Loathe the FSA magazine and really miss Mac Job's Aviation Safety Digest
 

Just received the latest e version of Flight Safety Australia. Is it just me or is anyone else getting frustrated with the complicated stuffing around via various links on the opening page to download the magazine and have a casual read of the contents? After five minutes of trying to work out which links lead to which story, I gave up and deleted the whole bloody thing.

I so miss the pleasure of receiving my copy of Aviation Safety Digest in the mail and reading Mac Jobs wonderful prose. RIP Mac. :sad:

Stopped reading it when they switched over to the e version. Still have a pile of ASD's that I can read anytime.

I reckon that's just going to be the usual bureaucratic way..

"Few were accessing the FSA magazine so we've now done away with it to save scarce resources."

I started reading ASD's in 1970 with Mac Job's really interesting articles. All good life saving, VFR advice and presented in his wonderfully easy to read way. :)

The phrase is "drowning in maple syrup". The magazine, e version or not, is a waste of time.

The new CASA website is just as bad. Quickest way to navigate the website is to do a google search to get the information quickly.

The old ASD had articles you could read, enjoy reading and learn from. The new one has too many articles taken from other journals, airline related material or material designed to support CASA's political line on a topic.

Its a waste of money. I still have most ASD's since the 70's and they are treasured.

Like you, Akro, my collection ASDs is treasured.
Every crew room had well-thumbed copies of the 'crash comics'.
Vale Mac Job.
I cannot even be bothered reading the present servings of tripe.

Well who could not see that coming.

The E version was a pain in the butt to use. I would read despite the lowering content value the old paper one. The E mag was a waste of mouse clicks

I stopped reading it years ago.

Gave up when they introduced the e version. Never read one. The paper one was bad enough. Mac, now there was a man who put out what aviators craved.

Likewise! As for the old ASD, I know someone who has every single issue.:ooh:

And he knows that I want them if he ever decides to part with them!!

I was given recently a complete set of all the old safety digests. :) Two bookshelves worth!

I remember sitting at the flying school waiting for my lesson reading the crash comics and learned so much from them about what not to do.

And I glance occasionally at FSA to find it vacuous glossy magazine, bereft of meaningful content with the new grad's graphic design abilities taking centre stage. And it's getting worse.

Unfortunately same with the RAAF equivalent of FSA called "Spotlight." All flashy graphic design and a plethora of Human Factors warm and fuzzy stories and so much wasted page space on coloured graphics more suitable for a Superman comic.

Stallie.......Maaattteee!!!!!:ok::ok::ok::ok::ok::ok:

Have I got a deal for you.....!!:ok::ok::E

Yes, I remember back in the 60's learning to fly.. I would hang out for the postman to deliver it - always worth the wait. I was able to obtain some back copies and now have the complete set from #1 which if I recall was in the early 50's and had just a write up of just one accident. I have to agree that the withdrawal of the paper edition was a step back in safety as having it on the various coffee tables etc at the flying schools was as mentioned above a great aid for pilots wanting a read whilst waiting etc.
It is now all about cost and although Margo and her team try their best, the e copy is nowhere near as good from a readers point of view. And I might add not as easy to access...!

Pinky ... I don't know you do I??

triadic; PM sent.

It opens alright on my ipad, but that's probably exactly the platform it's designed for. Design is steadily overtaking substance, though, and the editors and designers seem able to solemnly reproduce articles about the dangers inherent in inconsistent design in electronic flight controls and flight systems, while using wildly inconsistent navigation methods, fonts and pop ups in the same article!

The trend toward heavily academic articles fundamentally misunderstands who should be reading it. Like much of the rest of CASA, the articles are targeted at their peers, not at pilots. Even then, the quality of the articles is pretty poor from an academic standpoint.

Wasn't it the FSA that ran a story about an engine failure cause? Spark plugs wouldn't spark because the battery was flat. Or just one of my nightmares?

Actually, Stallie and triadic; Both of you are now in the position to do that which I would like to and would do, if I were in your position.

I have had in my mind for quite a few years now the idea that if I could ever obtain a complete set of the old Aviation Safety Digest that I would do the following;

I would consult a Lawyer who specialises in publications copyright etc to find out if it would be legally permissible to have the whole collection scanned
and burnt onto CDs which I would then make available strictly at cost only to anyone who wanted them, and if permission was required from somewhere it would be properly applied for, and any appropriate fee paid.

As various posters have mentioned, back in the 60s, 70s and 80s, copies of the old ASD were always to be found laying around at virtually every single Flying School, Aero Club etc, and were considered compulsory reading for anyone learning to fly back then.:=

I just wonder if my proposal mentioned above is feasible.:confused:

Pinky,
The subject of the possibility of scanning the whole lot of ASD has cropped up on Pprune many times over the past 15 years or so. In the end the idea died due to lack of interest when it was realised the huge amount of scanning time and effort needed and the unknown financial costs involved.

Over many years, I have collected Aviation Safety Digest from various sources including just recently spare copies from the Civil Aviation Historical Society Museum at Essendon where they have occasional doubles.

Where I had doubles I would occasionally visit local flying schools and leave them on the crew room desk for student and private pilots to read. I found I was wasting my time. Most were more interested in gazing at their smart phones. In short there was a marked lack of interest. The ASD's were regarded as quaint relics of times long past rather like National Geographics and Readers Digests in doctors waiting rooms.

When I saw old copies of ASD's that I had left in flying school crew rooms tossed into corners, I would gather them back and bring them home again. Like many Pprune readers of my era I enjoy nothing more than opening my shed and sitting down with a nice cuppa going through my ASD collection. Have been doing this for years and hopefully will continue to do so.

With all the good will in the world, I very much doubt a CD of all the ASD series would sell to the now generation of pilots. Sad really but a fact of life.

The Civil Aviation Historical Society museum at Essendon Airport has a magnificent private library including a copy of every ASD published.