Fred George

Chief Aircraft Evaluation Editor

San Diego, CA

Summary

Fred is a senior editor and chief pilot with Business & Commercial Aviation and Aviation Week's chief aircraft evaluation pilot. He has flown left seat in virtually every turbine-powered business jet produced in the past three decades.

He has flown more than 195 makes, models and variants, ranging from the Piper J-3 Cub through the latest Boeing and Airbus large twins, logging more than 7,000 hours of flight time. He has earned an Airline Transport Pilot certificate and six jet aircraft type ratings, and he remains an active pilot. Fred also specializes in avionics, aircraft systems and pilot technique reports.

Fred was the first aviation journalist to fly the Boeing 787, Airbus A350 and Gulfstream G650, among other new turbofan aircraft. He’s also flown the Airbus A400M, Howard 500, Airship 600, Dassault Rafale, Grumman HU-16 Albatross and Lockheed Constellation.

Prior to joining Aviation Week, he was an FAA designated pilot examiner [CE-500], instrument flight instructor and jet charter pilot and former U.S. Naval Aviator who made three cruises to the western Pacific while flying the McDonnell-Douglas F-4J Phantom II.

Fred has won numerous aviation journalism awards, including NBAA’s David W. Ewald Platinum Wing Lifetime Achievement Award.

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Articles

Fred George fred_george@aviationweek.com
The King Air 350i's flight deck is a mixture of new and old. The panel has three, large-format, portrait configuration AFD-3000 adaptive flight displays used for left and right PFDs plus a center MFD with engine instrument indications. The core of the system is the central Integrated Avionics Processing System, a computer chassis at the center of the system's hub-and-spoke architecture. Standard equipment includes an Integrated Flight Information System that hosts electronics charts, enhanced map graphics, and XM satellite radio or ACARS weather, among other functions.
Business Aviation

Fred George fred_george@aviationweek.com
Esteemed colleague, veteran flight department manager and expert fighter and business pilot Ross Detwiler seems to have tunnel vision on the issue of head-up displays (HUDs). He's so focused on the pros and cons of the comparative benefits associated with using head-up versus head-down displays (HDD) just for low visibility approaches, he's lost sight, literally and figuratively, of what's going on outside the airplane for the other 99% of the flight.
Business Aviation

Fred George fred_george@aviationweek.com
Beechcraft King Air 350, or Model B300, is the largest business turboprop yet built by the Wichita manufacturer and by far its most versatile performer. More than 600 first-generation aircraft built between 1990 and 2008 still are in service. In 2009, it was succeeded by the more luxurious King Air 350i.
Business Aviation