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.
Having just been found liable in its certificate action against Air Trek, a Florida air ambulance and charter outfit, FAA is now attempting to take action against the firm’s chief pilot for an entirely different matter. Asked if the agency’s new action was in reaction to the unfavorable decision, Gregory Winton, Air Trek’s attorney, said last week, “I would say absolutely, 100 percent.”
Leo Windecker, whose Eagle I was the first all-composite aircraft awarded type and production certificates by the FAA, died Feb. 13 in Cedar Park, Tex. He was 88. Windecker and his wife, Fairfax, both dentists, worked with Dow Chemical Co. to develop lightweight fiberglass-reinforced plastic structures for aviation use. Windecker’s four-place, single-engine, retractable-gear aircraft earned certification in December 1969. Only nine aircraft, including prototypes, were built before the Windecker company failed. The U.S.
