A New Era for ‘Plane & Pilot’

We are excited to embark on reimagining what Plane & Pilot will be in the future. The brand has a storied history and we want to honor that legacy so Plane & Pilot can live on for another 50 years. 

Our goal is to make Plane & Pilot a brand that is an integral part of FLYING Media Group. We also want to ensure that it maintains a distinctive voice that is different from the other brands in the aviation industry, including FLYING Magazine.

When I first took up flying in 1992, I flew a Beechcraft Skipper and subscribed to two print magazines—FLYING and Plane & Pilot. 

FLYING was exciting because I always viewed it as an aspirational brand, showing what was possible. It featured the most exciting new aircraft, gear, and technology—ranging from the latest model pistons to the most powerful business jets. When I bought FLYING two years ago this summer, we doubled down on the aspirational elements of the magazine, improving the quality of the print edition and focusing on what is possible in aviation. 

Plane & Pilot was always a bit different. It had a “down to earth” essence to it, and as a young piston pilot, I always related to the content a bit better. At the time, I had limited resources and the content of the magazine was centered around the experiences of a recreational piston pilot. At the same time, it always illuminated the love and passion that its readers have had for flying piston airplanes. 

Today, I exclusively fly piston aircraft. I am a 500-hour pilot only qualified to fly VFR—I took 20 years off between college and my rediscovery of aviation. I fly because I love it and try to get in the air every few days.

While running FLYING, I was always a bit jealous of the potential of Plane & Pilot—to provide depth and focus on the recreational piston pilot and market. The magazine zeroed in exclusively on one aspect of aviation—and a part of the world that personally I had nearly all of my piloting experience in. 

FLYING Magazine is a special brand, but the mission of FLYING is to cover all aspects of general aviation (and at times delving into topics outside of GA), which leaves little room for the deep dives into the recreational piston story, a topic that is near and dear to my heart. 

Now with the two brands under the same umbrella, we can do exactly that—we can double down on Plane & Pilot as the brand dedicated to the mission of the recreational piston pilot, while continuing to focus FLYING Magazine on the aspirational stories of general aviation. 

I am honored to have the opportunity to participate in the journey of two of the greatest magazines in aviation. 

I hope you will join me in this journey and subscribe to both FLYING and Plane & Pilot. I promise it will be worth it! 

I would love to hear your feedback. You can reach me at @freightalley on Twitter.

—Craig Fuller, new owner of Plane & Pilot and founder/CEO of FLYING Media Group