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Post by Dave Homewood on Feb 8, 2007 21:33:03 GMT 12
I picked up the latest edition of Pacific Wings magazine today.
I have to say i continue to be impressed with the direction that the magazine is taking lately since Rob Neil took over as editor. Sure, it was great under the leadership of Calum Macpherson, but Rob's issues have improved each time in my opinion.
In this issue there are some interesting features.
There's a bit of coverage of Sir Richard Branson's latest trip to NZ.
A piece on the upcoming International Aviation Expo at Hamilton this coming October.
An article on the Auckland Rescue Helicopter trust's new BK117B2 chopper.
Rob has kindly included a full page dedication to the late Pat Monk, which drew from my own obituary published on this very forum in December.
An article on ferrying a Beech 1900D from South Africa to Darwin.
A great feature on Omaka's AHC, with some more stunning photos of the WWI exhibitions!
Coverage of Omaka's Cristmas Wings airshow.
A tribute to the Sopwith Camel as it turns 90 (featuring some very nice Alex Mitchell photos!)
And an aerial firefighting piece with Neptunes, etc.
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Post by flyjoe180 on Feb 11, 2007 8:10:08 GMT 12
Some good articles and the magazine is well presented, but a bit pricey. Still some annoying spelling or grammatical errors too (not as bad as NZ Av News). I recently purchased the latest "AERO" magazine, and found it to be extremely good value, albeit mostly Australian content, but a good balance of civilian and military, airliners and warbirds.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Feb 11, 2007 10:31:13 GMT 12
Is $8.90 really too pricey? Compare it to other specialist magazines, I don't think so. It's relatively cheaper than it used to be in the olden days I reckon.
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Post by beagle on Feb 11, 2007 20:11:49 GMT 12
I get Australian Aviation along with Pacific Wings each month and have almost every copy of each going back to the late 70's and I prefer Australian Aviation. A lot more content for about the same price. They used to have a New Zealand page or 2 in it but that dissappeared a while back.
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Post by steve on Feb 11, 2007 20:39:22 GMT 12
Horse for course I I suppose....however Australian Aviation fot the same price is double the read and New Zealand aviation (I think) in newspaper form is excellent. Wimgs should cover more military aviation and aviation stories from WW2 onwards as well as human interest stories by ex RNZAF staff....In my opinion too much light avaition at the expense of the heavies....I suppose if i had my PPL my opinion would be reverse.....
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Post by Dave Homewood on Feb 11, 2007 22:00:13 GMT 12
I don't bother with Australian magazines anymore. Or British ones. I'm only really interested in the NZ scene.
I think Wings was at its best during the long period that Ross Macpherson was the editor, and it did cover a lot of military and warbird content. When Classic Wings Downunder (my other favourite magazine) came onto the market, Wings dropped most of its warbird stuff.
After Ross died, I began to lose interest in Wings and stopped my subscription. I only ever bought it intermittantly for some time, but in the past year or so I've began to get it again regularly and I'm convinced it's improved a lot. Particularly since Rob Neil bought the magazine and has taken over, it seems to be heading back to a more rounded content with military stuff and warbirds. there was even a big article on the Vildebeest a few months back!
Have a little faith, it's still a good read and an excellent source when you have a back-issue archive. I'm trying to slowly fill the gaps in my 30+ years worth of issues.
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Post by steve on Feb 12, 2007 17:50:39 GMT 12
I will take another look at it again....if it has articles such as you suggest ...
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Post by corsair67 on Feb 12, 2007 18:15:46 GMT 12
I recently took out a 1-year subscription and it is good to receive Wings again.
I was a bit disappointed with some aspects of the magazine at first, but I have now come to the conclusion that it's not fair to judge the Pacific Wings magazine of today with the NZ Wings of the 1980s.
I still think it could be beefier than 48 pages though: surely there are enough stories from NZ's wonderfully rich aviation history to add something to the magazine each month?
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Post by flyjoe180 on Feb 13, 2007 8:40:39 GMT 12
BTW there was a great article at the rear of the Aero magazine I bought about building a RAAF Hudson. The mixture of different articles and reviews is what made that magazine attractive, it wasnt just flying stories or news articles. A broader range of aviation-related topics, much like this forum board.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Feb 13, 2007 11:31:53 GMT 12
Another reason I don't buy Aussie magazines is you simply cannot get them here anymore. I tried to find Aero for the Wanaka special but no shops in Cambridge or Hamilton stock it. You can't even get Flypast in Cambridge now.
That Hudson article sounds interesting.
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Post by corsair67 on Feb 13, 2007 14:18:23 GMT 12
Dave, take out a subscription: AERO is only about NZ$40 per year. ;D
That's one of the reasons I ended up subscribing to Pacific Wings: you just can't find it in the shops here anymore.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Feb 13, 2007 14:33:19 GMT 12
But as I said, I don't have that much interest in aviation overseas. I'll stick to reading the ANZAC board here, it's cheaper
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Post by beagle on Feb 13, 2007 16:07:54 GMT 12
Yes I must admit Dave, by the time any of these magazines come out, much of the news stories have already been in forum groups etc. But other stories like bringing the Beech from South Africa back to darwin was interesting.
I would agree with Corsair67, it does need being a bit more than the current amount of pages.
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Post by flyjoe180 on Feb 13, 2007 21:17:00 GMT 12
Yes, well, when I actually get around to FINDING those blasted tapes I promised you Dave, I'll send the mag too so you can read the Hudson article at your leisure. I'm sure scanning it and posting it here will piss them off seeing as its a current issue! Doesnt Peter Finlay on the forum here do articles or photography for Aero Mag?
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Post by planeimages on Feb 15, 2007 10:07:03 GMT 12
Nice to know that some are finding Aero Australia to be of interest. A subscription is probably the better way. Aero tends not to report current events in detail other than pictorially so it doesn't "date" as quickly as magazines designed to cover recent events.
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Post by corsair67 on Feb 15, 2007 10:23:35 GMT 12
I've been thinking of taking out a two year subscription to AERO, but I kind of feel like I'm cheating on my local newsagent if I do so. ;D
It's a great magazine, and it was good to meet Stewart (and you too, Peter!) at the ADF Airshow at Richmond in October. I enjoy Stewart's editorials, as he's not afraid to ruffle feathers sometimes, especially over issues like the lack of legroom in economy on QANTAS planes.
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Post by Peter Lewis on Feb 15, 2007 11:12:43 GMT 12
. . . the lack of legroom in economy on QANTAS planes. Airlines firmly believe that economic pigmies are also physical pigmies. |
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Post by xr6turbo1 on Mar 12, 2007 19:46:28 GMT 12
I agree that you can get info quickly on forums but I really do enjoy sitting down on the couch and have a read of the good NZ based magazines  |
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Post by John L on Mar 13, 2007 14:16:06 GMT 12
Strange - its the one NZ magazine I can find in the local Post Shop by the office, here in Perth....
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Post by corsair67 on Mar 13, 2007 15:07:29 GMT 12
That is interesting to hear: it used to be available here up until about 3 or 4 years ago but none of the newsagents I go to seem to have it anymore.
Canberra - so advanced, but so behind the times! ;D
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