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.
Aircraft hydraulic systems were developed in the early 20th century as a practical means of transmitting robust mechanical power generated by a pump, usually driven by an engine, to a motor or actuator several feet away. Newly developed "heavy lifting" functions, such as actuating landing gear and flaps, required more mechanical muscle than could be supplied by electric motors or actuators of acceptable weight or size.
London City Airport (LCY) is tailor-made for business aircraft travelers. That was immediately apparent as we peered from the jump seat over the shoulders of Captains Marcel Moura and Antonio Bragança while they were flying the Embraer Legacy on ILS approach Runway 10 to LCY in July, demonstrating the aircraft's steep approach capabilities.
The SJ30-2's Primus Epic CDS, short for control display system, features three 10-by-eight-inch, portrait-configuration flat-panel displays. The outer left and right displays are PFDs and the left-of-center unit is an MFD. Standard equipment includes dual sets of Primus II radios with control units mounted in the instrument panel, TCAS, EGPWS, four-color weather radar, single radio altimeter, basic NZ2000 FMS and Iridium phone. Dual AHRS, yaw dampers, symbol generators and DADCs are included, along with a single-channel, three-axis autopilot.
