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
Today, the light jet market is awash with more than 1,200 used aircraft, most of which are fully mature products, whose qualities, support and appeal are well known. Also for sale are more than two dozen diminutive Eclipse 500 VLJs, which are far riskier investments. These have yet to mature into productive business travel assets in spite of the $1 billion spent to develop aircraft, whose fleet total now stands at 259 units.

By Fred George fred_george@aviataionweek.com
Last October, Bombardier officially announced development of the Global 7000 and Global 8000, two new, top-end flagships from the Montreal manufacturer that will be able to fly nonstop from New York to most business centers in central Asia, including Beijing and Shanghai, at 488 KTAS. They will join the Global 5000 and Global XRS in Bombardier’s pitched battle against Dassault and Gulfstream to win up to half of 300 long-range and ultra-long-range, large-cabin aircraft that the company estimates will be sold annually in coming years.

Fred George (San Diego)
Latin America now is the third-largest market for business aircraft behind North America and Europe. And aircraft manufacturers and trade associations believe that it will only grow stronger. Turboprop aircraft deliveries in Latin America increased by 46% and turbofan deliveries were up 36% from 2009 to 2010, according to the General Aviation Manufacturers Association’s most recent shipment report. The regional gain was in vivid contrast to the 14% overall drop in turbine business aircraft deliveries from the previous year.