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.
Dassault Aviation announced the Falcon 900DX tri-jet at EBACE in late May. It will replace the Falcon 900C in the firm's long-range business jet lineup. The 900DX, in essence, is a 900EX, complete with Primus Epic EASy cockpit and 5,000-pound-thrust Honeywell TFE731-60 engines. But fuel capacity is 18,830 pounds, a 10-percent reduction compared with the 900EX. Max range for the $31.65 million Falcon 900DX with eight passengers is 4,050 nm, versus 4,400 nm for the $34.65 million Falcon 900EX.
The de Havilland DH125, so quintessentially British, made its debut at the 1962 Farnborough Air Show. It had a proper cabin for carriage class conveyance, including a fully enclosed lavatory, an ample galley and a luggage closet. The first delivery occurred two years later to a Swiss customer and delivery rates quickly soared to 50 per year. Ongoing demand was spurred by de Havilland's making successive improvements to Series 1, 2 and 3 aircraft.
Lots of folks were caught off guard when the G450, the next-generation GIV/G400, made its official debut on the eve of the 2003 NBAA Convention in Orlando. Gulfstream Aerospace succeeded in keeping the G450 Savannah's best-kept secret for more than five months following s.n. 4001's first flight on April 30. Serial numbers 4002, 4003 and 4004 also entered the flight-test program prior to the convention, putting the G450 on track for late 2004 FAA and European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) certification and first customer deliveries in early 2005.
