Flying Flies On

When Charles Lindbergh made his historic flight from New York to Paris in 1927, publishing entrepreneur William Ziff started up his first magazine, Popular Aviation, in honor of the flight. The magazine quickly became the most widely read aviation magazine in the world, changing its name to Flying in the 1930s. "Over the decades, Flying has featured writing and photography from the greatest talents in aviation history, from Ernest Gann to Richard Bach, not to mention a host of aviation luminaries famous within the international pilot fraternity," says Editor-in-Chief Robert Goyer. The magazine is currently part of Bonnier Corporation, with editorial offices in New York City.

Naturally, the magazine's readers are pilots - or hard-core aviation enthusiasts - who fly their own airplanes or professionally, or in many cases, both. "They live, eat and breathe flying and look to us for the latest word on products (from watches to USD 65 million globetrotting jets), safety, flying technique and opinion," says Goyer, himself a pilot.

Since the start, Flying has been written by pilots for pilots. "Around 90 percent of our full time staffers are pilots, from newly minted sport aviation enthusiasts to 20,000-hour airline transport pilots," says Goyer. "We walk the walk, with wings."

Over the past year, Flying has jumped into the digital realm with both feet, with new leadership and three new staff writers. "We've launched a popular and fully featured iPad edition, launched a twice-weekly eNews product, increased our web visits by more than 300 percent and created new channels for industry partners to engage with Flying readers on specialized aviation topics," says Goyer. "And there's much more to come."  

For biggest challenge for the magazine, says Goyer, is that aviation is going through an extended downturn, like many other industries. Flying airplanes is more expensive than ever. "Our goal is to keep readers engaged and focused on safety and personal aviation improvement while encouraging them to maintain their proficiency by getting up in the air as often as they can," he says.

"For all the fascinating technology, politics, trends and controversies in aviation, flying is at heart an intensely personal activity," says Goyer. "This is just as it was for Orville Wright 109 years ago at Kitty Hawk when he started us all on this amazing aerial journey. At Flying we have the honor of translating this transcending joy of flight into the language and messages and images of today with our continuing goal being nothing less than being the premiere aviation publication brand in the world."