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| The future is now? |
What purpose does the aviation media serve? Have you ever asked yourself that
question? Is there a reason you read the
magazines, blogs, and social media sites?
Do you get anything of value from them?
What about your groups?
Do your dues go toward things that truly represent your
feelings about aviation; what aviation means to you? Or, does your hard earned money merely
generate feel good media and pay the salaries of the people who generate all the feel
good stuff? Have you ever really looked
at them without rose colored glasses in order to test your assumptions? Many have not.
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| A complete system for under $2000? |
How do I know? Let me
give you a great example. Look at the photo above. It's a full page ad from the May 2015 issue of AOPA Pilot( if you still have it on hand, don’t look). In bold
letters it says, “2020 STARTS TODAY.”
Apparently, Free Flight believes you should be excited about 2020. I'm guessing they also think your excitement will keep you from noticing their deceptive claim, “A Complete ADS-B System for
less than $2000.” But, since it made it to print I guess AOPA doesn't have a problem with it. And, in the bigger scheme of things, as far as I'm concerned the ad itself is the least offensive part of its existence.
So then, what is it about this ad that bothers me? It’s what is placed (conveniently)
on the next page.
Are your groups really fighting for you? It's a great question. Before we go any further though,
let’s look at the photo one more time. Think about what you see and try to guess what is
on the other side. I’ll discuss what’s
there in part two.
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| What's on the other side? |
6 comments:
Come on--I need to know what's on the next page!
My guess is with some sort of editorial article that argues against the mandate of ADSB in general aviation. An op-ed piece about how AOPA is fighting to prevent such a thing from burdening its members? I think that would be the ultimate irony.
Last month Mark Baker said in the magazine that it was time to stop griping and get in compliance with ADSB. I'm sure the supplier/advertisers love that editorializing.
Nonetheless the question remains whether ADSB and other FAA technology initiatives are destined to contribute to a safer, more inclusive flying experience for all pilots.
So AOPA published an ad featuring an airplane for which, assuming no electrical system, the ad does not apply. Makes no sense. Your point is well made, as usual, Rich.
It's just an ad. It's how the magazine stays in business.
Flyingfish, you are right. It is just an ad. What is wrong here is AOPA being their sales department when AOPAs job is supposed to be fighting the broader implementation of ADS-b
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