An Editors Checkride

An examiner I once had put it this way: When giving a private checkride he was evaluating if hed be comfortable as a passenger with the prospective pilot. He equated giving an instrument checkride to deciding if hed be comfortable letting his wife and kids be the passengers. A good lesson, that. It helps me remember that my first responsibility is to my passengers.

Editorial Staff

Friday, August 01, 2014 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

Frank Bowlin assumes the role of editor for IFR magazine, viewing it as an "editor checkride" where his primary responsibility is to his readers, akin to a pilot's duty to passengers.
His career journey includes transitioning from a high-tech background to becoming an airline pilot, with his writing career for the publication beginning with a product review.
He pledges to continue the magazine's course of providing essential, risk-reducing aviation information in a lively and engaging style, while actively welcoming reader feedback to guide its direction.

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An examiner I once had put it this way: When giving a private checkride he was evaluating if he’d be comfortable as a passenger with the prospective pilot. He equated giving an instrument checkride to deciding if he’d be comfortable letting his wife and kids be the passengers. A good lesson, that.

It helps me remember that my first responsibility is to my passengers.
And that’s probably as good an analogy as any for how I think the new editor of IFR ought to relate to readers. As departing editor Jeff Van West mentioned last month, he’s stepping down and aside, but not out. He’s pursuing other ventures in aviation but we’ll still see his name on an occasional feature. I’m stepping in to mind the store. In a way, you could think of this as my editor checkride. And like the examiner I mentioned above, I believe my first responsibility is to the readers of this magazine, as any editor should.