Training and Workforce
Famed Aviation Journalist Richard Collins Dies at 84
A 70-plus year aviation writing career comes to an end.
Richard Collins, journalist
© AIN archives

Richard L. Collins died April 29 at his home. He was 84. Collins was a giant and an innovator in aviation journalism, starting with working for another such legend, his father Leighton Collins, founding editor of Air Facts magazine.

In his last blog post on the current online version of Air Facts, Collins wrote that he earned his flight instructor rating in 1953. But for 60 years, he did his most effective instruction behind a keyboard, transposing his more than 20,000 hours of flying experience into words and stories for pilots from teenage students to grizzled, old-school pros. He also launched the aviation journalism careers of a small army of writers, including this one.