I’ll admit it. I love learning about airlines and aviation. I find it fascinating to fly at 30,000 feet above the earth surface. Therefore, I subscribed to Airliners Magazine to keep up with the latest aviation news and stories as it is well told in this 80 page magazine.

Price

The first time I bought Airliners was at Barnes & Noble in 2000. What attracted me first was the front page which had a gigantic airplane landing on a runway, then the price which was only $5.50. Then, I decided to subscribe to the magazine since the price was only $25 U.S Dollars for six issues a year. I loved the setup, articles, pictures, and way of writing.

For those of you who live outside the U.S, here is some pricing information for when subscribing to Airliners Magazine:

$35 for six issues for all Canadian residents.
$50 for six issues for all other residents of the world.

I renewed my subscription after the first year since you must renew your subscription every year unless you order otherwise.

Flight Plan

This page allows you to see what you will read about in the magazine. You can read the titles and a small explanation of the articles, departments, and photography. There is also an explanation of what the cover page is a picture of and why it was chosen for the issue. It usually has something to do with one of the articles.

Articles (Every Issue)

Every issue of Airliners follows a pattern. This makes the magazine a lot easier to read. Toward the beginning and end of the magazine, you will find articles that are in every issue.

Up-Front discusses problems with airlines and flying. On the issue that I am holding (No. 75 May/June 2002), Up-Front talks about declining visibility from the air when flying into certain airports in Florida. Basically, this article lets readers know of issues to be aware of before setting foot on a plane.

Air Mail responds to the readers of other articles. Here, people will talk about previous articles and what they were discussing. People also put their input on the article such as their thoughts on what the article is about, and what they liked and disliked about the article (kind of like here at epinions).

Corrections is a small column for readers who find mistakes that the magazine makes with its information. There are very small mistakes such as, “The second and third column headers in each table should have been labeled Aircraft Ordered and Aircraft Delivered, not Aircraft Delivered and Aircraft Backlog. Of course, all magazines make mistakes that are small, such as the one I pointed out. I really don’t mind if the mistakes are that small.

From The Left Seat talks about pilots’ intakes on what the government has planned for them since the post-September 11th attacks. This includes new security measures such as allowing pilots to carry guns, stripping down suspicious characters, and the bullet-proof cockpit doors. This allows the reader to get a good idea of what the pilots think about before taking their seat and flying the skies.

Ask Airliners is one of my favorite sections of the magazine. People like you and me ask the publishers about everyday aviation. Such questions are, “How come runways can hold so much weight from airplanes?”, or, “What do the readings on the back of the plane mean?” This is where you can get some good answers for questions about aviation that you may like to know.

Vapor Trails is my favorite article. It involves a lot of humor about funny things that have happened on planes or at the airport.

“Sir, you can put your clothes on now,” said the security matron. “Your shoes will be ready in a moment.” They must have been bore-scoping them. I was on my way to Venice, Italy, when the inconvenience of having to stand in line at security for 30 minutes and then strip down to my shorts was only minor.

So basically, this is the article to vent about airlines, airports, and security.

Other Articles

By looking at my May/June 2002 issue, I can see that there are many other articles that were added in due to more information about the aviation world. These articles include airlines getting new aircraft, new airlines, airlines retiring aircraft, airlines going bankrupt, and airports that are unique. Since there are about seven articles here, I will only explain my favorite one as it is special to me. The article is called TWA’s Terminal of Tomorrow.

TWA, as most people know, went out of business in early 2001. I had flown on TWA a few times before it collapsed, and I found it to be convenient until the information about them going out of business. Then, all the workers became crabby, the airplanes were in bad shape, and the service became horrible. To look back on the better memories, the article gives a good amount of information on the Terminal Five at JFK International Airport, where it all started.

The article talks about how the terminal was constructed, who came up with the plans to build it, and what it would look like. The futuristic looks made the passengers gaze in awe. There is a picture from the first moments that the terminal opened, to its last flight. The article talks a lot about dining, flights, looks, crew outfits, and historical flights such as flight 800 which crashed after taking off from JFK. There are many pictures from the inside showing winding staircases, long hallways, big waiting halls, diners, and the main window which looked out into the tarmac.

Photography

Photography of Airliners Magazine is something very special. As many people know, it is hard to get very good pictures of airplanes. Airliners Magazine captures the best photos. Photographers take pictures relating to the articles. For example, there is an article in the May/June issue that talks about Swissair going out of business and turning into Swiss Airlines. There is a whole time-line, and in the time-line are photos. It starts with Swissair’s very first livery, and continues until the new Swiss Airlines livery. Most photos are color, but the ones from the 1940’s and around that period are black and white.

In other articles, there are pictures of planes right about to touch down on the runway which is a very hard picture to get. There are also pictures of planes on the ramp, taxiing (yes, that’s how you spell it) to the runways, and taking off. There was also a photo from a more recent issue that showed a plane flying right in front of the moon. It seems that they had very expensive equipment for that photo.

Ads & Products

The ads seem to blend in with the articles. Since all the ads deal with airplanes and aviation, it would seem like they were a part of the photography. Some people may look at these ads as a pro since people like to order aircraft products. These products include airplane models, Just Planes videos and DVD’s, and books on airplanes. The ads seem to be very limited, however, as they do not take up much space. They must take up five out of the 80 pages at the maximum. So, all-in-all, don’t worry about the ads when buying Airliners Magazine.

My Take...

Airliners Magazine seems to be a very good magazine. It would be most appreciated by those who love aviation and airplanes, and for those who like to keep up with the latest air news. The articles seem to be very interesting and I like it that I know that I will always find the most up-to-date information. The writing seems to be clear and informative while not making you fall asleep. I love the photography as it keeps the magazine lively. The price is perfect, and you never need to worry about too many ads. You can definitely count on Airliners Magazine to give you the best information on airlines and aviation available.

I would like to thank Gloria and Janice for giving me some excellent tips on how to write a magazine review. I deeply appreciate it!

Airliners Magazine - Bringing Back Great Memories Of TWA, And More!

Recommended: Yes