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.

Read more

Articles

Fred George
Hawker Beechcraft Corp. (HBC) has begun what are expected to be significant changes in the structure and makeup of its top-level sales team. Hawker Beechcraft Chairman and CEO Bill Boisture and Executive Vice President Shawn Vick will announce a reorganization of the marketing team with three regional sales presidents who will report to Vick, sources tell BA. Product group sales directors will be appointed who will report to the regional sales presidents.

Fred George
Piper’s PA-46-500TP Meridian made its debut in September 2000 as the lowest priced pressurized, single-engine turboprop offered by any airframe manufacturer and it has retained that distinction ever since. Piper created the Meridian by swapping a 500-shp Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A for the 350-hp piston-engine of the PA-46 Malibu Mirage and modifying the airframe to handle the extra weight and speed. Everything about this project was designed to keep development costs low and that’s reflected in the final product.
Aircraft & Propulsion

Fred George
Dick Friel, senior vice president-marketing for Aviation Partners Inc. (API), died Jan. 13 of congestive heart failure, a condition doctors attempted to remedy with open-heart surgery in October 2006. He was 76. Friel joined API in the early 1990s to create a branding campaign for the company’s winglets, a technology that has saved users almost 5 percent in fuel consumption. At API, Friel quickly established a reputation for gentle, effective relationship building.