In 2007 I landed a small plane with zero flight experience! I mean, that was actually the point of the exercise, but that's how it goes. Maybe if I marketed myself better I could have had an article in the new york times.
The Gray Lady Winked: How the New York Times's Misreporting, Distortions and Fabrications Radically Alter History
https://www.amazon.com/Gray-Lady-Winked-Misreporting-Fabrica...
It seems almost every article is just another form of advertisement. Someone pays in some way and then the article has an agenda with implied call to action, or what I call, "call to thought".
I think it makes sense because we've been in with the Internet and Web 2.0 for a long time now and we don't need centralized curated content anymore, so these editorials have to now make money from selling their influence and promotional powers more so than just information.
Sounds like the author just took a normal flying lesson but didn't call it that so they could write it up as a marketing piece for an app. Why the NYTimes ran it is beyond m… oh right money.
In my case, "with ZERO flight experience, I walked into a busy airport and within minutes I was at the controls of a full-sized airplane hurtling toward the White House!!" Translation: I signed up for a flight lesson during which my instructor let me turn the two-seater single propeller plane 360°. Both statements about that same event are technically true; one is so misleading it's basically a lie. (BTW it's called a "discovery flight" and it's super fun—highly recommend!)