AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 35

MI L ESTONES /
'It's been a thrill'
Haines honored with lifetime achievement award
BY THOMAS A. HORNE
LONGTIME AOPA MEDIA LEADER Tom Haines was presented with the David W.
Ewald Platinum Wing Award at the NBAA convention for his lifetime achievement
in journalism. " The Platinum Wing Award is for outstanding careers in journalism.
In 2007 we named the award after David Ewald, who many of you know created
Flight Training. And it's entirely appropriate that this year we are honored to be
able to present it to Tom Haines, " said National Business Aviation Association
President and CEO Ed Bolen. " Tom Haines is a remarkable individual and a
remarkable human being. At 16, he got his pilot's license and for the rest of his
career he has been able to share with us his passion and his joy for aviation. "
The honor was kept a secret from Haines until the presentation.
including the AOPA ePilot and Flight Training
digital weekly newsletters aimed at both AOPA's
core audience and those subscribing to AOPA
Pilot's sister publication, Flight Training.
In keeping with his interest in turbinepowered
airplanes, he followed the industry
closely, and was key to expanding AOPA Pilot's
Turbine Pilot section into a monthly special
edition.
He also initiated a program of video coverage
to accompany stories that appeared in print. He
established a weekly online webcast-AOPA
Live This Week-and served as its insightful,
yet sometimes jocular anchor, alongside Melissa
Rudinger and more recently Alyssa Cobb.
After he announced his retirement in early
2022, his daughters " ambushed " him by barging
into an AOPA Live news segment he was
recording, taking over the show (all this was preplanned),
and turning the rest of it into a tribute
to his time at AOPA-and his role as a family man.
He didn't just talk the talk, he walked the
Former AOPA Editor in Chief Tom Haines and NBAA President and CEO Ed Bolen.
" Wow, what an honor, " said a surprised Haines. " I'm particularly pleased that
it's an award named after Dave Ewald, who I knew from day one when I started at
Professional Pilot magazine, and who welcomed me into the industry. I've gotten
to fly general aviation airplanes all over the world. And hopefully told a few stories
and maybe helped some people along the way to being a little bit safer and maybe
to inspire them a little bit to go out and fly an airplane a little bit more. But, really,
for me it's been a thrill and I've been inspired by so many people in this room and
in other parts of aviation. "
Haines was hired in 1988 as an associate editor at AOPA Pilot magazine. He
earned a degree in journalism from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and was a
broadcaster at a local TV station. He moved to the Washington, D.C. area (Alexandria,
Virginia), to work at Professional Pilot magazine. Then he came to AOPA Pilot.
His rise in the ranks at AOPA took him from associate editor to being named
editor in chief of the magazine, and senior vice president of publications and media,
in 34 years. He was key to establishing and widening AOPA's digital coverage,
walk-he owned a Cessna 172 Skyhawk, then a
1972 Beechcraft Bonanza A36, and a Van's Aircraft
RV-12, and is now a partner in a 1998 A36.
Haines earned type ratings in the Eclipse 500,
the Cessna Citation CJ, and the North American
Mitchell B-25 medium bomber. He also got some
air-to-ground gunnery practice while working on
a helicopter story.
Haines was the longest serving (from 1994 to
2022) editor of AOPA Pilot in the publication's
history, serving under four AOPA presidents-
John Baker, Phil Boyer, Craig Fuller, and Mark
Baker. He's won writing awards from the
Associated Press and the American Society of
Business Publication Editors, and has appeared
as a guest on NBC, MSNBC, and CNN as an
aviation expert. Now that he's retired, he spends
time roaming the countryside in his Mercedes
RV, flying in his A36, and serving on the board
of directors for Redbird Flight Simulations.
Thomas A. Horne was a senior editor for AOPA
publications for more than 40 years. He retired
in 2022.
AOPA PILOT / January 2024
35
KOLLIN STAGNITO

AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024

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