Gulfstream are going great guns with a second business jet receiving its type certificate within a week. The long-range G650 passed FAA scrutiny less than a week after the mid-range G280 was certified.
With 200 orders already booked for the eight-passenger, Mach 0.95 aircraft, Gulfstream are naturally bouyant about the G650 being verified as airworthy.
Gulfstream President Larry Flynn: “The G650 is a superlative aircraft with the most technologically advanced flight deck in business aviation and the largest, most comfortable cabin in its class. In short, the G650 speaks to all that is good about business aviation: safety, security, flexibility, comfort, and capability."
“We designed the G650 with significant input from our Advanced Technology Customer Advisory Team, and we’re extremely proud of what our entire organization has accomplished with this aircraft.”
After the type's first flight in November 2009, the G650 went on to some impressive flight performances including:
- A 5000 nm circuit over the Atlantic at Mach 0.90 in nine hours and 45 minutes
- Burbank, CA, to Savannah, GA, in three hours 26 minutes, setting a new city-pair record and winning a most memorable flight award from the National Aeronautic Association
- A 3780 nm flight to Geneva, Switzerland, in 6 hours 55 minutes, setting a new city-pair speed record along the way.
The G650 uses a full three-axis, fly-by-wire system that enables flight-envelope protection, passenger comfort, increased redundancy and reduced maintenance. It has a separate and dedicated backup flight-control computer that provides an additional level of safety.
Inside the cockpit is the advanced flight deck PlaneView II. The cockpit includes four 14-inch liquid crystal displays, a standby multi-function controller that combines current display controller functionality with standby flight instruments, future air navigation system (FANS), controller-pilot datalink communications (CPDLC), automatic dependent surveillance-contract (ADS-C) and a fully-automatic, three-dimensional scanning weather radar with an integral terrain database.