Hi Gil, and all concerned PAMPA members.
Stunt News was late in shipping this past issue. In that issue I wrote my editorial on why that happened. I'm going to paste that text in here now. It will explain the situation...
Bob Hunt's July/August Stunt News Editorial:
I suppose I should start off with an explanation as to why this issue of Stunt News was so late in getting out to you. As you may or may not know, our Graphic Designer/Layout Artist, Liz Helms is employed full-time by the AMA. Her duties there for most of the year are confined to the production of Model Aviation magazine and Park Pilot magazine. However, during the time of the year when the Nats are contested, she has additional duties as one of three editors who produce the daily publication, Nats News. During the many weeks of Nats activities the Nats News staff produce approximately 35 daily issues that range from 4 to 24 pages! And, this is in addition to their normal duties. Needless to say, they spend a bunch more than eight hours a day at work during that timeframe.
This year I was honored to be asked by Liz to supply a daily report on the goings on at the CL Stunt circles during the CL portion of the Nats. This is a job that Allen Brickhaus had done so extremely well for the past few years. I would write up my report in the evening (usually finishing up around 1:00 AM…), and then meet Liz at the AMA Headquarters building around 6:00AM, along with other reporters from other Nats disciplines. Liz would download our stuff and then she would go to work producing Nats News in both print and online versions.
Needless to say, Liz and her fellow Nats News staff members didn’t get too much sleep for a couple of summer months. Also, needless to say, she had little to no time to focus on Stunt News during those months. So, we are a bit late this time, but we need to thank Liz and her staff for their amazing work in getting detailed daily reports out to all the competitorsat he Nats and those at home (via the online version) who were waiting anxiously to hear the daily news.
Liz wasn’t the only one getting little to no sleep during this SN deadline. Our Contest Report section Editor, Howard Rush was super busy getting his new take-apart Nats ship ready for the trip to Poland to attend the World Championships. Howard wisely used the Nats as a warm-up contest for the WC’s, and had planned to send out the contest section material (Contest Calendar and Contest Report) when he returned home from the Nats. When he did get home and began to pack his model for travel, he found that the model would not fit properly into the required size box! Howard quite rightly used the little time he had left before leaving to fix that. Unfortunately he was left with no time to get the contest material to me for this issue. I think we all support Howard’s use of time and will gladly wait until the next issue for the contest reports.
Unfortunately for Liz and me, the loss of Howard’s column left a huge hole to fill in Stunt News at the eleventh hour. To the rescue rode in Don Ogren with two very informative How-To articles that filled the hole perfectly. Thanks, Don!
Bottom line is that we are very late with this issue, and that could just not be avoided. Our plan to prevent this next year is to begin putting together next year’s July/August issue early and feature a number of non-time-sensitive How–To articles in a theme issue format. In the meantime, the Nats are over, Liz is rested up, and this column is the last piece of Stunt News that needed to be finished in order to ship. We apologize for the delay, and hope you enjoy the issue.
Looking ahead
The above detailed ordeal has brought into sharp focus the need for us to gather and inventory more material for Stunt News. We are hopefully on the verge of a significant growth spurt in PAMPA because of the new website -- which now features a way for new members to join online. That means we should experience an influx of new overseas members. We have heard for years from those abroad that joining PAMPA was a bit of a chore because of the need to send funds through the mail, and the difficulties that entailed for them. Now they can join instantly and have access to the new website (See the President’s Report), and download each new issue of Stunt News, as well as all the older issues, and also view the other content on the site.
We understand the need, and our obligation, to service all our members with relevant news about the world of Stunt. That means we will be seeking new reporters/columnists from around the globe to fill us in on activities in their areas of the world. It also means that we will continue to need a steady stream of good, solid how-to material, construction features, special interest columns and event coverage pieces. To provide all that, we will be relying on all our members to place fingers on keyboards and produce the articles needed.
The most difficult task for me as the Editor of Stunt News is to find quality material to fill these pages. I’ve written the following before, but it needs to be repeated here: A magazine is a lot like a wood-burning stove. It consumes a lot of material each month, and when it’s gone, it’s gone! Just like the stove, our files need to be refilled with material. Please write something for these pages! – Bob Hunt
Topic: Stunt News (Read 2315 times)
