Are you a "Flytstr"?
A love of the air journey, all things airline and aviation
Henry Tenby - Eat, Breath and Sleep Aviation
For those of you who do not know me, my name is Henry Tenby, I am a life-long aviation fan. I love airliners, flying on airliners, I have been taking slides and video of aircraft going back some 40 years, aviation journalism is a passion going back decades, and aviation is my life.
After university I did work for a short period for some aviation companies but I have been self employed since 1999, creating various online and digital businesses that in one form or another cater to aviation fans, and like minded people who are similarly obsessed with aviation, air travel, and the various hobbies associated with these passions. I should also add I am a collector of professional aircraft display models, vintage 35mm colour slides of aircraft, I write aviation books, I publish videos, I work on my youtube channel, I have numerous airline fan related websites and I earn my income in combination from all these pursuits and passions. So I am always trying to come up with new ideas to create a service, website, app that will meet the needs of people like me, those who are airline fans, who love to travel meaning the love of the actual journey from A to B is something they look forward to.
My main business is my www.airlinehobby.com auction website for aircraft slides. It has been around over 20 years now and sellers auction between 20 and 30 thousand colour slides a month. It is basically an ebay for aviation slides. About 15 years ago I built my own photo gallery software to power my airlinefan.com aircraft stock photo sales website, where aviation photographers sell digital images of their images. This website now has over one hundred thousand vintage images offered for sale.
As an obsessed collector of aircraft display models it was only natural that I would launch a website for like minded display model collectors to showcase photos of the models in their collection so I launched the www.aircraftdisplaymodels.com website which is a lot of fun. And with aviation video also being a passion, which involves filming aircraft at airports (spotter videos) and making trip reports on vintage airliners (which I started back in the late 80s and early 90s), it only made sense that five years ago I launched my own streaming service for hard core aviation fans called JetFlix TV which just this week launched apps in the iOS and Android app stores. That was a 2 year effort to get the apps built and made available on the app stores. Definitely not easy work! The JetFlix TV platform now has over 1000 aviation videos and aviation fans can enjoy all these amazing videos (with new videos added all the time) for as little as a few dollars a month.
But it does not end there for me as my mind is always working on trying to create new ideas, new services and apps for people like me. So with Niels Dam and Scott Verchin (who are also like minded in these aviation related passion pursuits as explained in their own words below), we decided to open up this new “Flytstr” newsletter as a catalyst to share our ideas and passions with like-minded aviation geeks and world air travel fans, to see what can gel.
“Flytstr” is what I am and it is what Niels is, and what Scott is. Are you a “Flytstr”? Maybe you are a full on Flytstr like me, or maybe there are elements that you relate to in various degrees. If you love aviation, love or like or are fascinated with the airline journey experience, maybe we can build a Flytstr app that can do amazing things for you that you can’t find anywhere else.
As a business owner, I am curious how many other people reading this also share such a massive passion for airlines and aviation and air travel, and also own their own businesses? So you can relate to the challenges of doing things you love doing (like all this aviation and travel stuff), but could there be an app or service that also bridged these passions with an ability to network with like minded individuals for the potential of future work, employment and business ideas that extend from the hobby interest? I am just try to think outside the box to challenge readers in a different way. For both future topics of the newsletter and for what “Flytstrs” might want in an app that we can dream up that could be super cool for all of us.
Thank you for reading and joining this newsletter, I hope you enjoy the introductions from Niels and Scott below. And we look forward to reader feedback and comments so we can come up with some interesting content and ideas in the future.
Niels Dam - Learning to Fly and Becoming a Flying Dutchman
I have always been inspired by aviation, ever since I was a kid. Quite a few family members of mine are or have been involved with aviation over the past decade and so it’s safe to say that it runs in our family.
As a young boy, taking my mother to work in the company of my father was business as usual. However, bringing her to the airport and seeing all those pilots walking in their fancy suits towards the gates definitely inspired me to pursue a career in aviation as a commercial pilot. Every time I smelled the sweet fumes of kerosene, my heart would skip a beat. Excitement building in anticipation of the mighty roar of the turbofan engines that accompanied the smell.
Fast forward a few years and I was into airline flight mileage runs to accumulate points for my frequent flyer program, and these trips really sealed the deal for me! Two years later I started my commercial pilot training. Currently, I’m flying in single engine Cessnas and Pipers. But every time I get on an airliner as a passenger, the same sort of excitement builds within me.
Boarding via a jet-bridge to fly to a new destination always arouses the inner adventurer. Taking the window seat is an absolute must for me these days, I want to see what’s out there en route for future travel inspiration. It has been a while since I last took to the skies as a revenue passenger onboard of a commercial airliner due to the difficulties of travelling abroad over the last year due to the pandemic. However, new trips are planned now that a lot of borders have opened up again. I really can’t wait to start passenger flying on airliners again!
Flying has connected the world in the past century and will continue to do so for many centuries. There will be ups-and-downs as in many other sectors but eventually things will rebound if not improve. I look forward to what the aviation industry has in store the coming years moving forward from these difficult times. Resilience is not a strange term to the industry which endured world wars and financial downturns. Let’s see what the future holds and hold on to our curiosity of discovering new places all over the world. So this is the story of why I am a “Flytstr”. Can there be an app that helps address my aviation passions that we can build by sharing our ideas and passions. The future looks blue, and bright!
Scott Verchin - Windows Above the World
I like to fly. I enjoy commercial aviation. I am a proud airline geek.
That said, I have several prerequisites before purchasing a ticket on my carrier of choice. One of those, and probably most important, is securing a proper window seat. Furthermore, a window seat with an unobstructed view of the earth below is imperative to enjoying a flight for me.
The reason for this is I am a passionate aerial photographer and, even though the majority of the flight time is spent above clouds or in darkness, the short stints - after takeoff and prior to landing - when you get to fly over cities, coastlines and/or mountain ranges is totally worth it. Knowing flight patterns and, specifically, where airports are positioned in relation to city centers (thank you, Google Maps) help me choose the perfect seat on the side of the aircraft with the best views. SeatGuru is my go-to resource in, not only getting the best view from above (i.e. avoid sitting over the wing or engine), but also securing the most comfortable seat available in the cabin.
This is a vital part of my overall travel experience and, after many years of doing this, it never gets old. This makes me a “Flytstr” and I hope many of our readers will be able to share their passions, and the things that are important to them as being a life long avgeek and airline travel fan.