Fred George

Chief Aircraft Evaluation Editor

Redmond, Oregon

Summary

Fred formerly served as senior editor and chief pilot with Business & Commercial Aviation and as Aviation Week & Space Technology's chief aircraft evaluation pilot. He has flown left seat in virtually every turbine-powered business jet produced in the past three decades. He now is managing member of Fred George Aero LLC of Redmond, Oregon.

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

Fred George
The first production-conforming 2,095-pounds-thrust HF120 GE Honda Aero Engine light turbofan engine was first run in test cell on Oct. 8.

Fred George
– A lawsuit has been filed on behalf of plaintiffs SM Aircraft Leasing and 136 other Eclipse 500 deposit holders against defendants Vern Raburn, plus other former Eclipse Aviation directors, officers and senior employees, seeking unspecified damages resulting from Eclipse’s failure to deliver aircraft they ordered or return their deposits.

Kerry Lynch, Fred George
FAA’s Fort Worth Aircraft Certification Office last week transferred the Eclipse 500 type certificate (TC) to Eclipse Aerospace LLC, the firm that bought the assets and intellectual property of insolvent Eclipse Aviation in August. The event comes three years to the day after FAA originally issued the TC to Eclipse Aviation on Sept. 30, 2006. The European Aviation Safety Agency was expected to follow with the European EA 500 TC to Eclipse Aerospace LLC. Both approvals are key to the firm’s resuming new aircraft production deliveries.