ATM Modernization, Business & GA, Commercial, Military

Editor’s Note: Celebrating an Industry

By David Jensen | October 1, 1999
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As you will no doubt quickly notice, two new special features have been added to Avionics Magazine. Initially obvious—because it appears on our cover—is the magazine’s new, annual recognition of the industry’s current outstanding individuals, companies and achievements. We call it the Avionics Magazine Hall of Fame, and it coincides with our annual Avionics Exhibition and Conference, held this year in Bellevue, Wash., Oct. 26-28.

Each year at about this time, we will honor those who have made recent outstanding contributions to the avionics industry. We will recognize a manufacturer/systems integrator, a government/service agency, an airline/user, a small business, an innovation, and an avionics industry executive. This year, we also included an Editor’s Choice, an option open to the judging.

The 1999 executive of the year is ARINC’s chairman and CEO, James L. Pierce, who also happens to be chairman of RTCA. Our interview with Pierce and the list of other inductees in our Hall of Fame begins on page 20.

Hall of Famers were selected, then voted on, by the editors of Avionics Magazine. These include contributing editors, many of whom are in the industry — with airlines, regulatory agencies, consulting firms, etc.— as well as aviation journalists.

Turning to pages 44 and 45, you will notice another new Avionics Magazine feature, our Cockpit Profile. Periodically, we plan to present a super-sharp photograph of an aircraft cockpit.

Our maiden Cockpit Profile is of the T-38C Talon, an upgraded version of the U.S. Air Force’s jet trainer aircraft. In months to come, you can expect to see cockpits that run the gamut, from commercial and corporate aircraft to helicopters and general aviation airplanes to military fighters and transport aircraft. You may also see the cockpits of antique aircraft, blimps, even the Space Shuttle. In short, we at Avionics Magazine hope to have fun with this new feature and hope you will join in this spirit of diversion.

The Cockpit Profile section is meant to show the many variations of cockpit design in the most eye-filling light. To achieve a poster-like quality, we selected long-time aviation photographer Chris Sorensen, who captured on film the T-38C cockpit.

Our decisions to add the Cockpit Profile feature and our Hall of Fame were made quite independently, and their initial appearance in this issue is coincidental. Nevertheless, they both represent a common aim by the editors of Avionics Magazine—to celebrate the industry we cover.

We want to recognize achievement, whether through awards or through vivid, high-quality photography. Our recognition through our Hall of Fame is quite explicit — not to mention gratifying. It requires no explanation.

Our recognition through our Cockpit Profiles (also gratifying) is to demonstrate not only what the industry can achieve, but also how far we have come, technologically, in man-machine interface.

Please join us in honoring the 1999 members of the Avionics Magazine Hall of Fame. And feel free to suggest future subjects for our Cockpit Profiles.

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