Twelve Aircraft Now Ready For Final-Phase Manufacturing
Gulfstream's G650 continues to make significant progress in the
flight-test program on the path to type certification later this
year from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and European
Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). As of January 25, the four aircraft
in the flight-test program had accumulated more than 2,675 flight
hours over 820 flights. The aircraft is expected to enter service
the middle of this year. It received a provisional type certificate
from the FAA on November 18, 2011, with the full FAA type
certificate expected mid-year.
“We’re steadily moving through the test points
required for FAA and EASA type certification,” said Pres
Henne, senior vice president, Programs, Engineering and Test,
Gulfstream. “The closer we get to certification, the more
excited we get to put these planes in the hands of our customers.
The G650 is meeting our performance expectations.”
Over the past several months, the aircraft has been flown by FAA
pilots in certification tests to confirm its stall speeds and
minimum control airspeeds. Additionally, it has completed
certification testing of its hydraulics, the fly-by-wire flight
controls and its fuel system, including determining the unusable
fuel quantity, operating under negative g-force and operations with
hot fuel. The four aircraft in the flight program have also
conducted a number of company tests to gather the final data in
preparation for upcoming certification testing. The aircraft
completed final testing of the avionics, which includes the flight
management system and automatic flight control system.
In support of approval for flight into known icing, the aircraft
was flown with artificial ice shapes to determine aerodynamic
performance and confirm acceptable handling qualities in the most
adverse conditions. These series of flights were conducted out of
Gulfstream’s flight-test center and closely monitored by
aerodynamics and flight dynamics engineering specialists to ensure
the aircraft performed per expectations.
EASA has finished its initial evaluation of the aircraft in
preparation for certification.
The G650 has flown for more than 14 consecutive hours, with
flight-test data confirming its ability to achieve 7,000 nm at Mach
0.85. The aircraft has also demonstrated 5,000 nm at Mach 0.90. It
has a top speed of Mach 0.925.