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Stories by David Parker Brown

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF & FOUNDER - SEATTLE, WA. David has written, consulted, and presented on multiple topics relating to airlines and travel since 2008. He has been quoted and written for a number of news organizations, including BBC, CNN, NBC News, Bloomberg, and others. He is passionate about sharing the complexities, the benefits, and the fun stuff of the airline business. Email me: david@airlinereporter.com

https://www.airlinereporter.com

Emotionally Statistic: Looking Back at 2017 & the Last Decade

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I know, I know… everyone and their mom does “year-end review” stories. I am adding one more. Really, this is more for me and our team to look back to see what and how we did for the year. While I am at it, I might as well share, right?

This was the first full year where I sort of half-assed it. Probably not the right word to use, but I am going with it. July 2018 will mark the 10th year I have been running this site. A decade. For many of those years we published one story per weekday, week after week. That takes quite a bit of time. Even just editing and formatting another person’s story can take hours. And all those emails — they never stop.

I was driven by passion and love of airplanes. I also was hoping to make this a full-time business. In 2016, I was given the opportunity to try to make that happen and I hated it. I started to lose the love for the site and that wasn’t cool. So, I decided to get a job that I love and turn AR back into a hobby. This was the right call — I am happier now than I have been in a long time.

Of course there have been consequences. We have moved from a very consistent five stories per week to one, two, maybe three. I think there was one or two weeks with zero. This is really one of those sorry, not sorry moments. Man, I wish we could have daily content — I love reading our stories myself. However, the time commitment wasn’t sustainable, and that’s okay.

The number of stories might be down, but I don’t think we have half-assed the quality of our content. I am really proud of our stories and what we have been able to accomplish this year. I feel so grateful to have so many amazingly talented and passionate folks that have been able to share their experiences on AR.

Of course it is nicer when we write stories and people are there to read them. As expected, our traffic is down compared to previous years, but not as much as I thought. We still had over 3 million visitors to the site in 2017 and we’ve grown to over 100,000 Twitter followers. A huge thank you for sticking around with us, and hello to our new friends!

Alright, let’s move a bit away from the emotional stuff and let’s get into some stats (hey, we have something for everyone here)!

When Circus Elephants Roamed the Boeing Factory Floor!

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Elephants walk around inside the factory - Photo: The Boeing Company

During the Boeing 737 Renton Factory tour at Aviation Geek Fest this year, I thought I heard the tour guide say something about elephants walking the factory floor. Wait… what? I wasn’t sure if I heard it right, or if maybe he was having some fun with the guests. I mean, I have been in the factory many times, done a few stories, but elephants had never come up. I also know that the Boeing tour guides are super knowledgeable and he mostly likely wasn’t lying. So I decided to reach out to Boeing Historian Michael Lombardi and, sure enough, the circus did come to town! Kind of — way back in the 1940s.

AvGeeks Assemble! Loving Aviation Geek Fest Seattle 2017

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One group of AvGeeks enjoy the American 727 - Photo: Francis Zera

At the end of September we got to enjoy another amazing Aviation Geek Fest. If you follow the site, the name probably sounds familiar. It is a VIP-access event that allows AvGeeks to get together and experience some pretty cool things not typically open to the general public. This year we had people converge from around the world (guests from Argentina, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, & USA) to Seattle, WA to partake in this three-day aviation-themed event. How cool is that?

As it has been the last in previous years, the events and activities are amazing, but you cannot beat hanging around a bunch of other like-minded folks for a few days! Everyone gets to tell their airplane stories and everyone actually wants to listen!