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 less than $5 million, you can buy a jet having the widest cross section of any purpose-built business aircraft yet made. It's the Challenger 600, the original widebody business aircraft. Canadair built 84 units from 1981 to 1983 before discontinuing the model in favor of the more capable GE-powered Challenger 601. Evolved from the LearStar 600, the Challenger 600 was one of the first business jets to have a super-critical airfoil, AC electrical system, fully powered flight controls and high-bypass-ratio turbofan engines for improved fuel efficiency.
Our world literally was turned upside down during our recent Eclipse 500 type rating program in Albuquerque. At one point during the training, we were hanging from our shoulder harness in negative 1 g flight, looking at the earth overhead and sky below, as we attempted to roll our jet back to level flight from a fully inverted position without losing any altitude. It's counter-intuitive to have to push forward on the flight controls to prevent the nose from falling to the horizon. Yet, that's precisely what was required at that moment.
The Beech 18, or Twin Beech, was the flying workhorse of American industry in the 1950s and early 1960s, providing cabin-class passenger comfort, a fully-enclosed aft lav and 1,000-plus nm cruising range at 160 KTAS cruise speeds. "It really was the only game in town," commented Tom Warner, former Beech 18/ Super 18 top salesman and Walter and Olive Ann Beech's son-in-law. "All the big companies owned them including GM, J. P. Stevens and dozens of others. It had terrific reliability and it was very nice to fly."
