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.
With the recent addition of Apollo Jets to its roster, the Air Charter Safety Foundation has raised to 104 the number of companies that are members of the Alexandria, Va.- based organization. Meanwhile, the Jeff Baum, president and CEO of Wisconsin Aviation and David Hewitt, president of Hewitt & Company, were recently installed as ACSF chairman and vice-chairman, respectively. Baum succeeds Dennis Keith, president of Jet Solutions, LLC whose term expired June 30. Both Baum and Hewitt were founding members of the organization.
Raisbeck Engineering has earned Brazilian certification of its new swept-blade turbofan propellers for Beechcraft King Air 200 series aircraft. The higher-thrust props, which Seattle-based Raisbeck developed in cooperation with propeller manufacturer Hartzell, markedly improve takeoff performance without increasing cabin noise levels. Raisbeck says the new props especially enhance operations to and from higher-altitude airports on hot days and permit operators to carry greater payloads and fuel for more range.
The room was packed and the crowd restive. The men at the front were droning on about inspection times, service bulletins, authorized shops and such. Finally, one fellow in the audience had had enough. He stood up and, as best I recall, said something like, “All that's fine, but you're ignoring the real problem.” And with that he eyed his fellow attendees and said, “All of you who have had an inflight failure, raise a hand.” It seemed like about a third of the room had an arm up.
