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

Edited by Gordon A. GilbertFred George in Nice, France
Tired of cruising along at 460 to 490 knots on those 12- to 14-hour international business trips? At the 22nd Dassault Falcon Jet Maintenance and Operations Symposium held in Nice, France in May, Serge Dassault, chairman and CEO of Dassault Aviation, along with Bruno Revellin-Falcoz, executive vice president for research, engineering and cooperation, unveiled a scale model of a supersonic business jet that could cut travel times by one-third to one-half, compared to ultra-long-range, sub-sonic business aircraft.

Edited by Gordon A. GilbertFred George in Seattle
In late May, Boeing commenced four to six weeks of winglet feasibility tests with the goals of boosting the climb, cruise and fuel economy performance of the BBJ. If all goes well, the BBJ might lose its 10th belly fuel tank and still achieve a 6,200-nm maximum range.

Fred George
Photograph: Ryan's 9900B TCAD If the next 12 months are anything like the previous year, avionics installed in business aircraft will be getting a workout. Most operators report that they're flying more than they have in a long time, and expect the trend to continue. Underscoring this, completion centers say they have plenty of work as operators add new aircraft or retrofit their existing fleets. Over the last year, the leading avionics makers have been busy enhancing their products and introducing new versions.