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.

Read more

Articles

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.

Fred George
The Learjet 60 always has had favored status in the Bombardier Aerospace family. That's because it was the first new model to be developed after Bombardier bought the marque from cash-strapped Integrated Resources in 1990. So when Bombardier announced the XR upgrade for its firstborn at the 2005 NBAA Convention, it came as no surprise to anyone in the family back in Wichita.