Rachelle Haughn, former copy editor/staff writer for Park Pilot magazine and current AMA Foundation Donor & Programs Specialist, discusses her role in Park Pilot’s 15-year publication
Clarissa Poston: How long were you the copy editor/staff writer for Park Pilot?
Rachelle Haughn: I began working on Park Pilot shortly after I started working at AMA in May 2011. I met then-editor Jeff Troy at AMA’s 75th anniversary celebration in Muncie, Indiana, that year, and he asked me to start writing “The Other Side of the Tree Line” for the magazine. I remember meeting and writing one about Joe Bok of Aero Telemetry. He designed the models used in the movie The Aviator. He built a ½-scale Hughes H-1 Racer and flew it at the 75th anniversary. I will never forget how many Aero Telemetry employees it took to unload and fly that massive model. What an impressive aircraft!
I believe my next “The Other Side of the Tree Line” article was about Hoot and Huff, aka retired astronaut Robert “Hoot” Gibson and retired U.S. Navy pilot Tom Huff. I met both of them at the 75th anniversary as well. Both were passionate about model aircraft and full-scale aircraft.
I met some truly fascinating people through writing “The Other Side of the Tree Line.”
CP: What were your responsibilities in holding this position?
RH: My other responsibilities included helping Jay [Smith, Park Pilot’s executive editor,] come up with ideas for articles for the magazine, editing all text, writing the cover lines, proofing layouts, and making changes to layouts. I also wrote feature stories for the magazine. These included product reviews and event coverage.
CP: What is one word that you would use to describe your time editing Park Pilot?
RH: Interesting. Park Pilot was meant to be a quirky, fun, light-hearted magazine that celebrated the joy of the hobby. That meant it could include less-serious words and content.
CP: Were there any hurdles that you, as the copy editor/staff writer, had to overcome throughout the life of the magazine? If so, how were they overcome?
RH: I would say that the COVID-19 pandemic was a big one. We went from all being in the office five days a week and doing everything on paper to all working remotely and doing everything digitally. We would edit the entire magazine from front to back twice. That went from printing everything out on paper and marking it up to doing it all on PDFs. It was also harder to get our subscribers their magazines on time because of labor shortages at the printer, delays with the post office, [and] people sheltering in place away from home for extended periods of time.
The other big challenge near the end was finding aircraft that would fit withing the Park Pilot [Program] guidelines. Manufacturers began to move away from small foamies to bigger scale aircraft.
CP: How was your process/the magazine’s process impacted when Park Pilot went digital?
RH: Not a whole lot changed in terms of editing when the Park Pilot digital edition was released. We rarely had bonus content for the digital edition that needed to be proofed. As a writer and photographer, though, whenever I wrote something, I had to start trying to think of things that could go into the digital edition. Instead of just featuring someone in print, I had to think about how to incorporate videos and extra photos. Sometimes that also included extra text as “bonus” content.
CP: Is there anything that you’d like to elaborate upon, or anything else that you’d like to mention, about Park Pilot?
RH: Overall, I am sad to see Park Pilot go. It was kind of like my baby for a time. I enjoyed interacting with our authors and having the opportunities to meet fascinating people. However, changes in the industry are just not something that I could control.
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