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.
Adam Aircraft, Denver-based de-velopers of the composite construction, push-pull, twin piston A500, is developing a derivative aircraft, the A700 fanjet. The company says the six-seater will be powered by a pair of 1,200-pound-thrust Williams/Rolls-Royce FJ33-1 turbofan engines and will feature a fully integrated avionics suite, including two large-format LCDs. The A700 is priced at $1.995 million.
The U.S. National Aeronautical and Space Administration has selected Bombardier Flexjet to provide fractional ownership business jet transportation services to the organization for a two-year test period, according to Clifford Dickman, president of Bombardier Business Jet Solutions. The agreement provides NASA with a one-half share of a Bombardier Learjet 31A and a one-sixteenth share of a Learjet 60, equivalent to about 450 flight hours.
Corporate Angel Network, the volunteer organization through which U.S. companies volunteer their aircraft to transport ill patients between their homes and distant medical facilities, reports that it transported 35 percent more people in fiscal 2002 than in the previous year, setting a record for the generosity of participating firms. Frequent CAN participants include Coca-Cola, ConocoPhillips, Corning, Dow Chemical, Duke Energy, Ford Motor, GM, International Paper, The Limited, Meredith, Motorola, Pepsico, Verizon and United Space Alliance.
