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 GORDON A. GILBERTFred George
Business aviation may be booming, along with the economy, this year, but corporate flight department managers should be wary of lean times ahead, according to NBAA President John W. Olcott in his keynote address at the association's annual corporate aviation management seminar recently. Olcott extolled flight department managers to run their departments as businesses. He challenged the audience to ask themselves, ``What is my business? Why am I in this business? Who are my customers? How do I satisfy my customers?''

Fred George
Photograph: THIRD GALAXY GETS ITS MATE. In May, the wing and fuselage of IAI's third Galaxy aircraft were mated. It's the first of two flight test aircraft. First flight is slated for the end of this year. Certification is scheduled for December 1998, following an aggressive 12-month development program. Twenty-two aircraft will be built in 1999. Galaxy Aerospace Corp. will complete and deliver aircraft to retail customers from its U.S. home base.

Fred George
Brian Barents, president of Galaxy Aerospace Corp. (GAC), immediately addressed the top concern of IAI Westwind and Astra Jet operators at GAC's first Maintenance&Operations meeting, held in San Diego from May 5 to 7. Product support in the past, Barents conceded, suffered from ``some limited resources.'' His goal, first stated at the 1996 NBAA convention, is nothing less than to provide the best customer support in the business aircraft industry.