Say Hello To ANN E-I-C Jim Campbell!
With the final days before the official start to EAA AirVenture
2007 counting down all too rapidly... and, not quickly enough...
ANN's senior staff is all-too-aware of the Herculean task ahead of
us in reporting EVERYTHING that's news at The World's Greatest
Aviation Celebration.
Fortunately, this year we'll have some help... and some really
GREAT help at that. As we've already told you, Aero-News is
bringing its largest staff EVER to AirVenture this year, to not
only increase our print and audio coverage of the greatest (air)
show on Earth, but also to help us kick off Aero-TV. (Come to
think of it... "Herculean" doesn't begin to cover it...)
Over the next several days, we thought we'd take the time to
introduce you to the print stringers, video crews, and senior
staffers who will be bringing our readers and listeners all the
news that's fit to pixilate, modulate and videotape from Oshkosh
this year.
And now, without further ado...
ANN Editor-In-Chief Jim Campbell
James
R. "Zoom" Campbell may be the world’s busiest aviation
journalist, having had his adventures and/or stories documented in
US Aviator, Popular Science, Popular Mechanics, Time, Air Progress,
Glider Rider, Sport Pilot, Kitplanes, National Geographic, Private
Pilot, Gulf Coast Aviator, Pacific Flyer, The Aero-News Network and
over 100 other publications. The author of over 2000 magazine
articles, tens of thousands of news dispatches, the photographer of
over 200 magazine covers, and arguably one of the most experienced
general and sport aviation journalist/ test pilots in the sport and
general aviation writing business, Jim Campbell is driven by a
passion for aviation that few can match.
A commercially rated pilot who has earned Flight instructor
ratings (CFI/A/I/ME/H) in fixed and rotary wing aircraft, Campbell
has logged over 17,000 flight hours in over 1100 different
ultralights, jets, multi-engine A/C, helicopters, gyroplanes,
autogyros, sailplanes, seaplanes, kit aircraft and general aviation
birds.
Among Campbell’s many other lofty accomplishments are his
1981 Ultralight World Record High Altitude flight to 21,210 feet
over Lakehurst, NJ; flying on behalf of President Ronald Reagan as
an airshow pilot during the 1981-82 Air and Space Bicentennial;
several years of film and TV aviation stunt work; his 1981
Ultralight Flight Across America; 17 published books in the
aviation field (with three more in the works); and is often the
first aviation journalist to solo and evaluate a number of exciting
aircraft, many of them still quite experimental. He is hard at work
on the next edition of the "SportPlane Resource Guide" and some
aggressive aerospace literary projects. He is also heavily involved
in a number of television, radio and other media projects utilizing
his aviation expertise.
More recently, Campbell led the news and photography team that
provided primary media pool services for the Ansari X Prize
competition, including most of the SpaceShipOne air-to-air photos
that were published all over the world following the three
successful suborbital flights of Burt Rutan’s world-changing
spacecraft. He has also served as principal Zero-G photographer
during several hundred parabolas for the Zero-G Corporation's
Zero-Gravity flights, and was the photographer that took some
amazing photos of Professor Stephen Hawking during his Zero-G
adventures last spring.
A graduate of the National Test Pilot School, he was named in
2005 to be one of the four founding rocket pilots for X Prize
founder, Peter Diamandis’ Rocket Racing League. Jim added a
new member to the ANN family not too long ago... a 'bouncing-baby',
fire-breathing Glasair III, with the unique 'N' number of N411AN!
Its first flight home features a ground speed of 272 knots and
he’s aching to beat it again... keep an eye out for
high-speed objects and you just may see him trying. Most recently,
Jim has been heading up the team that is about to unveil Aero-TV...
an aggressive and innovative effort to continue what ANN has been
doing for a decade… change the face of aviation news.