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
Looking for a light jet that can fly four people non-stop between most east and west coast U.S. city pairs? The Israel Aircraft Industries Astra SPX, produced by Gulfstream as the G100 after 2002, can fly 2,790 nm at Mach 0.72 to 0.75 and land with NBAA IFR reserves. Originally, the aircraft sold for as much as $14 million, but now they're available on the resale market for about a third of that figure.

By Fred George fred_george@aviationweekcom
Push up the throttles in the Hawker 200 on takeoff and you might think you're strapped in a Learjet 25, considering this aircraft's rapid runway acceleration, excellent climb performance and near Mach 0.80 cruise speeds in the mid-forties. That's to be expected. The Hawker 200 has the best thrust-to-weight ratio of any business aircraft in current production, even edging out the athletic Cessna Citation CJ4.

Fred George
The Hawker 200's Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21 cockpit looks a lot like that of the Premier IA, with its three 10-in. by 8-in. AFD-3010E LCD screens, stand-alone annunciator light panel and dual multifunction CDUs in the center console. The most obvious difference is the Meggitt EPD-40002 integrated electronic standby instrument system that replaces the cluster of three standby instruments aboard the Premier IA.