Gulfstream president Mark Burns and FLYING contributor and longtime aviation journalist Fred George were inducted into the Living Legends of Aviation at the 21st installment of the gala event on Friday, January 19, at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles. The luminary-filled evening featured the 2024 honorees, including Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Steve Hinton, Marc Parent, Laurans A. Mendelson, Kyle Clark, Linden Blue, Lance Toland, and Lauren Sánchez, along with Burns and George.
The awards—produced to benefit the Kiddie Hawk Air Academy—were established in 2003 to honor “people who have made significant contributions to aviation, including entrepreneurs, innovators, industry leaders, astronauts, record breakers, pilots who have become celebrities and celebrities who have become pilots,” according to a release.
Gulfstream’s Mark Burns
Industry leader Burns—a 40-plus-year veteran of Gulfstream—joined the company in 1983 as a CAD operator and worked in several areas, including engineering and customer support, prior to his promotion to president in July 2015. Gulfstream sits on the cusp of FAA type certification on the G700 and G800, pending the completion of the process by the agency. Burns, a Savannah, Georgia, native, also serves as a vice president for parent company General Dynamics.
Burns was honored with the Lifetime Aviation Industry Award.
FLYING’s Fred George
George began his connection with aviation in his earliest years, when his father—a naval officer and private pilot—sat him in the back of a BT-13 Vultee on his mother’s lap for a flight around the San Fernando Valley in California. That sparked a life with his eyes pointed toward the skies. After graduating from UCLA, George became a Naval aviator in 1971, flying the F-4 Phantom and making more than 300 carrier landings. He flew corporate after leaving the Navy and turned to aviation journalism in the 1980s—a path he continues to pursue with his contributions (again) to FLYING Magazine as its senior business aviation editor. Over the past 40 years, he’s flown and reported on more than 230 different aircraft.
George was honored as a 2024 inductee into Living Legends of Aviation.
- READ MORE: Living Legends of Aviation
Other Honorees
Noted for their contributions to the industry and greater good of aviation, the following people were also feted at the event:
- Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, 2024 inductee
- Steve Hinton, 2024 inductee
- Marc Parent, 2024 inductee
- Laurans Mendelson, Kenn Ricci Lifetime Aviation Entrepreneur Award
- Kyle Clark, Eren Ozman Aviation Entrepreneur of the Year Award
- Linden Blue, Dr. Sam B. Williams Technology Award
- Lance Toland, Freedom of Flight Award
- Lauren Sánchez, Elling Halvorson Vertical Flight Hall of Fame Award
