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.
It's hardly an original idea (in fact the Founding Fathers made one a requirement for America's CEO) but GAMA's annual state of the industry address has become a must-attend evening event held at the massive Ronald Reagan Interna-tional Trade Center, just down the street from the Treasury Department in Wash-ington. It is there that you get the final score for the year, and, this year at least, it provided a nice setting for a kind of group hug.
A 7,000-hour helicopter pilot with extensive combat and commercial experience, Groen co-founded GBA with his brother, Jay, in 1986 with the goal of bringing to market a modern gyroplane -- an aircraft supported by a freewheeling rotor and propelled by a pusher propeller. They believe its $158-per-flight-hour cost and $750,000 purchase price will help their Rolls-Royce-powered Hawk 4, now in flight test, revolutionize the rotary wing industry. 1 The gyroplane virtually disappeared 60 years ago for want of a market. What makes it a good idea now?
I was back in Florida a few weeks ago on a brief business escape. Jogging along the beach one morning, the sight and sound of the crashing waves and the feel of the hot sun on my winter skin prompted a mental na-na-na-nah-na for the snowbound dears back home, along with some reminiscences, mostly happy.
