Aviation has always been about more than machines, and flight about more than departures and arrivals. It’s one of very few industries I think might accurately be described best as an actual community.
It was that aviation community, after all, that brought me into the flying fold to begin with. Stories of military aviation from my grandfather. A first flight with a family friend and FBO manager as a small child. A first time at the controls of a Piper Cub during a Boy Scout camping trip. Conversations with pilots who graciously let a nosey high school kid poke around their airplanes at the local field. Flight lessons a little later in life with a retired Braniff pilot through a local flying club. The joy of sharing my own love for aviation with high school kids through a district aviation program. Not to mention the even greater joy of sharing it with my own daughters. This list, of course, doesn’t end there.
This community is one made up of pilots and mechanics, controllers and designers, small children dreaming of entering the cockpit, and old men and women yearning to return once more.
This community is who AVweb was, is, and always will be for. It is a hub for the news, insights and perspectives that matter to pilots, industry professionals, and aviation enthusiasts. This mission has not changed.
What You Can Expect
Today, I begin my first full week as AVweb’s new Lead Editor, and I’m honored to help carry this mission forward into a new chapter. Thank you for both your concern and support for AVweb over the last month; while there is still much to be done, I am excited to turn the page together.
My editorial focus will remain true to AVweb’s long-standing strengths: accurate and timely reporting, practical resources, and clear commentary. Over the course of my first few months, I want to emphasize my focus on a few important areas.
- Depth and context – Aviation news does not exist in a vacuum. Whether we’re covering regulatory changes, emerging technologies, or matters of safety, AVweb will continue providing not only the facts, but also the bigger picture, including wider contexts and deeper implications.
- Community voices – A primary focus right now is on drawing in additional contributors with seasoned yet fresh voices from across the industry. The aim is to provide you with greater depth informed by broader perspectives from across the aviation landscape. And if you have something to share, by all means, please reach out.
- Future horizons – From new fuels to electric propulsion, drones to GA powered lift, and autonomous flight in the manned national airspace system, the future of aviation looks different every day. We’ll cover these developments critically in order to separate the hype from the genuine as you prepare for tomorrow’s aviation landscape.
Continuing the Journey
Aviation is timeless, yet ever-changing. More often than not, so long as I pause to appreciate what I’m doing, the thrill of flight feels the same today as it did during my first solo. The pure enthusiasm I’ve witnessed as I’ve helped high school kids learn the ropes in aviation for the first time is somehow the very same sort of enthusiasm I heard in my grandfather’s voice as he reminisced about his time at the controls some 40 or more years before.
Though technologies evolve, regulations change, and the industry shifts, it has been my experience that something at the core of what makes us all “aviation people” is steadfast. I know that describes AVweb’s readers, and I can promise you that it describes me, too.
My goal as Lead Editor is to honor that duality—celebrating what’s enduring while helping readers navigate what’s emerging.
Above all, AVweb remains your publication. I look forward to your feedback, your insights, and your passion for aviation. Together, we’ll keep AVweb not just current, but vital.
Blue skies,
Matt Ryan
Lead Editor, AVweb
I wish you well, Mr. Ryan. I appreciate your enthusiasm and sincerely hope you can return this publication back into the authoritative and respected source of information it once was.
You seem like “one of us”, Matt. (Except that the most of us don’t have such a beautiful daughter.)
But is there any reason that your boss can’t supply you with the minimal software to flip images, so that your shirts (and aircraft) aren’t mirror-imaged? That seems like such a basic tool that it makes one wonder how much support you can expect to get from Firecrown.
Forget tailnumbers, your readers (or at least, the ones AvWeb used to have) will notice that the pitot-static port is on the wrong side. The fact that I am the first to point that out, a full day after publication, says volumes about the community Firecrown lost.
Good luck, sir. You have a long road to rebuild the community that Firecrown torched.
I hope you can do what you say. I wish you the best.
Job one is to get some writers (NOT AI) with expertise, experience, and perspective to share with readers.
But that is going to be tough, considering the philosophy of Firecrown, and its scorched earth policy.
We look forward to seeing whether anyone can work within the new model and still provide what ACTUAL pilots and the rest of the flying community want to see.
Matt, I wish you the best in your challenging role. While the pilot community is a community, it’s also filled with a wide variety of outspoken opinions. Knowing how to moderate the voices to stay on topic is a huge challenge.
I also challenge you to review your AI generated news clips. Take a look at today’s newsletter and compare it to one last year - notice anything different that is making past avid readers of AVweb grumpy? AVweb was focused on pilots and aircraft owners - not the general public at large.
Everyone of today’s articles was reported by the mass news feeds. There is nothing that is unique to AVweb. Why bother having another aggregated newsfeed that is regurgitating national news? “Trump Warns Venezuelan Jets Could Be Shot Down Near US Vessels” - really? That was AVweb newsworthy? Do I live under a rock with no other source of news? And the article was simply as AI summary of the standard news.
Please, please if you want us to come back and read AVweb, you need to add back the special articles and thought pieces that made AVweb a must read every day for this pilot and aircraft owner.
Experienced writers will likely reject the idea of employing too much AI in their content, at least not if they plan to have a relationship with their readers. The funny thing is, you can screw a lot of stuff up and share inconvenient and unpopular things, if your readers stand behind you.
Newswriting isn’t rocket science. 85% of what is consumed are rewritten news releases or rewritten content from other pages.
I have published hundreds of articles on my own website and was previously able to submit European news to AVweb. The writing stuff never paid the bills and without my aviation consulting business, I would have had no chance to keep my site open.
Problem is, nobody likes to work for a wet handshake and general and business aviation are close-knit niche industries.
Lets not ignore that fact that well-monetized news sites are rarely open for acquisition. If the revenue had been this amazing, Belvoir would have never sold its complete aviation branch.
While print has rightfully (albeit sadly) mostly died off, traditional website content is very difficult to monetize in todays day and age. And I say this with several years in publishing and ad-sales.
Matt, I wish you well in your endeavor. Many of us swallowed hard when Paul B. decided to retire and the sudden end of Russ Niles tenure did not sit well with those who respect and appreciate him.
I realize that comments from me have previously been deleted, nothing is easier when trying to avoid engagement. Been on that horse before.
Best of luck, anyways.
Looking forward to continuing the aviation journey under your direction. As a community, we all can contribute. Where should we send press releases or news?
You can send news releases to editor@avweb.com.