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
Grumman dominated the large-cabin business jet aircraft market after introducing the Gulfstream II in 1967. When the Canadians later announced they would challenge with their new CL600, Grumman elected to develop a G1159 derivative that would have an eight-hour, 3,750 mile-range, with basic reserves and feature a modified airfoil and winglets. Most GII systems were retained, along with its twin 11,400-pound-thrust Rolls-Royce Spey 511-8 engines. But Grumman never proceeded with it.

Fred George
The Slow Starter (Common Bus System) Problem: With the left generator already online, the right generator fails to come online after right engine start. Failure may be caused by uneven wear between the generators, a GCU-to-GCU "hand shaking" malfunction related to load balancing, or an inability to produce enough voltage under load to overcome the reverse current protection function. Solution:

Fred George
Nickel cadmium, or nicad, batteries were fitted to most early models of turbine aircraft because they have higher power output and flatter discharge rates than similarly sized lead-acid batteries of that era. In other words, the nicad would produce its rated power for relatively longer periods before dropping off into a state of total discharge. That's especially important when starting a turbine engine because the amount of power required to crank the engine actually increases as the engine speeds up near idle.