AIN Senior Editor Carey Wins NBAA Journalism Honors

BJT sister publication Aviation International News senior editor Bill Carey received the National Business Aviation Association's 2017 Gold Wing Award, which is awarded annually to recognize “accurate and insightful reporting on business aviation.” Carey accepted the award last week, at the annual Media Kickoff Breakfast just ahead of the NBAA 2017 convention's opening ceremony.

The award recognizes Carey’s July 2016 article in AIN, "The Commercial Applications and Considerations of Flying Small Drones," which addresses efforts within the business aviation community to deploy small unmanned aircraft systems (s-UAS) in a variety of roles. The article also highlights the NBAA’s efforts to help established flight departments develop successful UAS operations.

NBAA chairman Paul Anderson presented the award, and said, “The article describes the many ways companies are incorporating drones into their work—from household names like Disney to small startup businesses—[and] highlights the spirit of innovation driving business aviation.”

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Carey, who wrote the recent book Enter the Drones, is based in Washington, D.C., and covers air transport, defense, and unmanned aerial systems for AIN. He thanked NBAA for the award, saying, “I am gratified that the business aviation industry has a full appreciation of the technical challenges posed by small drones.” Carey added that he is proud to join a “long list of past AIN Gold Wing Award winners.” And having recently served as a judge for the UK Royal Aeronautical Society journalism awards (he won the society’s "Journalist of the Year" award in 1997), Carey also thanked the NBAA’s Gold Wing Award judges. “Having done it, I know it’s a thankless task; and a lot of work.”