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.
LightSquared, Inc., may be going down, but not without a fight. The now bankrupt company had planned to use radio spectrum to create a wireless data network spanning the U.S., and was given a preliminary go-ahead by the federal government to do so. However, the GPS industry strongly objected, arguing that transmissions from the new network would interfere with existing GPS equipment used in aviation and a host of other industries and ultimately succeeded in stopping LightSquared after the latter had invested heavily in the project.
When Pilatus Aircraft began contemplating a successor to its iconic PC-6 Porter, it initially considered an unpressurized, turboprop-powered utility aircraft. But Cessna preempted that concept with its Model 208 Caravan. Recalculating, the Stans, Switzerland, designers settled on something unprecedented. They conjured up a large-cabin, executive/utility aircraft with a big cargo door, a single PT6 turboprop, short- and rough-field capability, pressurization to cruise over the weather and enough horses to do so at 280 kt.
Pilatus has at least one fractional operation eyeing its new PC-24 twin jet for its fleet – its longtime and largest PC-12 customer, PlaneSense. The Portsmouth, N.H.-based fractional provider was hoping to become an eager buyer of the stillborn Grob SPn. The reason for that interest, says PlaneSense founder, President and CEO George Antoniadis, was the Grob twin’s large cabin, good economy and ability to fly into small and unimproved strips – attributes that mirror those of the PC-12.
