What's new
Van's Air Force

The definitive Van's Aircraft support community! Buying, building or flying an RV? Join our exclusive family of mentors and enthusiasts!

Kitplanes Magazine

A

AlphaCharlieBravo

Well Known Member
Sponsor
Just read this on another site and didn't see it posted here. I know many of you are contributors.



"Dear colleagues and fellow aviation professionals,

I am writing to let you know that as of this morning, there is no one left at KITPLANES Magazine. Today, Firecrown Media—the owner of the magazine, severed their relationship with me. A few days ago Paul Dye and Tom Wilson left the team. Marc Cook departed in May.

You may have been expecting an email from me requesting an update for the Aircraft Buyer’s Guide. Alas, I will not be sending it.

For the past 17 years I’ve been the web editor, and recently the executive editor at KITPLANES Magazine and have met many of you in person or via email or phone. You’ve supported the magazine through your advertising, subscriptions, and even by submitting content for publication, and I thank you.

Firecrown purchased Kitplanes along with Aviation Consumer, Aviation Safety, IFR Magazine, and AVweb from Belvoir Media two years ago. Earlier this year the company shut down Aviation Safety and IFR Magazine, and this month, Aviation Consumer. Russ Niles was fired and Larry Anglisano left Firecrown. KITPLANES is now entirely without staff.

It's disappointing, but I'm proud to have been part of the team that generated so much fantastic and relevant content that no other publication in the world could rival.


I don’t know what comes next, but I will be in touch, and I hope you will too.


Meanwhile, I encourage you to visit AVBrief.org and subscribe to the free newsletter, and tell your friends about it, too. You will find many familiar names there.

With respect,"

Omar Filipovic
 
Last edited:
I realized it's truly the end of an era and clicked "unsubscribe" when I received this today:

1755229379988.jpeg
 
Let's hope this triggers a lot of creative destruction. Considering the desire for people like me to consume compelling information about building, maintaining, and flying aircraft, and the seemingly stronger need for many of you to produce this information, I have a feeling that this vacuum will quickly be filled with something great!
 
If I’m understanding the situation correctly, it seems that Firecrown has all but shut down the publication. Subscribers will jump ship. It sounds like whatever their business plan was failed. Maybe this is a great opportunity for the former staff to come in and buy the brand from Firecrown and run it themselves. I bet it a few months it could be acquired pretty cheap.
 
Firecrown apparently also owns Flying magazine. Not sure what FBO's will put out on their coffee tables if that mag also goes under. Plane & Pilot is also listed as a Firecrown publication.
 
KitPlanes will be missed. There was a time not that long ago when I slowly consumed each page, enjoying the vibe of a smallish niche targeted pub, perfectly positioned. They had it dialed in. Mostly signal with little noise. Not that different actually from the targeted, niche vibe I’m striving for here on VAF. Kitplanes was kind of where I got my info on planes that weren't RVs.

I’m grateful Paul, Marc, DanH, Mel and some of the other ‘RV load bearing structures’ who occasionally wrote for KP hang out here as well.

VAF isn’t going to Firecrown is what I’m getting at, I guess.

RIP Kitplanes/Avweb. Long live VAF.

v/r,dr
.
.
Maybe a sub-forum called ‘RV LOAD BEARING STRUCTURES (LBS)’ where these guys have a dedicated area……🤔🥸
Kidding aside, if I had to guess, those folks no longer at KP are most likely working something behind the scenes so that their future writings can be easily found. They're smart folks.
.
.
.
 
Last edited:
I have the August issue. I see articles submitted with by-lines from all the usual contributors. As of this morning I still have access to all the features on the Kitplanes website. Although I don't remember having to copy and paste a long link from an email in order to access the PDF back issues before.

Since my auto-renew feature kicked in before I learned about all this fuss, I guess I'll just have to see how it goes. But you can bet I'll disable the auto-renew feature now.
 
Even worse, I just got a notice that when they cancelled Aviation Consumer (20+ year subscriber) I would be getting issues of Flying magazine in its place! Huh? Not even close to being a substitute. I hadn't heard about Kitplanes, but I suspected it wouldn't be long and it wasn't :mad:. As mentioned above, there is now a vacuum where both Aviation Consumer and Kitplanes lived, I'm sure it won't take long to fill. I'm ready with a subscription.
 
DeltaRomeo said:
KitPlanes will be missed. There was a time not that long ago when I slowly consumed each page, enjoying the vibe of a smallish niche targeted pub, perfectly positioned. They had it dialed in. Mostly signal with little noise. Not that different actually from the targeted, niche vibe I’m striving for here on VAF. Kitplanes was kind of where I got my info on planes that weren't RVs.

I’m grateful Paul, Marc, DanH, Mel and some of the other ‘RV load bearing structures’ who occasionally wrote for KP hang out here as well.

VAF isn’t going to Firecrown is what I’m getting at, I guess.

RIP Kitplanes/Avweb. Long live VAF.

v/r,dr
.
.
Maybe a sub-forum called ‘RV LOAD BEARING STRUCTURES (LBS)’ where these guys have a dedicated area……🤔🥸
.
.
.
Click to expand...

How many subscribers to magazines like KITPLANES?
How much ad spend?
What do authors get for articles?
Is there some way to bring them all onboard?
Vaf subscriptions for author payments? Members only section maybe?
Recruit new authors to trial out here free to become paid?

I have a bad habit of suggesting business ideas to others

Vans aircraft seems to have a buy the plane and get the “community” with it. Lots of Oshkosh community seemed to require $50 payment and/or drinking beer. Vaf and FB at times are my vans community, my Eaa meeting, my builders support forum.
 
A few thoughts in somewhat random order as I drink my morning coffee and get ready for another day at the computer and in the shop….

First, Omar is the “Crankshaft Gear Bolt” that has kept the entire magazine spinning and running effectively for a long time. Many hadn’t heard his name before, but without him, the entire engine stopped. No matter who had the title of Editor in Chief, Omar kept the valves and ignition timed properly.

Second - For all of my years at Kitplanes (until the last two), we were owned by Belvoir Publishing - a single-owner entity that had quite a few non-aviation publications that paid the bills. Robert Englander, the owner, was a true believer in aviation, and as long as we broke even, he was happy. The support from the leadership team there was total and unquestioning - they knew that we knew what we were doing, and when we needed something, we got it almost before we asked. It was a great team for which to work. When Firecrown made them an offer they couldn’t refuse for the whole package of aviation pubs, everything changed. Marc Cook was EIC (again) by that time, and he fought an incredible fight for a year and a half to keep the magazine viable and at a quality level that our readers expected. This was all done with inadequate funding and a management group that demanded ridiculous amount of time to be spent on “buzzword management” - stuff that took attention away from the product.

The bottom line that caused it all to fall apart was the fact that Firecrown wants to do away with “contributors” - they want all content created in-house, by employees (so that they have complete control?). Unfortunately, specialty magazines don’t (and can’t) work that way. The kind of material readers expect in a magazine like Kitplanes has to be generated by subject matter experts, most of whom are experts because they have a real presence in a real profession - and just happen to be able to write (and have a little time to do so) as well. Firecrown cut the budget for contributions (one that hadn’t been increased for fifteen years) by 60%. This made the magazine as we all know it impossible to produce. Marc has gotten a good gig at Vans, I resigned as Editor at Large, and Tom Wilson agreed with me that the job as Editor in Chief was no longer viable and left as well. Firecrown had already decided that they didn’t need our Art Director (the man who actually laid out the pages you read) or our long-time proof-reader/copyeditor, and they are both gone as well. All of our regular columnists have stood down until/unless we come up with a better outlet.

While the magazine still “exists” for Firecrown to do with as they please, nothing is left of the team that has been at it for the past decade or two. The same thing happened at Avweb, and they shut down AV Consumer and the other former-Belvoir pubs.

It is no secret that when I took over the magazine as Editor in Chief after leaving NASA, I used VAF as a “farm team” to find good authors with lots of technical background to contribute. This place (immense thanks go to Doug!) is how Marc found me when he was EIC before that (you could call us all the “Dread Pirate Robert’s“ I guess….). I am eternally grateful for the many talented folks that have lent their time and talent to make Kitplanes what is was for so long. Nothing lasts forever, but for many years, we did have that “shining castle on the hill….” And be assured, behind the scenes, there are efforts to create a new entity - print, or online, or whatever - to carry on the tradition. It’s not easy, the economics are very hard….but we feel the goal is important for the community, and we respect the readership that have given us all the opportunity to use our voices.

In the end, what killed our participation in Kitplanes under Firecrown was a simple lack of respect - for the reader, and for the authors. Advertisers pay the bills (your subscription pays for the postage), and they do it to get reader eyeballs. The readers look at the pages to get information from authors they trust. The owner of Firecrown doesn’t understand that if you don’t respect the writers, you have no readers, no eyeballs, and no advertisers - hence, no business. The disrespect shown by Firecrown for our team had reached a point where we simply would not ask anyone to be insulted - so we left.

Until we come up with a new plan, I have VAF and Sport Aviation channels where I can contribute!


Let’s see what comes next!

Paul
 
Paul is right on the bean as usual.
What made KP special was the enormous wealth of knowledge from it's contributors. Present company excluded maybe. I also let my subscription lapse. I rarely read AOPA or EAA anymore either, but keep memberships active for other reasons.
I enjoyed writing articless about the few things I knew a little about and am happy to contribute again. I did it for fun and for the occasional compliments. I had a few articles in the works till I saw the writing on the wall. It actually takes quite a bit of effort to write one article. I can't imagine cranking one out every month. So thanks Paul et al and I'll be here along with all the others, waiting patiently.
 
Last edited:
I've posted elsewhere and asking here too if there might be a way to preserve on-line access to past issues. Appears to be a valuable resource to me.
Any ideas?
 
As a writer for many years, including Kitplanes way back when, I've come to appreciate what a good editor can do, protecting me from errors great and small, from mis-statements strategic and tactical. Like many of you, I have my favorites and un-favorites on youtube videos -- and a lot of the big names are on my unfavorites list. There's also a lot of narcissism on youtube. (Not me, but then again, I don't post on youtube.)

There might be an opportunity for a web presence moderated in the sense of a publication, as opposed to moderated in the sense of anybody can contribute, like VAF. In addition to news snippets, this could provide a place for article length submissions (1500-2500 words). An article length submission takes a while to write, and I don't know how many folks would do that consistently if not part of a larger online presence, or if a "pot luck" special interest publication could work.

Then again, look at Amazon, which presented a new model of product distribution.
 
The most important asset for me is a searchable store of well written and informative articles that I can access at will. If I lose access to that, then there is no reason for me to be a subscriber anymore. The monthly magazine, by itself, gets a casual perusal, then it winds up on the coffee table at my friend's flight school or worse, my wife tosses it in the recycle bin along with her previous month's periodicals. But knowing I can find 'that article' again if I want keeps me subscribed. If I lose that, then forget it, I'll just read whatever online stuff I can find and figure the rest out myself.

-----------------Added----------------

I glanced down to see Flying Issue 959 "The Ultimate Issue" sitting on the corner of the desk. It occurred to me that given the mass exodus of long-time contributors, a better name might've been "The Penultimate Issue".
 
Last edited:
I just went to the website, and it says that magazine is not available. I tried to cancel my subscription but never received a code to enter for my account. I did get the August issue, but I think that is probably the last issue. Goodbye Kit Planes.
 
Seems like the business model now is to sustain just enough content in any of their magazines to generate interest in the full-page ads that are part of Firecrowns other businesses...ie aircraft brokering, boats, aircraft models, expensive airpark properties, etc. In other words, paper clickbait.

You don't need knowledgable article authors to do this. The product can be crap and maybe intentionally so...so that a reader might be inclined to pay more attention to the ads since the magazine has no meaningful content.
 
Last edited:
pczar3 said:
I just went to the website, and it says that magazine is not available. I tried to cancel my subscription but never received a code to enter for my account. I did get the August issue, but I think that is probably the last issue. Goodbye Kit Planes.
Click to expand...
I just checked it again. It works for me. Like many websites these days, it does not always seem to play well with VPN and 3rd party privacy/security software.
 
ryoung said:
Received a subscription renewal notice a couple of days ago…
Click to expand...
KP posted a charge for an auto-renewal to my cc on 06 Aug. My current subscription runs through October. The renewal price was significantly higher than in the past, although admittedly still a small amount of money ($45.95) for what has been a valuable source of information for me. No real surprise that it would renew a bit ahead of the expiration date, as a given month's "issue" usually arrives before the start of that month. That said, I've disputed the charge with my CC company and requested that any future charges filed by them be denied. We'll see what happens with the dispute. As others have already said, it's sad to see it go away.
 
AlphaCharlieBravo said:
Just read this on another site and didn't see it posted here. I know many of you are contributors.



"Dear colleagues and fellow aviation professionals,

I am writing to let you know that as of this morning, there is no one left at KITPLANES Magazine. Today, Firecrown Media—the owner of the magazine, severed their relationship with me. A few days ago Paul Dye and Tom Wilson left the team. Marc Cook departed in May.

You may have been expecting an email from me requesting an update for the Aircraft Buyer’s Guide. Alas, I will not be sending it.

For the past 17 years I’ve been the web editor, and recently the executive editor at KITPLANES Magazine and have met many of you in person or via email or phone. You’ve supported the magazine through your advertising, subscriptions, and even by submitting content for publication, and I thank you.

Firecrown purchased Kitplanes along with Aviation Consumer, Aviation Safety, IFR Magazine, and AVweb from Belvoir Media two years ago. Earlier this year the company shut down Aviation Safety and IFR Magazine, and this month, Aviation Consumer. Russ Niles was fired and Larry Anglisano left Firecrown. KITPLANES is now entirely without staff.

It's disappointing, but I'm proud to have been part of the team that generated so much fantastic and relevant content that no other publication in the world could rival.


I don’t know what comes next, but I will be in touch, and I hope you will too.


Meanwhile, I encourage you to visit AVBrief.org and subscribe to the free newsletter, and tell your friends about it, too. You will find many familiar names there.

With respect,"

Omar Filipovic
Click to expand...
I don't know what Firecrown is up to, but two days ago I received an unsolicited e-mail saying that they had seen my book on Amazon and wanted to know if I'd be interested in applying for an editor position at Kitplanes to oversee the production, and optimization of aviation-related content, both printed and digital versions. Being very unqualified for the job, I respectfully declined.
 
Billed my CC a week ago, unauthorized I might add. Laying in the dispute world as we speak. Sneaky devils for sure.
 
Last edited:
graywoodworking said:
I don't know what Firecrown is up to, but two days ago I received an unsolicited e-mail saying that they had seen my book on Amazon and wanted to know if I'd be interested in applying for an editor position at Kitplanes to oversee the production, and optimization of aviation-related content, both printed and digital versions. Being very unqualified for the job, I respectfully declined.
Click to expand...
I saw the job advertised, and it was clear to me that there was no way I was qualified…..I don’t have experience with all the software tools and AI generators….. I just know how to build and fly airplanes, then string a few words together about them! 😉
 
That is very disappointing!! I have been a KP subscriber for longer than I can remember, at least 25 years. I have always found the content to be informative and usually pitch at the level I wanted. I don't want buzz words, nor AI generated content, I want to hear the views of real people with real world experience. I subscribed to Flying for a couple of years when I lived in the US, but got fed up with all the 182 & Bonanza stories. I'm not interested in how to fly around the NE US, I live in a country that makes GA flying much harder than the US. I am interested in technical articles about homebuilt aircraft. Kitplanes delivered that. Huge thanks to all who contributed, and particularly to Paul & Marc & Omar (although I was never aware of his role).
Pete
 
Between “Out of the Blue”, AvWeb and OSH flashes, muck rack has me at 112 contributions over the last 8 years.
The last few months have been hard to watch. I owe my small part to Paul giving me a start and early encouragement, Marc making it “full time”, and editors like Mark and Omar who buffed up my Idaho public school English to make me readable. I always appreciated the core KP group and the kind feedback and recent comments from readers when it all started to crater.
I think that there is a niche to fill that AI composting old work can’t fill. I think there will a new media source and have committed to be a part of whatever surfaces as a subscriber and hopfully, a contributor.
Myron Nelson. Out of the Blue
 
Vans should purchase it and include a golden ticket for a rv-15 in this years Christmas edition. They would make a gazillion dollars. You would get a tour of the factory and everything! Just don’t drink from the chocolate river.
 
Jonnyb said:
Maybe we should start a “kitplanes articles to keep” thread. Before they disappear.
Click to expand...
I've saved several of Barnaby Wainfan's series. The one on cooling airflow and cooling drag in particular. Also, Kevin Horton's "Determining Engine Power" article is a favorite, as is Paul's "Building for IFR/Do You Really Need It?"
 
Last edited:
Jonnyb said:
Maybe we should start a “kitplanes articles to keep” thread. Before they disappear.
Click to expand...
I'll have to dig through the basement to see what issues I have. This is a publication that will be missed for multiple reasons. Surely someone will pick up the torch....

My subscription was recently renewed as well. WTH............?
 
terrye said:
Even worse, I just got a notice that when they cancelled Aviation Consumer (20+ year subscriber) I would be getting issues of Flying magazine in its place! Huh? Not even close to being a substitute. I hadn't heard about Kitplanes, but I suspected it wouldn't be long and it wasn't :mad:. As mentioned above, there is now a vacuum where both Aviation Consumer and Kitplanes lived, I'm sure it won't take long to fill. I'm ready with a subscription.
Click to expand...
P
 
A few days ago I received an email informing me of an upcoming auto-pay. I responded with a request to cancel auto-pay and received a reply confirming cancellation.

I've been a subscriber for about 30 years, regret to see it go but understand the publication business is going through monumental changes and the results are usually for the benefit of shareholders instead of consumers. I'm glad I could participate in the KitPlanes community as a contributor when it was a viable publication. Life moves on........
 
Sam Buchanan said:
publication business is going through monumental changes and the results are usually for the benefit of shareholders instead of consumers
Click to expand...
Substitute any business that has attracted the interest of private equity and the results are the same. It's destroying entire industries to squeeze every ounce of profit out of them. I wish I was being hyperbolic, but I work in one of those industries and have seen it firsthand. In my line of work, the revolving door of C-suite, middle managers, and VPs is impossible to keep up with. People are constantly fired until someone is found who can squeeze harder. It's unsustainable.

The common thread is that people who understand the industry are pushed aside in favor of people who will do whatever is necessary to increase profits. Generally these people don't understand the industry (in this case, journalism) and are playing games with ways to cheapen producing the core product - hopefully without anyone noticing. Sometimes they are too incompetent to achieve that and it just tanks the business. Usually they structure the transactions in such a way that they still manage to profit as the business dies somehow. I get the sense that's what will happen to Kitplanes, AVWeb, etc.

EDIT: I'm sorry if I come off as a crank about it. Many folks here are willing to keep their commentary even-handed and don't want to display such a strong negativity about the phenomenon. I don't mind expressing forceful condemnation because I see no positives. It's a pure, sociopathic, money grab.
 
Last edited:
Out of the ashes comes a new flame......
Maybe it's time to start a new magazine and wholistically own it.
 
N804RV said:
I just checked it again. It works for me. Like many websites these days, it does not always seem to play well with VPN and 3rd party privacy/security software.
Click to expand...
I was speaking about the corporate site, Firecrown. If you go there, they say that Kitplane is no longer available. The Kitplane site worked for me as well.
 
Many former paper journalists have left and created Substacks that have free and paid portions to them. This might be a viable model to preserve and at least somewhat compensate the effort of producing the priceless content we've all found in Kitplanes over the years.

Kitplanes was the ONLY aviation magazine I can honestly say I read cover to cover every month. Often, one simple technique or clarified concept has saved me enough time and money to pay for a year subscription. I fell into experimental aviation by being roped into rehabilitating an RV6 (the wiring part) so, of course, I bought it. That was 2007 and I still own and love it. Kitplanes has been with me on that journey, along with my many friends in EAA.
 
Back in 1995, "Kit Aircraft Builder" was the first aircraft magazine that I subscribed to that was not published by an organization like EAA and AOPA. IF memory serves me correctly, that magazine was purchased by "Kitplanes" or whoever owned Kitplanes and was rolled into it. Over the years, I subscribed off and on to Kitplanes. When Paul Dye became editor, I resubscribed. I stopped subscribing in 2021 around two years after Paul Dye wrote the last 'Editor's Log" and was no longer full time editor in the September 2019 issue. Yes they had some good articles written by people that I consider "subject matter experts" but not enough articles to keep me subscribed all the time. Was thinking about renewing my subscription for the upcoming year but with all my acquaintances that I have trusted NOT writing for them, I will NOT be sending them my money.

A.I. is a wonderful thing but as others have said above, I do not believe that it will be able to generate hands on do it yourself material that will justify people spending their money. I will not be spending my money on Kitplanes till it proves that it can do a better job than a human. IF another replacement publication / online magazine pops up with writers that have generated excellent material that I have read over the decades, I will support it financially.
 
wirejock said:
Paul is right on the bean as usual.
What made KP special was the enormous wealth of knowledge from it's contributors. Present company excluded maybe. I also let my subscription lapse. I rarely read AOPA or EAA anymore either, but kelp memberships active for other reasons.
I enjoyed writing articles about the few things I knew a little about and am happy to contribute again. I did it for fun and for the occasional compliments. I had a few articles in the works till I saw the writing on the wall. It actually takes quite a bit of effort to write one article. I can't imagine cranking one out every month. So thanks Paul et al and I'll be here along with all the others, waiting patiently.
Click to expand...
Larry,
The series on fitting an RV-7A cowl [with David Howe] is one of the best ever presented in Kitplanes.

Paul,
I've been getting Kitplanes in PDF form for years, so no postage expended there. I noticed that in the past 2 years, each issue takes up 5 times as much room on my hard drive, due to photo sizing aimed at a 4K TV. That is one change I did not like. My subscription ends the end of this month. I was on the fence due to the doubling of the subscription price.

I know who Omar is and have spoken to him on the phone and via email in the past. He also writes the occasional article. With everyone jumping ship, I won't renew. My hat is off to you and the rest of the staff for the excellent product you produced! FYI, spelling and punctuation in Kitplanes was much better than Aviation Consumer. Are they missing the apostrophe key on their keyboards over there?? :)

PS I just double checked and found my Kitplanes subscription is good thru October, yet they plan to auto renew me at the end of this month! :mad:
 
Last edited:
chaskuss said:
Larry,
The series on fitting an RV-7A cowl [with David Howe] is one of the best ever presented in Kitplanes.

Paul,
I've been getting Kitplanes in PDF form for years, so no postage expended there. I noticed that in the past 2 years, each issue takes up 5 times as much room on my hard drive, due to photo sizing aimed at a 4K TV. That is one change I did not like. My subscription ends the end of this month. I was on the fence due to the doubling of the subscription price.

I know who Omar is and have spoken to him on the phone and via email in the past. He also writes the occasional article. With everyone jumping ship, I won't renew. My hat is off to you and the rest of the staff for the excellent product you produced! FYI, spelling and punctuation in Kitplanes was much better than Aviation Consumer. Are they missing the apostrophe key on their keyboards over there?? :)

PS I just double checked and found my Kitplanes subscription is good thru October, yet they plan to auto renew me at the end of this month! :mad:
Click to expand...
Here is the link to Larry's cowl fitting with David Howe's jig. Great article. https://www.kitplanes.com/ez-cowl-jig/
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top