Unicom 04/02: Name Droppers

If you’re going to name names when celebrities foul up, you might as well go all the way

I’ve noticed the syndrome of name-dropping sneaking into your articles lately. I was reminded of it again in “Flying in Ice” [Weather Tactics, October]. The article led with “Indy racer Tony Bettenhausen” going down in his Baron 58, but his name is mentioned only in that opening line; for the next three pages he is referred to only as “the pilot.”

One can only presume he is mentioned merely to hook the reader – a pretty cheap practice for a serious publication. Do readers really need such prompting?

Isn’t accident investigation supposed to be about what went wrong, not who went wrong?

I can only imagine the articles I must have overlooked during the past year:

* “Autorotations...