Magazine change possible

StanFoster

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This has been discussed amongst the PRA board members....and Rick Marshall just stated one of us could present this here to the forum for your thoughts and further ideas. Thank you Rick for your behind the scenes efforts...and thanks for letting one of us open this up here on the forum. I feel it shows more transparency .....and that we are trying to turn this elephant around.

Rick Marshall has been in contact with Roy Beisswnger....editor of the Ultra Flight Magazine. Roy asked Rick if we would be interested in joining forces only to the extent of sharing the cost producing a magazine.

The PRA would remain intact.

We would occupy 1/3 of the pages.....and alternating with the covers.

Our cost would be $22.00 per year per member. It is now $43.16.

I called Roy and asked some questions. They have 5000 subscribers. They are not on the newstands yet...but plan on being there sometime.

I have a copy of their magazine...it has 48 nice glossy pages...and is very impressive.

I personally am in favor of this, as long as we have our online magazine also. Tim O'Connor brought that point up...and I quickly agreed.


So,....we would like to hear your feedback.


Stan
 
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Stan, this may be just a little too weird for some folks, but what about doing the magazines the way some owners manuals are done in different languages...let the back cover of UltraFlight be the front cover of Rotorcraft magazine, with the Rotorcraft content upside-down, so both magazines are separate, but both have what appears to be a front cover every issue?

In other words, you'd get to the end of reading Rotorcraft, then on the next page, find the last page of Ultraflight upside-down. It's a little odd, but not hard at all to figure out, and it makes both magazines "feel right."

I applaud the attempt to think outside the box!
 
Also, we will get some time in Ultraflight Pod-Casts and greatly increase the exposure of gyros to other light sport pilots.

The EAA has just announced they to are combining several EAA magazines into one.

As Stan mentioned, we also plan to have expanded rotorcraft only content published on the new web site.

.
 
Sounds good to me....we would get more information per issue....while the PRA would be paying less. I am still however, not against just a on-line issue....monthly.
 
Sounds great to me. First question I would want to ask though, is what would the title of the magazine be?

Second, what does this do as far as Rick Gilley goes?

Third, would this open up the possiblity of lowering of our dues?

And yes, I noticed in my latest EAA sport pilot mag that it will be the last issue and that they will continue via a online version of the magazine and have some of their content placed in the sport aviation magazine EAA already puts out. I think it is great.
 
The economic times and conditions for sure require some serious actions if we are to survive and hope to grow, and this sounds like a well thought out plan, obviously there will be some "in progress" changes along the way but for now GO FOR IT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tony
 
I could also see this possibly bringing some ultralight fixed wing conventions to use the Mentone facilities for their nationals or even regional flyin's. I'm not so concerned about the name of the magazine as I think the content will speak for itself, perhaps a small sub-caption like "fixed wing and rotorcraft" could be placed below the main title.

Tony
 
Stan, I think you forgot to mention it will be 12 issues a year instead of the current 6 issues per year.

Ron, Rick Gilly would no longer be needed. The rough articles would be sent to Roy Beisswinger (sp). Roy would dress them up for publication. We would also be guaranteed 16 or 18 pages an issue.

Another nice advantage is there are a lot more advertisers in Roy's magazine. It will make it nice when gyro builders are looking for other parts supplies that do not advertise in the PRA mag. Such as Bear Perkins to name one. And I know this supplier was mentioned a few times here on the forum. Plus PRA will no longer have to solicit for advertisers.

Think of the good advertising this will do for gyroplanes. What do you think those Powered Parachute guys are going to think after reading the articles on gyro's and what they can do. Meanwhile their tea totaling along at 25-30 mph.

I think this is a win win situation. If it doesn't work out after a year we can always go back to our own mag.
 
Also I was just thinking about the profile this would give us at Oshkosh, I think this is a case where the sum combination of the two parts will be much greater than the individual parts. We could combine expenses and exposure at Oshkosh and create quite a show that would benifit both.

Tony
 
Stan, this may be just a little too weird for some folks, but what about doing the magazines the way some owners manuals are done in different languages...let the back cover of UltraFlight be the front cover of Rotorcraft magazine, with the Rotorcraft content upside-down, so both magazines are separate, but both have what appears to be a front cover every issue?

I like this concept and the combining of the two could be advantageous to both organizations.
 
This is ultimately a decision that will be made by the board members. But I applaud them for taking the time to have it posted here and asking for members comments. This is the kind of interaction I think is needed for a member to feel he is part of the PRA.

Hopefully when the new PRA web site is fully functional these types of issues can be discussed more often and openly with the members. Such as a discussion area and a place where members can vote on an idea. :focus:
 
sounds like a great idea. There should be terms and conditions negotiated, though, e.g. how many PRA articles (max-min) so that we are not squeezed out after paying.

Kai.
 
Good idea.

We will need twice as many "articles" as in the past, and I seem to remember discussions about working to pull enough together for the six editions a year.

Maybe we could promote (twist an arm or two) to have "columnists" in addition to safety, etc. Like maybe the Vance and Ed team, or more reports from the chapters, or. . .

I think we'll still need Rick or somebody to pull it together even if Roy edits it to fit into the magazine. It might cost less, but it will still take considerable work by our volunteers to be successful.
 
Yeah, I am not sure we should let Rick go.... I think he will still be very much needed to work with the other editor.

Still be interesting if this will lower dues or not.
 
Sounds great to me. First question I would want to ask though, is what would the title of the magazine be?

Second, what does this do as far as Rick Gilley goes?

Third, would this open up the possiblity of lowering of our dues?

And yes, I noticed in my latest EAA sport pilot mag that it will be the last issue and that they will continue via a online version of the magazine and have some of their content placed in the sport aviation magazine EAA already puts out. I think it is great.

How about "Wing and Rotor" works for me!!
 
sounds like a great idea. There should be terms and conditions negotiated, though, e.g. how many PRA articles (max-min) so that we are not squeezed out after paying.

The PRA is guaranteed 16 pages per issue.
 
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