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
On March 13, Gulfstream Aerospace finally took the wraps off its next-generation G650, a completely clean-sheet, ultra-long-range business jet that will be capable of flying eight passengers 7,000 nm at 488 KTAS when it enters service in 2012. Gulfstream had struggled to keep the program out of the public eye for well over three years while it courted potential customers, solicited their inputs and molded the design to deliver on all promises.

Fred George
xyz

Fred George
Rolls-Royce BR725 powerplants, rated at 16,100 pounds of thrust for takeoff to ISA+15°C, will power the G650, preserving the 50-year partnership between Gulfstream and Rolls-Royce. The engines will be fitted with a new, 50-inch diameter, 24-blade swept airfoil fan, 10-stage axial flow compressor with improved aerodynamics and with five blisk rotors to reduce weight, low emissions combustor adapted from the BR715 and improved efficiency two-stage high- and three-stage low-pressure turbine sections with better blade tip clearance control.