I am excited to announce that AeroSafety World is going all-digital. In order to better serve the Foundation’s members and the aviation safety community globally, we are no longer going to print the magazine. Instead, we will offer important safety news, information and features in a responsive, easy to access and search format on our newly redesigned and relaunched website at <flightsafety.org>. In addition, by early 2017, we plan to roll out an ASW app for mobile devices that will keep our content accessible regardless of whether you are online.
The decision to stop printing ASW with this issue was not an easy one, but I firmly believe it is the right one. I have spent large swaths of my more than 30 years in journalism reporting, writing and editing print publications — newspapers, newsletters, magazines and even a book. My parents met while working at a newspaper. Ink is in my blood. I understand the loyalty to print.
But I also have spent considerable time in various roles in the digital world, and our new website and its dedicated ASW section will allow us to disseminate critical information and interact with our members in ways that simply are not possible with print. For example, the new website features a federated search function that will allow a user to input a topic — for example, “lithium batteries” — and have results returned from not only ASW and the Foundation’s database, but also SKYbrary and the Aviation Safety Network. We also will be able to get the word out more quickly on important safety issues, and then to follow up every month with the in-depth analysis and information that you have come to expect from ASW.
Our commitment to aviation safety and journalistic integrity will not change, but the way we serve our members will, and I think you are going to like what you see.