|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Miscellany About the website — Why I set it up Ever since I was a kid I have been interested in aircraft and aviation. As I grew older I began to write about aircraft, eventually submitting my work to various aviation magazines. I have always used the Internet as a source of information, but have found that a lot of the time good, detailed and reliable information is hard to come by. And websites that provide such information, like Greg Goebel's and Joe Baugher's, only give a limited picture (such as only focusing on military aircraft or aircraft from one country). With my website I want to change all that. I want to give the full picture - that would be impossible if I myself wrote articles on every aircraft that ever flew, so what I aim to do is take a two-pronged approach - I will post my own articles on the website and also feature links to other websites. These links will form part of the core of the website by allowing visitors to quickly and easily find the best information on the Web without spending hours searching through hundreds of pages of drivel. Because of the limited and fragmented state of information on the Internet, I have always dreamed of setting up my own website and getting the immense satisfaction of being able to share information with others. I enjoy the exciting and liberating feeling of reading up about some new aircraft on someone's website and hope to give that feeling to many other aviation enthusiasts out there. As the saying goes, 'the best things in life are free'. A further motivation for setting up
my own website is that I will be able to instantly publish my own articles
without waiting weeks and weeks for editors to get round to reading my
work. It is very frustrating waiting months for an editor to reply and
for an article to remain unpublished for ages after it has been written.
Some editors have held onto my work for more than a year! It can often
take at least three to four months before an editor reads the article
and makes a decision.... Although I would like everybody to access free information, all articles on Aircraft InFormation are copyrighted and cannot be used without prior permission. You may link to the articles, but please do not reproduce anything. You may contact me and seek my permission to do so and I will consider your request, but please keep in mind that it has taken me a lot of time and effort to research and write these articles and I would hate to have that effort compromised. Click here
to view the full copyright notice.
Because it is not cheap to set up and
run a website, I have reluctantly decided to put up a few adverts. As
much as I dislike them, adverts contribute (in a very very small way)
to the running costs of this website, so please be considerate whenever
you see an advert. Think of them not as an irritation, but as a help in
keeping the website up and running. Ever since I was a kid aircraft fascinated me. I used to run outside and stare at the aeroplanes that went by - and I still do! But now that I'm an adult I carry binoculars with me! It's not only aircraft that interest me. I am also fascinated by science and technology, although aviation is my first love. I am also very concerned by environmental issues, especially global warming, overpopulation, deforestation and the decline of species globally. Military aviation really fascinates me, as military aircraft are generally more complex, sophisticated (and more expensive) than conventional civil aircraft. However, although I like the technological side of military aircraft, I am often disgusted and nauseated by what they are capable of. Who honestly approves of aircraft killing people, or any other object killing people for that matter? That's why I really like to detail the technical side of an aircraft. But just because I like military aircraft doesn't mean I don't like civil aircraft. All aircraft are interesting, it's just that some aircraft are more interesting than others. Civil aircraft are rather orthodox and so capture my imagination much less, although there are a few really fascinating civil machines out there, especially those designed by aviation genius Burt Rutan. For many years I have compiled my own 'reports' on aircraft, styled along Jane's All The World's Aircraft entries. In early 2004 I decided that I would start writing articles suitable for magazine publication. The first was an article on global warming, which failed. The next, on global environmental and social problems, also failed to get published, as did an article on solar-powered cat's eyes or intelligent road studs (later I polished it up and got it published in VEG magazine). I finally hit it lucky when I had an article celebrating the 30th anniversary of the BAE Systems Hawk published in the September 2004 edition of Air Force's Monthly. Since then I have been writing in all the time that I have, getting better with each article. On average, I write around 15 articles per year. But it's a often a struggle to get them published. Each article gets rejected for various reasons many times before it's published. This is not due to a lack of writing skill, it's just that the article may not be needed, has already been done, has come too late, is not suitable for the magazine etc. I have discovered that the most important quality a writer should have is perseverance. One of the main reasons for setting up this website is my frustration with editors and the ridiculous time lags involved for them to read my submissions. I have to hassle editors many, many times for them to even read my articles and it may take a couple of months before a decision is reached. I'm happy when I receive a rejection, because I can then take my article elsewhere! But this is not to say that all editors are bad. Many receive literally hundreds of e-mails a day and are extremely busy. Some editors, however, are really good - there is one who consistently replies to my e-mails within two days! These breaths of fresh air are rare, however. So by setting up this website I will cut out the middleman - I can self-publish my articles and do it quickly and easily and spare myself the mental anguish of being a freelance writer. - Guy Martin.
|
|
