent PMs asking if I would sell specific mags (the answer's yes but I need to find the time to check whether I have the ones you want - I'll reply ASAP).

Merry Christmas to one and all
HFD

[ChampChump]

Change of editor(s) announced in the February issue....