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

Edited by Paul RichfieldFred George
Garmin International and AirCell have unveiled the NavTalk Pilot, a combination hand-held GPS receiver and analog cell phone for airborne use. The unit has a 12-channel GPS receiver, a Jeppesen navigation database and a monochrome LCD map display. As a backup for FMS or GPS, NavTalk Pilot provides 100-meter navigation accuracy, but is not certified for IFR use.

Edited by Paul RichfieldFred George
Bombardier Aerospace has named Benn Isaacman as its chief of design, with responsibility for all Bombardier business aircraft paint schemes and interior designs. Since 1984, Isaacman has run his own Tucson-based design consulting group, which designed the paint and/or interiors for many business aircraft, most recently the Fairchild 328JET and 728JET, and the Sino Swearingen SJ30-2.

By Fred George
When the Learjet 45 was announced in September 1992, Learjet set lofty expectations for the program, many of which proved to be elusive.
Business Aviation