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.
For about $9 million, you can by a new or nearly new super-midsize Hawker 4000 that can fly eight passengers 3,000+ nm at Mach 0.80 and land with 200 nm NBAA IFR reserves. Inspired by the systems architecture of the Gulfstream GIV, this is the only aircraft in its class to have standard dual Honeywell IRSes, dual ACM packs, auto-throttles, an AC electrical generation system and a standard hydraulically powered, emergency AC electrical generator. The aircraft has a flat floor, aft lavatory and inflight access to the aft baggage compartment.
Captains have been flying Boeing jetliners since the first Model 707 was delivered in 1958. The Seattle-based airframe manufacturer has built 15,000 commercial jets, close to three-quarters of the world's commercial jet fleet. The first prop-liner pilots who made the transition to the new generation of jet transports faced many challenges, including adapting to a class of aircraft that flew at nearly double the speed and twice as high as the Douglas DC-7s and Lockheed Constellations they were succeeding.
