Bill was Editor-in-Chief of Business & Commercial Aviation from 2000 to 2020. During his stewardship, the monthly magazine received scores of awards for editorial excellence.
He is the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement in Journalism Award from the National Business Aviation Association; the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Aerospace Media Awards; the Aviation Journalism Award from the National Air Transportation Association; and an Aerospace Journalist of the Year Award for Business Aviation.
Previously, Bill served as Managing Editor of Aviation Week Television. He was the top editor for both Flying and Professional Pilot magazines, as well as a member of the senior editorial staff at Reader's Digest. He also managed communications for FlightSafety International.
Bill has authored or co-authored three aviation books, was an essayist for National Public Radio, wrote aviation documentaries for The Discovery Channel and has written for numerous publications including The New York Times, Smithsonian Air & Space, Popular Mechanics and The Associated Press, among others.
An active aviator, Bill holds a Commercial Pilot license, along with multiengine, instrument, seaplane and glider ratings.
The challenges at Eclipse Aviation continue. On July 30, days after ousting founder and CEO Vern Raburn, the company learned that an Eclipse 500 had overrun a runway while landing at Brandywine Airport, West Chester, Pa. Neither the pilot nor the sole passenger was injured. This was the first accident ever involving an EA500. Then on Aug. 8, the company said it was laying off 200 employees, mostly temporary staff used on the production line, to adjust for lower-than-forecast production rates.
Having acquired the Czech Republic’s Walter Engines, GE Aviation is launching the M601H-80, a turboprop derivative engine with a new-technology hot section, targeted for the utility, agriculture and retrofit aircraft segments. The M601H-80 will incorporate GE’s 3D-aero design and advanced materials into the engine’s hot-section compressor and turbine as well as a new nozzle guide vane material in the gas generator and power turbine, new materials in the combustor liner and GE’s blisk design in the axial compressor.
Pre-event concerns of organizers over the impact high fuel prices and the faltering economy might have on attendance at this year’s EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wis., appear to have been unfounded. The association estimated that 540,000 people came through the turnstiles during the July 28-Aug. 3 gathering, slightly fewer than in 2007 but more than in 2006. Over 10,000 aircraft flew into Oshkosh and other area airports. EAA President Tom Poberezny described the response as “overwhelming.”
