AVweb’s Oshkosh 1998 Coverage Team: Staff and Contributors

Carl Marbach is a co-founder of AVweb and itsPublisher. Carl is a 4,000-hour pilot, and commutes between homes in Boca RatonFL and Aspen CO in his 1978 Aerostar 601P. Carl was the founder and CEO ofProfessional Press which published five computer magazines including DEC Professional.After Professional Press was acquired by a venture capital firm, Carl foundedInternetwork Publishing Corporation and now devotes himself to the emergingfield of electronic publishing via the Internet. A lifelong resident ofPhiladelphia until 1994, Carl and his wife Helen now live in Boca Raton,Florida.

Mike Busch is a co-founder of AVweb and itsEditor-in-Chief. Mike is a 5,000-hour pilot, CFIA, CFII, CFIME. An aircraftowner for 28 years, Mike presently owns a pristine 1979 Cessna Turbo 310, andperforms virtually all the maintenance on it himself. He is an instructor forthe Cessna PilotsAssociation, a long-time sysop of the AVSIG aviation forum on CompuServe,and was formerly a Contributing Editor for The AviationConsumer and IFRmagazines. Mike and his wife Jan live in a semi-rural area of the central coastof California between Santa Maria and San Luis Obispo. Prior to founding AVweb,Mike retired from a long and successful career in the computer softwarebusiness.

Bob Kaputais Managing Editor of AVweb. Bob started out as a staff photographer for dailynewspaper, working on feature articles and writing a weekly motor sports column. Moving onto a second career in electronics at a large company in the midwest while also obtaininghis private pilot certificate and instrument rating, he brought his skills as a seniormaintenance specialist to the airport, working on his own airplane and as a part of the"annual team" at the local FBO. Now, as an independent computer consultant and10-year veteran manager of the AVSIG aviation forum on CompuServe, Bob brings his unusualblend of skills and experience full-circle to electronic journalism here on AVweb.He lives in a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio.

Doug Ritter is NewsEditor of AVweb. An experienced and respected aviation journalist, Doug is acontributing editor to The Aviation Consumerand Aviation Safety and a formercontributing editor to Flight Training. He also writes for CODE ONE and AOPAPilot, as well as other aviation publications. Doug is best known for his insightfulproduct evaluation and comparison articles, his interpretation and explanation of complextechnical and engineering concerns related to aircraft systems and products, and hisin-depth investigation of aviation products, flight safety and human factors issues. He isa leading expert in the area of aviation survival and a working member of the SAEAerospace Council S-9 Cabin Safety Provisions Committee and S9-GA General AviationSub-Committee. Doug is also the publisher and editor of EquippedTo Survive, a web site devoted to survival equipment and techniques.

Jennifer Whitley is AVweb's Copy Editor. A student pilot based in Austin, Texas, Jen flies a C-152 Aerobat and enjoys being upside down at every available opportunity. She has also been known to jump out of airplanes, on occasion. When not debating the finer points of style with the AVweb editors, Jen turns her love of language to her linguistics studies at the University of Texas, to a deeply-held concern for adult literacy, and to a perenially unfinished novel. She can often be found at a bar down on Sixth Street, trying to explain the aerodynamics of a spin to her non-pilot friends, who listen graciously for a while before suggesting that she get the next round.

Liz Swaineis is a member of the AVweb newswriting team. A private instrument-rated pilot, sheowns and flies a 1966 Mooney M-20E affectionately known as "Mike." Liz's lovefor aviation began some years ago when, as a reporter at a TV station in Pensacola,Florida, she was assigned the Blue Angels beat. From there, she moved to Shreveport,Louisiana, and as news anchor at the ABC affiliate, covers military happenings atBarksdale AFB. She has deployed all over the world on training missions and war games, andhas flown in just about every cargo hauler and transport in the military inventory. Sheknows the discomfort of sleeping in web seats and the surprise at the contents of thenotorious military "box lunch". Liz has traveled to Russia to cover the fall ofcommunism, to Saudi Arabia to report on the build up to Desert Storm, and to Israel tolook at the Arab-Israeli peace process up close. The fast pace of her life extends to herplay...she is a former triathlete and bicycle racer. Getting her Commercial andMulti-engine ratings are on her short list of things to do.

AVweb graphic artist, Randy Jenkinsis a 1996 graduate of Central Missouri State University in Warrensburg, Mo., and holds both an Associates and Bachelors degree in art. He has held down various jobs from assembly line worker to hotel desk clerk before coming to AVweb. In July of 1997, Randy started working for InterNETWORK Publishing Corporation (publishers of AVweb) on their Travelbase and Kids' Camps sites, and one year later was added to the AVweb team. Randy, unfortunately, knows next to nothing about airplanes and aviation, but is extremely happy for the opportunity to learn. He lives in Pompano Beach, FL with his wife Jacque and their son Marcus.

AVweb columnist John Deakin started in aviation as ahangar-rat and lineboy, worked his way up the aviation food chain via charter, corporate,and cargo flying, then spent five years in Southeast Asia with Air America. He joinedJapan Airlines 31 years ago and is now a very senior 747 captain with over 32,000 hours.He also flies his own immaculate Robertson STOL equipped V-tail Bonanza (N1BE) and is veryactive in the warbird and vintage aircraft scene, serving as an instructor in severalaircraft and as an FAA Examiner on the Curtiss-Wright C-46, his all-time favorite.

AVweb columnist Howard Fried started flying with the ArmyAir Corps in WWII, where he served both as a multi-engine instructor pilot and in combatpiloting B-17s. After a stint teaching sociology and on-the-air and management jobs in theradio business after the war, he turned to teaching flying again full-time. Over 40,000general aviation hours later, he is still instructing and running his own flight school.Along the way he administered over 4,000 flight tests as a Designated Examiner until victimized by rogue FAA officials.You simply cannot survive all those student pilots without learning a great deal along theway and he has generously shared that hard earned experience over the past few decades inarticles, a long-running column in Flying magazine, two popular flying books aimed atstudent pilots and instructors, Flight Test Tips and Tales and Beyond TheCheckride, and a series of audio tapes, Checkride Tips from Flying's Eyeof the Examiner.

AVweb columnist Michael Maya Charlesmade it to the left seat of a major airline via the long slow flight instruction-charter-corporate route, but never left general aviation in the process. He is still an active GA pilot who has flown hundreds of different aircraft in his 30 years of flying. MMC also holds an A&P certificate and restored and maintains the beautiful red 1979 Cessna 185 Skywagon (N301MC) that he currently owns. He is an established aviation writer who is perhaps best known for his "Pro's Nest" column in FLYING magazine and numerous features in AOPA Pilot. He offers his varied expertise as an aviation consultant and expert witness for the legal and insurance industry.www.airsafetyexperts.com. Besides his love of flying, he also enjoys the outdoors with his wife and young daughter.

AVweb contributor Walter Atkinson became interested in aviation at a very early age when his father, a WWII aviator, began fying a Comanche in the 1960's. He practices General Dentistry in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, because he enjoys it and it supports his hobbies of racing sailboats and flying his Aerobatic Bonanza and his C45H (Twin Beech). He has published three novels and over a dozen professional articles in refereed journals. He holds ASEL, AMEL, Instrument, and ASES Private ratings.

AVweb contributor Brent Blue, M.D. is a Senior Aviation Medical Examiner who writes for several aviation publications. He is a 5,500 ATP rated pilot and regularly flies a Cessna 340 and an antique experimental biplane called the Flaglor HighTow. Dr. Blue is on the EAA Aeromedical Council and created the EAA's AME Pilot Advocate Program. He was the team physician for the U.S. Aerobatic Team at the World Competition in Hungary in 1994. Brent practices medicine in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and frequently lectures on aviation medical topics. He is married to Nancy who keeps him in line and has three children. Dr. Blue is also the sysop for CompuServe's AVSIG (aviation) Forum Medical section.

AVweb contributor Rick Durden is a practicing aviation attorney who holds an ATP Certificate, with a type rating in the Cessna Citation and Commercial privileges for gliders, free balloons and single-engine seaplanes. He is also an instrument and multi-engine flight instructor. Rick started flying when he was fifteen and became a flight instructor during his freshman year of college. He did a little of everything in aviation to help pay for college and law school including flight instruction, aerial application and hauling freight. In the process of trying to fly every old and interesting airplane he could, Rick has accumulated over 5400 hours of flying time. In his law practice Rick regularly represents pilots, fixed base operators, overhaulers, and manufacturers. Prior to starting his private practice, he was an attorney for Cessna in Wichita for seven years. He is a regular contributor to Aviation Consumer and AOPA Pilot and teaches aerobatics in a 7KCAB Citabriain his spare time. Rick makes it clear he is part owner of a corporation which owns a Piper Aztec, because, having flown virtually every type of piston-engine airplane Cessna manufactured from 1933 on, as well as all the turboprops and some of the jets, he cannot bring himself to admit actually owning a Piper.

AVweb contributor Joe Godfreyis an instrument rated private pilot who flies a 1974 Bellanca Viking. Joe has been hooked on flying since age 6, when his parents bought a house in the pattern of Blue Ash airport in Cincinnati. He composes music for commercials, films, broadcast and corporate media and has composed and produced thousands of music tracks for America's largest advertisers. In addition to contributing to AVweb, Joe has written for The Aviation Consumer and IFR magazines. He teaches a one-semester graduate class in broadcast production atThe Advertising Arts Collegeand is a director, mission coordinator, and pilot for Angel Flight West, a non-profit organization that uses private airplanes to fly indigent patients for specialized medical treatment. So far, Joe is the only AVweb contributor that has logged time with Ella Fitzgerald and conducted the London Symphony.

AVweb contributor Tom Gresham is a private instrument rated pilot who passed his private checkride at dawn, New Year's Day, in Anchorage, Alaska. As editor of Alaska magazine he used his 1947 Luscombe 8E to tour the state for three years. Having upgraded to a newer plane, a 1959 Cessna Skylane, Gresham now operates out of central Louisiana, flying his "straight tail" 182 over much of the eastern U.S. A magazine writer, editor, photographer, book author, television host (ESPN) andnational radio talk show host, Tom ranks flying as first among his many loves.

AVweb contributor Nancy Hattaway Miller is a perpetual student pilot whose main hobby is training CFIs for a "better" job in aviation. Nancy was the fourth employee atPC WorldOnline and was instrumental in developing their web site and newsletter products. When the bleeding-edge online environment began to seriously interfere with her flying time, Nancy moved to the print side of PC World magazine where the pace is merely frenetic. In a work history variously described as "Renaissance" or "checkered", Nancy has earned her keep as a photographer, writer, chemist, programmer, soda jerk, college instructor, typesetter and veterinarian. She and her husband Patrick enjoy the temperate climate and blue skies of Northern California, and are always happy to give California weather reports to their friends in thunderstorm or windchill country.

AVweb contributor Matt Paxton started flying gliders in 1970 at age 16 andlater earned his commercial glider certificate and CFIG. Mattinstructs or tows most every Sunday for the Springwood SoaringAssociation. He also holds a commercial SEL certificate and isinstrument rated. He is a partner in a 1962 Bellanca 260. He hasflown to Oshkosh four of the past five years and has worked as avolunteer for the past two. He is president of The News-Gazette Corp. in Lexington, Va.,which publishes newspapers, a regional travel magazine andoperates a commercial printing operation. In 1997, The News-Gazette won an honorable mention in AOPA's Max Karant aviationjournalism competition for coverage of an effort to build a localGA airport. This year, The News-Gazette went on-line and thecompany began offering website development services. Matt never buys lottery tickets because he used up all his`luck of the draw' by winning a flight on the EAA's B-17"Aluminum Overcast" in 1995. Matt and his wife, Margaret Ann,live in Lexington, Va. with their two daughters.