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.

Read more

Articles

Fred George
Think you're ready for any inflight emergency after your latest sim session? Many flight crews believe that checking all the boxes during recurrent simulator training fulfills all their training needs. That's false confidence, according to some experienced pilots.

Fred George
The Hawker 1000 is the longest range, longest fuselage legacy Hawker ever built. It also has advanced features, including a split-bus electrical system, jammed flight control protection and Honeywell SPZ-8000 integrated avionics system. It's a pilot's airplane, one that's easy to fly and one that has very docile engine-out handling characteristics, in large part because of its bleed-air powered rudder bias system. It's the only Hawker ever to have an aft baggage compartment, one with 50 cubic feet of storage and externally accessible by means of a separate door.

Fred George (Oshkosh, Wis.), Frances Fiorino (Oshkosh, Wis.)
Eclipse Aviation’s removal of founder and CEO Vern Raburn may be the first in a series of major changes that the manufacturer of very light jets will undergo in the coming months as it seeks to stem a hemorrhaging of cash.