In The Air
All (good?) things must come to an end.
It is with a mixture of regret and relief that after 30 issues of the New RC Soaring Digest, I announce this will be my last. I anticipate for the vast majority of you who truly enjoyed the monthly dose of commercial-free RC soaring journalism from around the globe, this will be disappointing news.
To anticipate and answer the question of “why now?” the most candid answer I can provide is that I actually intended to wind things up after a nice-and-tidy two years. But as a few trends seem to foreshadow better times ahead at that anniversary, I decided to extend my tenure on a month-to-month basis. As the subsequent issues rolled out, however, I began to realise the positive swings in the outlook were nothing more than statistical aberrations. Two-and-a-half years, therefore, overachieves on my original commitment I made to myself and my family of growing the then-nascent RCSD opportunity into something which pays something. Anything.
Alas, it has not. The sole revenue stream for the publication was The RCSD Shop. Instead of generating what even amounts to a slight offset in expenses, lack of sales meant the Shop actually lost money. Perhaps when I obliquely wrote — ad nauseam — about the need to make the New RCSD ‘sustainable’, I should have been a bit more on-the-nose. My work on the New RCSD needed to eventually pay.
There seems to be a sustained and widely held belief that everything on the internet should be free. And much of it is free and worth exactly what you paid for it — maybe less. That said, while the New RCSD is free to consume I can assure you that it’s not free to produce. I have 3,427.7 hours invested in the New RCSD to date which are a stark testimony to that fact. Plug in whatever number you think is fair pay for each hour and that is what the New RCSD cost to produce. Not free. Not even close.
Moreover, this doesn’t take into account the extensive time and effort of the many excellent contributors to the New RCSD. Neither is their time free and simply expecting them to do the work pro bono isn’t right or reasonable, either.
To say the New RCSD was a labour of love actually mischaracterises my involvement with the publication. While I certainly love reading, editing and writing about RC soaring I could not, when I started, and can’t now justify a project which demands so much time and yet for which there is no prospect of monetary compensation. I am not independently wealthy and even at 62 I feel I have some good earning years left in me. As the only income in our household, I need to get back to paying work to set our family up for true retirement which is still realistically too-many-to-contemplate years in the future.
Unfinished Business
In preparing this final issue I tried as much as possible to put the blinders on and think of it like any other issue. That is, other than this article and The Trailing Edge which winds things up — the last article ever.
What sharp-eyed readers will notice is that there are at least two excellent series — Tiberiu Atudorei’s Project ALTius and Mike Goulette’s The History of Electric Flight which are seemingly being abandoned in the middle of their respective runs. Although the final call will be up to Tiberiu and Mike — they’re the ones doing most of the work — I pledge that if they write their articles I will make sure they get the same treatment they always have and I will get them out to those who express a desire to read them. This only seems right.
To some degree the same could be said of Scott Manley’s Condor Corner. However in this latter case, the original versions of these articles ran in the SSA’s Soaring magazine just last year, and readers who are keen to finish Scott’s series can continue with it using that publication’s archives.
What the Future Holds
There are really two answers to this question. The first, of course, is what the future holds for the RC Soaring Digest. Frankly, I don’t know. If somebody out there wants to pick up the mantle and run with it, that would be great. However at this time no such individual has been sought out and no one has stepped forward. If and when this occurs, then it stands to reason the publication of the new New RC Soaring Digest would re-commence at some indefinite point down the road. Any takers out there?
So far as the future for me? I also don’t know. As I mentioned above, the priority has to be replacing non-paying hours with paying ones as fast as reasonably possible. But ‘writers gotta write’ so I suspect while that search is ongoing, I’ll put pen-to-paper on whatever is on my mind at a given moment: aviation history and NBA basketball are subjects which are easy and fun. I also figure I have a screenplay or two in me and I might use whatever time is left over to scratch away at these. If anybody has a connection to Tom Hanks, by all means please hook me up — these stories would be right up his alley.
Finally, if I were ever to dip my toe into the monthly publication waters again — that’s not impossible — it would come with non-negotiable rules forged in the fires of my recent experience: it would be a subscription-based publication and it would cater to a broader, more diverse audience. The latter is not some sort of nod to political correctness. Rather, it’s motivated by pure economics. Publications need a certain critical mass to be sustainable — or, more on-the-nose — they must pay those who contribute to them. My subjective sense is that the RC soaring community alone simply does not have what it takes for such a publication.
Finally, Thanks
It’s tempting to start naming names of those who have really gone above and beyond in their support of the New RCSD. But this runs the risk of missing somebody out and that I want to avoid at all cost. Suffice to say for all those who contributed stories, pictures, letters to the editor, insightful comments, likes and reposts on social and to all those who purchased something from the Shop, my heartfelt and humble thank you. The New RCSD simply would not have existed as long as it did without you. I truly hope we cross paths at some point down the road so I can thank you with a firm handshake and a pat on the shoulder.
Finally, I want to thank my wife Michelle from the bottom or my heart. You let me quixotically tilt at yet another windmill, patiently weathered the excruciating highs and lows of monthly deadlines and just generally put up with my shit through these last two-and-half-years. For this and so much more, I love you, always.
Fair winds and blue skies to each and every one of you.
Cover Photo
We end where we began. This month’s cover was taken by Bob Hirsch in April of this year, who caught Aaron Smith Wallace and his classic Aquila Grande amongst the wild flowers atop everybody’s bucket list soaring site, Torrey Pines. Aaron comments:
“So much rain this season brought out this huge bloom of flowers. Could not resist the chance to catch all the bright colors. We usually get some flowers at Torrey in the Spring but that was exceptional.”
Exceptional, indeed — and we’re truly grateful California is finally getting some rain! Thanks for the opportunity to feature your great photo, Bob and Aaron.
You are welcome to download the June 2023 cover in a resolution suitable for computer monitor wallpaper. (2560x1440).
Disclaimer: While all reasonable care is taken in the preparation of the contents of the New RC Soaring Digest, the publishers are not legally responsible for errors in its contents or for any loss arising from such errors, including loss resulting from the negligence of our staff or any of its contributors. Reliance placed upon the contents of the New RC Soaring Digest is solely at the readers’ own risk.
Here’s the first article in the June, 2023 issue. Or go to the table of contents for all the other great articles. A PDF version of this edition of In The Air, or the entire issue, is available upon request.
