Tag Archives: Article

Global Aviation Resource Piece

Realized that I haven’t been totally comprehensive in plugging one of my pieces.  If you don’t follow Facebook or Twitter (and in that case how do you even know that this is here?) then you won’t have seen a piece show up on Global Aviation Resource’s site that I wrote about Mauna Loa Helicopters.

 

Click on this link and you can see the article.

Will they ever pay?

Two years ago I was contacted by a magazine that was interested in running a piece I had been working on. The article related to the helicopter lifting operation to put the spire in the Trump Hotel and Tower here in Chicago. The spire was the final external construction piece of the building and its location and size meant that it wasn’t possible to use conventional cranes to assemble it.  The whole process was going to be done using a helicopter.  I had spent a considerable amount of time working with the helicopter operator to shoot the event and to build an article around it.

The magazine that contact me about using my proposal was PilotMag.  They were interested in running the piece in their Oshkosh edition and were willing to pay a reasonable fee for the images and the text.  I was very satisfied with the details they proposed and the article went into the magazine as planned.  Shortly thereafter, I invoiced them for the work.  That was two years ago.  I haven’t seen a penny from them since.

I have had frequent correspondence with them since although not the person who commissioned the piece who is no longer with them.  In common with a lot of print publications, things are tough for them at the moment.  They are regularly advising me of how close they are in keeping the business afloat and how they will pay as soon as they can.  They also suggest that they will pay in installments.  At this point, I am looking for any sign that they will ever pay anything.

Why am I writing about this now?  Because I am still mad about it and perhaps because I am looking for an opportunity to vent my frustrations.  If they use Google to track their brand name, maybe they will read this and remember that they still owe me!  Also, if anyone is contemplating writing a piece or submitting some images for this publication, it might allow you to go into that with your eyes open about the risks associated with getting paid by them.  They may pay you before me since they need contributors to keep going.  They may also want to contemplate how many people in this field I will be sharing my story with!

Come on guys.  Stop coming up with excuses and start coming up with some cash!