As you probably guessed from the headline, it’s our 2nd birthday today! Hence the image of Runway 2! The first thing I’d like to say, just like last year, is thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read any of our content over the past two years!
Runway 2 at KEEN (Keene, NH) in honor of our 2nd birthday!
It’s amazing to think I launched “MTElia’s Flying Blog” (as it was then known) on this day two years ago. It’s equally amazing for me to think about all of the changes that have happened in that time, but this isn’t (just) about me, it’s about our website!
Over the past year we’ve continued in our effort to provide as much timely and thought-provoking content as possible. Admittedly, things slowed down a bit during November, while I moved to Florida, but the blog continued to be refreshed throughout the month, a couple of times at least. More importantly, we’re back running strong now. You should expect new posts from many of our writers early in the New Year as I’ve been exchanging messages with all of them and they are all working on interesting topics. I personally am very thankful to all of the other writers here at ReviewBeforeFlight, as without their contributions we wouldn’t be where we are today!
A few of the highlights we experienced during 2015:
- During January 2015 we welcomed three new writers to ReviewBeforeFlight and each has continued to provide great content since! Tom, Jim & Matt are all working on new posts right now too, so stay tuned! Later in the year, Will Smith (not the actor) joined the team and came through with great stuff. We also had Sean Collins of AOPA provide some top-notch writing on RBF this year as well.
- We crossed 30,000 views since launch and added about 33% to our unique visitor count during our second year. For a part-time hobby website, I’m extremely pleased with this, especially our global reach which can be seen in an image below!
- I personally moved down to Florida to become the first-ever, Aviation Manager for America’s Seaplane City, Tavares. The posts might have slowed down a bit during November while I moved and got settled in Florida, but we’re back up and running at full speed and RBF readers can expect some seaplane-themed content soon!
- During October, we again sponsored the, ReviewBeforeFlight Cup, NIFA Region VII Team Sportsmanship Award. The award was presented this year to the Dowling College flight team following their display of the best NIFA-culture during the 2015 Region VII SAFECON.
Our “Flying for Food” series of posts reached some new states this year (Pennsylvania & Vermont)!
Editor’s Favorite Pictures of 2015, it was a three way tie…
Half Dome at Yosemite National Park, taken during my West Coast vacation.
Gulfstream III landing on Runway 5 at EWB. This picture is representative of a group of pictures I took during the spring/summer of this airplane coming & going from EWB… It was a great subject!
Taken during the Great New England Air Show during May.
What I’m the most proud of over the past two years…
Our global reach during our 2nd year! 6 continents, again!
Just like last year, we have a surprise for our readers coming early in 2016, so stay tuned!
-Fly Safe, @MTElia1B9
Review Before Flight 
Congratulations on year Two! Proud of you!