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
Ideally, all aircraft would be fitted with manually operated primary flight controls because the feel is completely natural. There is proportionate feedback with increasing aerodynamic loads so that control forces are light at low speeds and heavier at high speeds. Ideally, control response is crisp when low and slow, assuring plenty of maneuvering capability in gusting wind conditions. At maximum speeds control feel loads are manageable and there is enough control authority to recover from any likely upset.

Fred George
Five years ago, Raytheon hailed its new Premier I as the fastest, largest single-pilot business jet on the market. While that was and remains true today, the company's lightest jet was still very much a work in progress. The braking action was inconsistent at best. The baseline Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21 avionics package had plenty of unrealized capabilities. The biomorphic-inspired interior design was tres outré by business aircraft industry standards and it squandered available cabin space.

Fred George
Raytheon's Hawker series is the most successful midsize aircraft in history in large part because of the comfort its cabin provides those within. Excepting the very limited production Model 1000, all Hawkers manufactured since 1972 have had the same passenger cabin dimensions. And it was in that year that the U.S-spec Hawker 600A and U.K.-spec 600B aircraft made their debut.