As regular readers of ReviewBeforeFlight and most of my friends and family probably know, I make no money from ReviewBeforeFlight. Don’t worry, I’m not going to ask you for any either. Instead, take anything you would consider donating and put it towards your next flight or flight lesson…

I do get the question a lot though, why do I do this? What is the point?

Well frankly, writing here on ReviewBeforeFlight and serving as the editor for our team of writers is one of my favorite hobbies. I really enjoy promoting aviation and sharing any thought provoking content that I can. Recently, I was picking around in the back-end of the website and the analytics when I noticed we just crossed 25,000 views!

Yes, 25,000!

I started this blog in late 2013 when I was an active flight instructor in addition to being the assistant airport manager of the local airport and operations manager for the flight school. I loved teaching a “Learn to Fly” private pilot ground school, course which fellow ReviewBeforeFlight writer Jim Quinn and I created and first taught in 2009. I viewed the blog and website as the extension of this course. I was constantly directing students in the course to online sources and books for various topics and I thought, gee wouldn’t it be great if all that content was in one place. Not the basic stuff like the forces of flight, you can find that anywhere, I mean things like the concepts covered in the “The Art of the (Aeronautical) Chart” series…

When I left being an active flight instructor to move to be the assistant airport manager at a bigger airport, I decided to keep the blog and work to expand it into more of a full website. The addition of the content for Region VII of the National Intercollegiate Flying Association and my photography work made this easier than I expected…

As we look towards the future, I want to say thank you all who have read and continue to read ReviewBeforeFlight. My writing hobby is made possible and worthwhile because of the support (views) from all of you. Your continued readership will keep ReviewBeforeFlight running strong!

-Fly Safe, @MTElia1B9