Media Platform

After five or six years of work, I think I’ve created just the right media platform to support my books, especially now that the mainstream press has begun asking some of the right questions, often of me. Not long after the Southwest Airlines airplane landed at the wrong airport in January 2014, I found myself on the must-call list for both CNN and Fox News. I recorded two on-camera sessions for national Fox News programs while a senior CNN editor asked me to pen an editorial piece about the cockpit automation issue, which just happens to be the heart of my book.

Here’s a link to that CNN piece … Wrong Runway Landings are an Urgent Wakeup Call. I wrote another piece for CNN a few weeks earlier about the Asiana 214 hearings in Washington that also relate to my book idea that got folks talking with more than 450 comments. Pilots, not Computers, Should Fly Airplanes. For fun, I also penned a piece for CNN about Justin Bieber’s recent shenanigans aboard a private jet titled, The Bieb is Out of Control.

An author brief … and then some programs to listen to and watch.

I’ve been a commercial pilot and a flight instructor most of my life having logged 7,000 hours of flight time. I gained flying experience as an airline pilot, a charter and private jet pilot and as a flight instructor. I’ve been writing about the industry for the past 30 years … the last 10 of which have been focused on aviation safety. I’ve been honored for my writing over the years too … twice named an Aerospace Journalist of the Year at the Paris airshow and once for Journalism Excellence by the National Business Aviation Association at their annual convention for my work in private aviation.

No good plug would be complete without mentioning my education. My masters degree’s was awarded by the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University where I also serve as an adjunct lecturer. I mention this specifically because of the value of our alumni list. Over the past 20 years, I’ve watched people from almost every part of the communications industry band together to support their fellow graduates. I’m also a member of the editorial board for the Northwestern magazine.

Jetwhine.com, my blog of aviation buzz and bold opinion, has been in production continuously since it started in 2006.  Jetwhine’s subscriber base hovers around 1,200 via e-mail but that number doesn’t include those who tune in from around the world through the blog’s syndication through the eBrief system.

The weekly radio show I co-host and co-produce, The Airplane Geeks, has been around since 2008. The Airplane Geeks, syndicated through iTunes, averages 6,000 to 7,000 individual downloads weekly with some shows pulling much better. We recently recorded nearly 12,000 downloads the week we discussed the Asiana 214 accident with a guest from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). Our listeners are worldwide, thanks in part to regular special segments from reporters in Australia and Europe. A highlight to the popularity of the radio show has been our invite two years in a row to produce a live broadcast for the Learn-to-Fly Day at the Udvar-Hazy center of the National Air & Space museum in Washington.

One of my daytime gigs is as editor of AINSafety, a weekly online magazine that keeps readers at the leading edge of the industry’s safety issues. Our subscriber list is currently hovering at around 33,000.AIN Safety logo

Because I’ve apparently found a sweet spot in translating airplane-talk into a language the rest of the world can understand, I offer you some links to audio and video segments where I’ve been called upon to talk about aviation safety.

Finally, I am the editor of the soon-to-debut Private Jet Travel section at About.com

The Details

Broadcast Television — Clips from CNN, Fox News & NBC – Rob Mark Demo reel (7:30). Always room for a bit of educational fun, I think, so I turned my opportunity to fly the Airbus A380 over France into a YouTube show that grabbed more than a hundred thousand views. Fox News 5-6-2014 — ATC Over the Hudson

Radio — I’ve been interviewed through a number of ABC radio outlets, as well as WGN-Radio here in Chicago. Here’s a recent show I did with Gil Gross in San Francisco after the Asiana Airlines accident hearings in Washington DC.  Rob and Gil Gross on Talk Radio 910. A demo clip of mine from The Airplane Geeks Show radio show.

Print — Here’s a link to one of the award ceremonies in Paris a few years back. The story ran in Business Jet Traveler magazine, a relatively new publication aimed at the people who ride around in the back of business jets. My written work has appeared in Aviation International News magazine, like this piece that directly addresses some of the industry’s recent recognition of the book’s premise. Other pubs include Flying, The Chicago Tribune, Aviation Week and many other trade publications. I’ve also written four books on the aviation industry over the past 20 years published under the McGraw-Hill label.

Social Media — I was early to social media in 2006 with my blog, Jetwhine.com and the weekly Internet radio show, The Airplane Geeks. On the Twitter network for quite a few years as well, I personally have about 9,500 followers, while the Airplane Geeks follower list sits at about 23,000. I’m also quite active on Facebook. While I hope I didn’t miss anything, I’m including a link to my bio as well.

Contact Robert Mark at 847-864-9780 or rmark@commavia.com