During my frequent travels, I take advantage of down time at airports to catch up on my magazine pile. After finishing each magazine, I try to leave the still-fresh periodical where someone else can pick it up and possibly be inspired by what aviation has to offer.
It was the January 1976 issue of Flying that introduced me to the magic of aviation magazines. On the cover was handsome, young Richard Bach, smiling inside the tiny cramped cockpit of a sleek, yet stubby, airborne BD-5 jet. I read and reread that story and every single word in that issue, including all the advertisements, at least three times. (Like nearly everything else, some of Bach’s eloquent words are now available online. And click here for a terrific gallery of BD-5J photos, including a three-engine version.)
Matt Thurber, editor-in-chief at AIN Media Group, has been flying since 1975 and writing about aviation since 1978 and now has the best job in the world, running editorial operations for Aviation International News, Business Jet Traveler, and FutureFlight.aero. In addition to working as an A&P mechanic on everything from Piper Cubs to turboprops, Matt taught flying at his father’s flight school in Plymouth, Mass., in the early 1980s, flew for an aircraft owner/pilot, and for two summer seasons hunted swordfish near the George’s Banks off the East Coast from a Piper Super Cub. An ATP certificated fixed-wing pilot and CFII and commercial helicopter pilot, Matt is type-rated in the Citation 500 and Gulfstream V/550. Based in the Pacific Northwest, Matt and his team cover the entire aviation scene including business aircraft, helicopters, avionics, safety, manufacturing, charter, fractionals, technology, air transport, advanced air mobility, defense, and other subjects of interest to AIN, BJT, and FutureFlight readers.
