Les Abend

[captainv]

as for best mag, i really enjoyed the early issues of Flight Journal, a bimonthly devoted to warbirds. Jeff Ethell had some awesome stories describing exactly what it was like to fly a P-51, P-40, P-38. sadly, he died in a P-38 crash not long after. the mag has now become a place for vets to write in their old war stories. still kinda interesting, but i wish they had more of the first person stuff.


AOPA is probably the best all-around. although i thought it was amusing when they had an issue where a bunch of editors gave their experiences with tailwheel flying. most seemed terrified by their experiences.

Richard Collins recently said he's spent something like $2 million flying that 210 over the last 20 years. jeez, $100k/year? are we ever going to see an article about Joe Blow and his 172 and what that really costs?

 

[Bluestreak]

Posted by LJDRVR:"Len Morgan really was the best. What a thoroughly, humble, self-deprecating, consumate professional. As I re-read his articles I enjoyed growing up through the eyes of a professional pilot, it's now apparent to me what a tremendous guy to fly with he must have been. When I was 15 (82'), he wrote a pilot report on flying the 727."

I,too,remebered well the 727 PIREP,and it was a good read when I was in high school.Well,yesterday,my local airport was having a fly-in-garage sale kinda deal.I spied a stack of ancient Flying magazines from about 1968 to 1977.I looked through the stack,and there it was-the October 1977 issue.On the cover is a Grumman Cougar twin .Some of the cover blurbs are "Flight training:Too cheap,too quick,too bad" and "Pilot Reports: Using a Piper Turbo Arrow,Boeing 727 (That's right-Boeing 727),Pressurized Skymaster". "Reporting Points" featured a new cropduster called an Ipanema,all purple and orange (shades of FedEx),with a little boll weevil on the tail wearing a crash helmet.Made by some company in Brazil called Embraer.An ad for a year old 172 for $17,600 ! Or how about a Navtronic 16 electronic flight computer for $197.50 ? Geez,that was big money back in those days !

 

[Bluestreak]

Well,whaddya know-I got off the Airways Shuttle today and picked up Flying off the magazine rack.In it is an article from a USAir Capt. who gives credit to Len Morgan and the "three-holer" article.

 

[Snakum]

Did anyone read this month's Private Pilot article in which an FO from BOS related trips with a good Captain and a bad Captain. Could the bad Captain have been Les? Check it out ... you'll see the similarities

Captain Thich Minh Thong
Corporate Rental Skyhawk Pilot

 

[BoilerUP]

Devil's Advocate

I don't personally know Les Abend, but I met him at Oshkosh this year. He seemed like a really nice guy, but I must admit his gigantic gold chain necklace and unbuttoned polo shirt made him look like a South Beach pimp. I guess he is an AA pilot, but I digress...

Has anybody here tried writing a monthly column for ANYTHING, let alone one of the most circulated aviation magazines in the world? I doubt it. I think Abend's articles are geared to give a (somewhat skewed and glamorized) perspective of big airline Boeing flying to the masses out there. No doubt some items are imbellished for the public, but he gives his honest opinion on whatever topic he is discussing, and I can respect that. Besides, what's the big deal of calling somebody a copilot? Are people afraid of getting their egos bruised over a title used by somebody who WAS a "copilot" at one time?

Once again, I don't know him and can't speak to his personality or flying habits, but his writing is okay. His article in this month's magazine (with the Legacy on the cover) about 9/11 is an excellent piece, IMO. I can only imagine what that an experience like what he described would have been like.

And I may be relatively young, but I agree with other people's opinions about the Morgans and Block, I enjoyed reading their articles from years past. Flying magazine has gone downhill in the 5-6 years I have been reading it; J Mac's article a few months back about owner-operator pilots being better skilled & more knowledgable (not to mention "more enthuastic for initial and recurrent training") than young "professional" pilots was a joke and a piece from a man who truly has never flown around normal owner-operators who detest recurrent training, even when they only fly their Malibu or C421 four times a year.

If I see one more ad that says "DELTA thought we were so good, they bought us!" or the full-page Gulfstream "from zero hours in a Cessna 152 to 400 hours in a CRJ for Pinnacle" or some such, I'm gonna go f**kin' crazy. I wish I hadn't gotten that 3 year subscription, but for 21 bucks or whatever it was I couldn't pass it up.