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Disclaimer:  These articles are intended for informational and learning purposes.  Before applying the information contained herein to a specific aircraft, engine, propeller or appliance, a direct consultation with a certified mechanic is recommended.  Always follow the aircraft, engine, propeller or appliance manufacturers instructions, and work within the Federal Aviation Regulations and Advisory Circulars.  Some of the letters have been edited for brevity, spelling and punctuation. 

07-07-2014 Ask Mike! Question
Ask Mike! Or, maybe should have asked Mike!

The following starts off as a submitted form to the Cessna Pilots Association referencing an article that was written by a supposed 'expert in his field', thereafter follows the subsequent email exchange.  Original form submission was Thursday, March 6, 2014.

Michael Thompson wrote:

In perusing the March 2014 issue of the CPA magazine, there is an article written about turbocharger oil starvation failure in a T210.  A photo was included with a rather unflattering caption leading any reader to think the photographed aircraft was in fact the subject of the article.  That was not the case, as the aircraft in the photo is a T207 that was in my shop at the time to be de-turbo'ed and upgraded to an NA-IO-550 (we took the photo and posted it to our website).  Although in subsequent pages, photo-credits were given, not once was there any mention of where said T207 photo came from.  May I direct you to the terms and conditions section of my website?  You will notice the request for credit if content is disclosed for personal use to a third party*.  Etiquette and decorum should have led you to place a phone call or e-mail, but you did not, and I  am offended by that lack of action.  Consider this your warning; please play nice when in other's sandboxes.  Thank you.  (*Emphasis added; I do not consider this to be personal use, but more on that later.)

At 8:26 am on March 7, this was received from Christine Fagundes:

I am forwarding this to Kris Long our magazine layout and design person and John Frank our executive editor.

At 8:51 am, this was received from Kris Long:

Christine forwarded your email to me.  I apologize for this and will look into it.  I will get back to you on this.

Then, at 2:03 pm, this was received from John Frank, noting it was CC'd to Kris Frank, Christine Fagundes, and Mike Busch:

As a magazine publisher, I share your concerns with the use of copyrighted material without permission.  You have my sincere apology for the use of the photo without permission.  I spoke with the author of the article and he said he simply Googled for images of a turbocharged engine installation.  I have slapped his hand and instructed him to be more careful in the future.

We will note our error and give you photo credit in the next available issue of the CPA magazine.

Sincerely,
John Frank
Executive Director

After thinking on the matter overnight, I came to the conclusion that a hand slapping from the publisher - although nice and good - was not a substitute for an apology directly from author, Mr. Busch.  The arrogance portrayed by Mr. Busch in most of his writings as being a self appointed expert is truly distasteful.  Only when one stops and considers he flies a twin-engine aircraft do you really understand his on-condition maintenance policy.  But, I digress.

My point in all of this is allegedly Mr.'s Frank and Busch are professionals, so I simply sent one additional e-mail, as follows:

Mr. Frank;

Thank you for reviewing this.  I am left with one question:  Is Mr. Busch compensated in any way, shape or form for his contributions to your magazine?

Thank you again.

Michael E. Thompson

From then until this writing there have been additional issues of the CPA magazine published; the April issue discussed other corrections for the March issue, and the May issue discussed April corrections, etc.  I have heard absolutely nothing else from either Mr. Busch or the CPA (well, except several renewal reminders.....)

My last - unanswered - question was directed with the intent of professionalism.  If Mr. Busch is uncompensated, the material he writes is truly worth every penny.  If compensated, I feel he should man-up and directly apologize; and this would not have gone any further and dropped at that point.

What say you, Mr. Busch?