Bill covers business aviation and advanced air mobility for Aviation Week Network. A former newspaper reporter, he has also covered the airline industry, military aviation, commercial space and unmanned aircraft systems. Prior to joining Aviation Week in November 2017, he worked for Aviation International News and Avionics and Rotor & Wing magazines.
Bill was the recipient of the National Business Aviation Association's Gold Wing Award in 2017 and 2022 for his reporting on drones and advanced air mobility, respectively, and in 1997 received the British Royal Aeronautical Society Aerospace Journalist of the Year award in the business aviation category. He is the author of the book, Enter The Drones, The FAA and UAVs in America, published in 2016.
The U.S. aviation and telecommunications industries have deescalated—at least temporarily—their clash over an issue that threatens to further disrupt airline operations during the COVID-19 pandemic: the potential of new 5G wireless networks interfering with aircraft electronics.
AT&T and Verizon have agreed to delay deploying 5G wireless services using C-band spectrum for two weeks beyond the scheduled Jan. 5 start date, giving the FAA more time to prevent airspace system disruptions arising from the potential of interference with aircraft radio altimeters.
Behind the scenes of the aviation and telecommunications industries’ clash over 5G wireless transmissions, aviation standards organization RTCA is developing performance specifications for a new generation of radio altimeters that would be hardened against 5G interference.
