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 FAA is increasingly relying on contingency plans for its air traffic control (ATC) facilities as COVID-19 coronavirus infections have been detected at several airport towers and one of the 22 air route traffic control centers (ARTCC) responsible for managing en route aircraft.
The FAA said Mar. 19 that it will begin a thorough cleaning of the air traffic control (ATC) tower at Las Vegas McCarran International Airport (LAS) after a controller there “presumptively tested positive” for the COVID-19 coronavirus, causing it to temporarily close the tower.
The FAA evacuated the air traffic control (ATC) tower and operations stopped at Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC), Utah, on Mar. 18 after a 5.7-magnitude earthquake shook the area.
