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 (San Diego)
Operators of the G650, Gulfstream Aerospace's new 488 KTAS, 7,000-nm-range flagship, will first start flying their aircraft this summer, based upon flight-test program progress and operators' scheduled completion of initial G650 training at FlightSafety International in late August. Virtually all FAA-required certification flight tests had been completed in June except for 300 hr. of function and reliability flight-testing that is now in progress. This paves the way for FAA type certification in July or August, followed by entry into service in September, operators say.
Business Aviation

By Fred George fred_george@aviationweek.com
Bombardier is the final manufacturer of large-cabin, long-range business jets to upgrade its flagship aircraft with large-format, flat-panel avionics, but based upon our recent demo flight, the wait was well worth the results. The Vision Flight Deck provides strong incentives for operators of older Globals with early 1990s vintage avionics to upgrade to the Global 6000's 21st century cockpit technology.
Business Aviation

By Fred George fred_george@aviationweek.com
Strap into any current production military aircraft and it's likely that you'll be looking out of the windshield through a permanently mounted head-up display. Aboard military aircraft, the HUD usually is the primary flight reference because it allows pilots to fly the aircraft with unmatched precision while scanning outside the aircraft for threats, terrain and targets. Head-down displays in such aircraft perform secondary roles, functioning as moving maps, EICAS and CDUs for proprietary equipment.
Business Aviation