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 Sun 'n Fun International Fly-in is aviation's annual rite of spring, a full-throated, color-splashed harbinger of airshows to follow through the summer and into fall. This year's gathering, held March 29-April 3 at Lakeland Linder Regional Airport in Florida, promised to be a lollapalooza with high-G performances by storied aerobats—Corkey Fornof, Patty Wagstaff and Sean Tucker, among them—the Navy's Blue Angels and an F-22 Raptor. On the flight line, a C-130, DC-7, P-3 and homebuilts galore.
Jordan Hansell (see photo) earned all his degrees with distinction, including a B.A. in political science from Duke University, a master's in public policy from the University of Michigan, and a J.D. from its law school . He clerked for the chief judge of a federal appeals court and then for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Then he worked at his father's law firm in Des Moines, Iowa, for 10 years.
Jordan Hansell last week took over the reins at NetJets as chairman after David Sokol abruptly resigned from Berkshire Hathaway March 30 amid suspicion of insider trading over the $9.7 billion acquisition of specialty chemical company Lubrizol Corp. Sokol had named Hansell president of the fractional aircraft ownership company in November as part of the beginning of a succession plan. But Sokol had expected to transfer the CEO’s title to Hansell while he retained the chairman position.
