It’s our birthday! Five years ago we started publishing newspapers for airport communities. Because it had never been done before, we could make up the rules as we went along. When someone would say, “That’s not the way it’s normally done,” that would often be good enough reason for us to try it.
Breaking new ground and the rules and avoiding the normal have become an important part of our company’s culture. You’ll find an example of our breaking the rules in this issue: publications don’t normally publish interviews with other publishers. But you will find the remarkable story of Murray Smith, publisher of Pro Pilot Magazine on page 30-B.
During our last five years, some wonderful people have helped Airport Journals fill in important pieces of aviation history. Charles Gates hadn’t granted an interview in 30 years; we’ve also featured Harry Combs, Chuck Yeager, Clay Lacy, Dee Howard, Dr. Bird, Bob Hoover, Joe Foss, Barron Hilton and many other icons of aviation, many of whom have become good friends. Cliff Robertson has even joined the staff of Airport Journals.
Celebrities like Harrison Ford, John Travolta, Dennis Quaid and Morgan Freeman have shared their aviation passion with Airport Journals, and several have agreed to serve on our Board of Advisors.
Even with our seemingly overnight success, and the overwhelming response to each of our Journals, like any new company, we experienced challenges, but now that we have passed the halfway mark of our first decade, we have set our goals on becoming “the information company for general aviation” as we continue to build the largest data file ever compiled for general aviation. With our grass root mechanisms and small army of people on the ground at airports across the country, we are looking at the next five years with fresh ideas and services. January is an appropriate time to set goals and to make resolutions. I challenge each of our readers to do the same and bid you each the best for the New Year.
We would like to welcome our new readers in the Midwest. Laurie and I both grew up on farms in South Dakota, so we are particularly excited about our newest title, the Midwest Aviation & Business Journal.
It’s New! Try our new website at [http://www.AirportJournals.com/].