Information Centre
From the AOPA Office
May 01, 2008
This issue of the AOPA magazine will be the last one for John Spiers. John has advised us that he is to undergo urgent medical treatment, followed by a re-assessment of his workload, which will rule out his continuing as AOPA Editor. He has worked under considerable and unrelenting pressure to almost single-handedly put out 11 issues of the AOPA magazine every year.
We are particularly sorry to see John leave us at this time, as he has been working for some time on updating the presentation of the magazine, and this, his last edition, coincides with the introduction of the first stage of the upgrades. On behalf of the Board and staff of AOPA, I wish John a speedy recovery, and hope that the new arrangements allow him the time to enjoy pottering from country airfield to airfield, as we all know he’d like to do.
The AOPA office staff (Kylie, Jill and Julie) would like to thank John for all his years of support and encouragement through numerous changes to board and office management. We will miss you greatly and “cake day” won’t be the same without you!
One new idea John had proposed was to offer some reward for articles accepted for publication. He was looking towards broadening the outlook of the magazine, with articles, even regular columns on a variety of subjects including flight safety, flying training, aircraft evaluations, avionics, technical tips, and military and airline comings and goings.
The AOPA board supported these initiatives and will look to implementing them. Anyone who would like to contribute or has any suggestions on these lines, please contact me ASAP. We hope that you enjoy the updated magazine – please let us know your feelings and ideas, all suggestions will be considered.
This AOPA@Work column is unfortunately very brief as I have been slowed down for the last few weeks recovering from a shoulder operation. On a more technical note, John Lyon is no longer a member of the AOPA Board, his position being compulsorily declared vacant under Article 39(f).
Tim Blatch – AOPA CEO