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
Welcome to the wide-open spaces of private flying." The greeter was Richard Gaona, vice president of executive and private aviation at Airbus; his smiling welcome a reflection of a significant shift in his favor. You see Airbus Corporate Jet family sales are on a roll.

Fred George
In the early 1960s, Ed Swearingen was in the modifications business, but he longed to start his own line of aircraft. He envisioned three families of aircraft that would share the same fuselage cross section and many systems. The Merlin I would be a piston twin, powered by two new 400-hp geared, turbocharged Lycoming engines; The Merlin II would be a turboprop and the Merlin III would be a light jet.

Fred George
(Percent Relative to Average) The SJ30-2 was designed to maximize speed, range and fuel efficiency. That's apparent from the Comparison Profile, which includes the SJ30-2, Cessna CJ1+ and CJ2+, Raytheon Premier I and CJ3 in the composite average. This is a personal jet that's designed to transport two folks in the front and two folks in the main cabin more than 2,150 nm while cruising at 436 KIAS. The aircraft has the highest pressurization differential of any civil aircraft in current production. Its cabin altitude is only 1,800 feet at FL 490.