It may break even….or even turn a profit from advertising ? - I don’t know .You’d need to dig deep into the financials to figure that out.
Member engagement and nurturing a ‘community’ is key. A membership magazine may be a very small part of that, but given the diversity of interests and opinions across recreational aviation, it would be challenging to hit the centreline every time.
I’m not too fussed about the magazine for or against. I do note the editor does write a lot of the articles though, which suggests that member contributed articles are practically zero, which is a pity. I read Flying Australia as well, and used to read Australian Pilot when it was a print version in newsagents. Some articles in all these magazines were interesting to me, others I’d skip over. Someone said, if you can please some of the people, some of the time, you’re doing ok. Ultimately, to make the magazine feel more genuine to the membership, more grass roots member articles would help……but who is going to volunteer to write them ?
I’m just a passive member that just likes flying and I don’t get too worked up about all the ‘baggage’ that goes with it. Maybe some day I’ll fly somewhere unique and particularly interesting and I’ll be motivated to dip my quill into the ink.