THANKS BRIAN

À bientôt Brian!

Steve Slater pays tribute to 20 years of sterling service by LA’s retiring editor…

We have to admit to some ‘smoke and mirrors’ here. Myself and editor-in-waiting Ed Hicks have unashamedly stolen a page of Brian’s last edition as editor to pay tribute to a man, who frankly is a bit of an LAA legend, and certainly one of the Association’s hardest-working contributors.

Brian has been a PFA and LAA member since 1976, a Permit aircraft owner since 1987, on the committee of the Kent Strut since 1989 and has served in a number of Association roles from Vice Chairman to Treasurer, as well as more than a decade as a Board member and, as one of the assessment team for the annual Armstrong-Isaacs Flying Bursaries.

Of course, Brian is best known as the editor of Popular Flying and Light Aviation magazines. Brian was editor of the Association magazines for 10 years on a part-time contract basis before being invited to join the staff as a full-time LAA employee in October 2011.

Among Brian’s many milestones as editor was his first issue, May/June 2001, in the days when the magazine was still bimonthly. Brian worked with John Catchpole and his Above The inimitable Brian Hope

Photo: Neil Wilson

Below From six to 12 issues a year, a new name, different printers and changing designs, Brian has provided a steady steer for Light Aviation Imax Publishing company to take advantage of computing and technological advances in the print industry which led to production costs being brought down, and under Brian’s tenure, Popular Flying was able to become a monthly magazine from January 2005. Brian also oversaw the magazine’s change of title to Light Aviation in January 2008, in line with the Association name change to the Light Aircraft Association Ltd. There have been other challenges too. Brian oversaw a move from Imax Publishing to LOOP Publishing in July 2008, and when LOOP went into receivership in December 2010, Brian helped bring Seager Publishing on board to provide the design and print for the magazine in January 2011. Most recently, Brian oversaw a facelift for the magazine with refreshed visuals in 2019, bringing us to the Light Aviation we enjoy today.

Brian’s ‘history’ is therefore shown in some of the magazine covers shown on this page. I’m also delighted that Brian is not stepping away from working with the LAA just yet. While he is handing over the helm of Light Aviation to Ed Hicks, Brian has already started work in a new role as Training Course Co-ordinator. So it’s less a case of ‘au revoir’, more ‘à bientôt’! ■