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.
Lawrence B. Smith Attorney, Tucson, Ariz. As the son of Harold D. Smith, Franklin Roosevelt's top budget director, Smith is a beneficiary of the modern federal bureaucracy. During a brief stint as an FAA attorney, he became dismayed by the agency's heavy-handed enforcement methods and determined that the FAA had no right to take such action. He's waged a quixotic fight against the system ever since. 1 What's the key issue?
You hold in your hands B/CA's 2002 Purchase Planning Handbook, the much-anticipated issue that readers turn to throughout the year, and longer. This year's Handbook is one of our most comprehensive, with several sections expanded to accommodate additional products, or as a reflection of the increasing importance of the products within the category.
Photograph: Dassault Falcon 7x To receive its FAA type and production certification, an aircraft must successfully endure an arduous series of abuses that include fuselage over-pressurization, brake mashing, nonstop wing bending, even radiation assault and a chicken-carcass cannonade. But for all that, one of the most perilous tests confronting any new model is accumulating or sustaining enough investment capital to pave the way from the design room to the production line.
