As many of you may be aware, for more than a year now I have been working with my friend and mentor John Lovelace (creator and 10-year host of Wings Over Canada) on a new television series entitled The Aviators.

As many of you may be aware, for more than a year now I have been working with my friend and mentor John Lovelace (creator and 10-year host of Wings Over Canada) on a new television series entitled The Aviators.

With production now in full swing, I thought I’d take an opportunity to answer some questions that I’ve been getting with increasing regularity from pilots and fans of aviation from across North American and around the world.

What is The Aviators?

The Aviators is a new weekly magazine-style TV series celebrating the people, places, and planes of North American aviation. We will be featuring the latest aircraft, the coolest technology, and the greatest fly-in destinations. We will take you behind the scenes to show you how airline pilots train, how planes are built, and how ATC works. We will profile aviation businesses and showcase aviation products. We will provide safety tips for private and recreational pilots and career tips for professional pilots. The Aviators is all-things-aviation: “For everyone who has ever gazed skywards.”

Will The Aviators be on the Internet?

While episodes of The Aviators will indeed be available at www.TheAviators.TV, The Aviators is a broadcast television series and will have a broad audience. In the United States, The Aviators will be distributed to all 320 Public Broadcasting Stations in the fall of 2010. The series will also air across Canada on a national network and is being presented to European and Asian broadcasters at the MIPTV festival in Cannes, France.

Will I get The Aviators in my area?

The best way to be kept apprised of broadcaster updates leading up to the premiere is to visit www.TheAviators.TV and subscribe to The Aviators Update List. We send out a short newsletter once every 2 or 3 months with updates on the show including broadcaster announcements. Another reason to subscribe to the list is to participate in our new contest where we are awarding up to two pairs of $249 Scheyden sunglasses every month.

Can I submit a story idea?

Absolutely… and we’d love to hear from you. You ARE aviation, and we want to tell your stories, share your experiences, and celebrate aviation together. Stories that inform, educate, or would be of interest to a broad audience are stories that might be a good fit for the show. Send an email to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or visit our website for more information.

What else can I do to get involved?

Word of mouth is a powerful tool. Tell your friends, place posters on bulletin boards at your flying club or airport, share information about the show in newsletters, etc., The Internet is also a powerful tool. Join our Fans of The Aviators Facebook group, discuss The Aviators in the many aviation chat rooms and forums, visit our website, and subscribe to the Update List. Through the List we are organizing a coordinated email campaign so that when the time comes (and it’s coming soon, but not quite yet) you can email your local affiliates en masse and tell them YOU WANT THE AVIATORS!

Why?

This isn’t really a question we get but the enormous positive response we’ve received from the aviation community to this point is so encouraging it helps us to realize the importance of a show like The Aviators at this time in our history.

General aviation is misunderstood by most of the population at large. Our numbers have been in decline. Fuel costs are rising. And some in power can quick with their criticisms. But aviation is no less wonderful, no less miraculous than it was over 100 years ago. In fact, it has become an essential part of our lives despite having to dodge slings and arrows.

But most of all flying is just plain fun. It’s been said that learning to fly makes you better at everything. I happen to believe that, unquestionably. Learning to fly was the best thing I’ve ever done for myself. It has given me an unparalleled sense of achievement and provides me with an ongoing peace.

And these are messages that worth communicating on the biggest and best medium ever invented (I’ll leave you to debate whether that’s television or the Internet… but we’ll have them both covered in any case. Print too, in fact.)