Sport Aviation Magazine

[Steve Stephenson]

Hey Guys, I am a longtime EAA member and am building a scratch built biplane at home.
I remember long ago when the Sport Aviation magazine was all about homebuilt airplanes.
Now it seems that the magazine has changed directions. It does not seem to be centered around
homebuilt airplanes anymore. I see more certified aircraft and adds than anything.
I will probably renew my membership this month, but if this trend continues I may not next year.

I wish we could do something to get the organization back on track. I was thinking about emailing all the EAA Chapter Presidents and ask them to bring this topic up at their meetings to get an idea of what everyone else thinks. I am working twelve hour shifts and trying to make progress on my plane, so I don't have much free time to devote to the issue.

What do you guys think?

Steve Stephenson

[jhausch]

I think the latest version of the magazine is top notch and a great balance of all sorts of articles. EAA is also doing a great job of balancing out all the content with the website and hints for homebuilders videos. I tried "Light Sport" for a while and then went back to the main magazine. Shortly thereafter they did the re-design and the content and quality has been top notch.

I do think their email newsletter is sort of long winded, but I still can't seem to stop myself before reading the whole thing

One of the email newsletters (maybe the main one) has been featuring old articles from "Experimenter". have you seen those? That seems like it would be right up your alley.

Offered respectfully: Scratch building is an important part of EAA, but not the only part

[Chad Jensen]

You have to remember that there a lot (a LOT) of EAA members that are not building airplanes and really are quite happy flying their certified airplane. Take a look at the North 40 during the show...The magazine is wonderful in my opinion and I think it's a great balance as well to meet the needs of all members.

[sdilullo]

I'm in no way a builder, however I have to say I think the magazine's redesign last year resulted in a SUPERB publication. Sport Aviation is now by far my favorite aviation magazine.

Chad's comments hit the nail on the head - EAA has a lot of members and I think the organization does a great job producing a magazine that appeals to everyone.

Don't forget you can get homebuilder-specific information thru EAA's weekly newsletter:
http://www.eaa.org/experimenter/

[Nels_Anderson]

The EAA long ago outgrew just being an organization for homebuilders. In my local chapter there is not even one pilot who is now or ever has homebuilt a plane so if the magazine was just about homebulding most of us would get nothing out of it. I'm sure it's tough for them to maintain a balance to satisfy everyone but they are doing a reasonable job of it.

[KDoersom]

Sport Aviation is my favorite aviation pub. And what is really great is all the issues are online for reference. No hugh piles stacking up around the house.

[Eric Witherspoon]

I agree with KDoersom - if there's anything you feel like you are missing out on, search the Sport Aviation archives. I hope they're working on making the other titles available. They also are creating a LOT of to-the-point you-can-use-it homebuilding how-to advice in VIDEO on the web. So there still is a lot out there that they deliver for the active builder, but in the big scheme of things, unless you're a repeat offender (in which case, you have your sources for advice or choose projects which use similar skills like only building with riveted metal...), you are only a builder for a relatively short while - most of "the aviation hobby" will consist of figuring out what you want to build or buy and doing things with it once you have something flying... Besides, another great benefit of the internet is the huge number of builder websites - why do you need a centralized organization publishing articles on paper monthly when you can spend a few hours and see how dozens of other people have already done the EXACT thing you are contemplating... Uh, and not to throw you right off these forums, but there's a special place for the scratch built biplane fan - http://www.biplaneforum.com

[Neil]

Steve, I'm kind of old school and don't really care for the current magazine format either, but change is one of those things that comes with growth. The magazine is still a good read, just not the same as 30 years ago. Back then, if you had a building question you wrote a letter, put a stamp on it and if you were lucky the response would show up in the magazine in about 3 months. I don't want to go back to that either.

Admittedly, I have said that Sport Aviation looks more like Flying Magazine than a builders magazine but at some point, we do fly these things. As builders we need for the work EAA is doing in Washington to continue giving us a voice there. Without that I believe the bureaucrats would try to do away with any type of private pilot activity. The number of non builders that have found their way into EAA, and there are a lot of them, help fund those efforts. We couldn't do it without them.

Since you are building a Biplane you have resources at your disposal to get near instant response to any question you may have regardless of type at <Biplaneforum.com> and other sites that are biplane type specific. Hope to see you there.

[Dave Stadt]

You will find that homebuilders are a very small percentage of chapter members. Those that are get the support they need from the internet in the form of builders forums and directly from kit manufacturer support. The number of scratch builders is extremely small and could not support a publication like Sport Av.

[Neil]

You will find that homebuilders are a very small percentage of chapter members. Those that are get the support they need from the internet in the form of builders forums and directly from kit manufacturer support. The number of scratch builders is extremely small and could not support a publication like Sport Av.

I don't agree. There are still a large number of scratch builders. There are over 2,000 members on "The Biplane Forum" alone. I have no idea how many others are out there but I'm sure this is a small percentage. Then add in the kit builders. That makes for a lot of Experimental Aircraft. There is enough to easily support a magazine, but EAA reaches much farther than just Homebuilding.