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 front page story in the January/February issue of “Flightlines,” an electronic magazine for Hawker Beechcraft employees, carries the headline, “Committed to Wichita” and describes the company’s acceptance of an incentive package that ties it to the city and a minimum 4,000-person workforce for at least 10 more years.
It is an aviation odyssey whose years of wanderings have already taken it from Texas, to Taiwan, to Dubai. But the SJ30’s longest journey may still be ahead. The project began in the early 1980s with a belief by Ed Swearingen—father of the Twin Comanche, and Merlin and Metro turboprops, among other designs—that there was a large, untapped market for a highly efficient, long-range light business jet. None existed then, so he designed one, distinctive for its small, moderately swept, low-drag wing and compact fuselage.
It will be quite a homecoming. President Barack Obama, who once equated business jets with corporate excess, now sees them as important exports and last week sent Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood (below) to make amends in Wichita, home to Cessna, Hawker Beechcraft and Bombardier Learjet.
