Gulfstream delivered the first G600 to an undisclosed U.S.-based customer on Thursday at its Savannah, Georgia headquarters. Photo: Gulfstream
Gulfstream’s G600 business jet is on track to enter into service next year, after the Savannah, Georgia-based manufacturer announced the first delivery of the G600 Thursday.
FAA type and production certificates were issued to Gulfstream on June 28, 2019, following a flight testing campaign that included 3,200 hours of actual flying and another 100,000 hours of tests conducted in the company’s test environment. An undisclosed U.S. customer took delivery of the first aircraft at Gulfstream’s headquarters in Savannah, Georgia.
“The effort put forth by our team enabled this award-winning, technologically advanced aircraft to move from certified to delivered in an extremely short period of time,” Mark Burns, president of Gulfstream said in a statement.
The first delivery of the G600 comes a little more than a year after the G500 received its own production and type certificates and eventual entry into service. The G500 can fly 5,200 nautical miles/9,630 kilometers at Mach 0.85 or 4,400 nm/8,149 km at Mach 0.90, while the G600 can travel 6,500 nm/12,038 km at Mach 0.85 and 5,100 nm/9,445 km at Mach 0.90. The maximum operating speed for both aircraft is Mach 0.925.
The Gulfstream G500/600 cockpit inside of a flight simulator at Gulfstream’s Savannah, Georgia headquarters. Photo: Gulfstream
According to Gulfstream, the G600 is also capable of flying nonstop from Paris to Los Angeles or Hong Kong at an average speed of Mach 0.90. G600 features the same avionics configuration as the G500, with active control sidesticks and 10 touchscreen cockpit displays.
Honeywell Aerospace provides the G500/G600 Symmetry flight deck’s touchscreen pilot interface where pilots can access system controls, flight management, communications, checklists, and weather and flight information. Thales provides the dual channel flight control computers, and Elbit Systems supplies the enhanced vision system, while GE Aviation supplies the data concentration network, power management and health management systems for the two aircraft.
The data concentration network uses an Ethernet backbone and can host coding and facilitate computer language translation.
During a recent visit to Gulfstream’s Savannah headquarters, Avionics learned how the data concentration network serves as a foundation for future research and development around the use of artificial intelligence for aircraft health monitoring and predictive data analytics for Gulfstream engineers.
“We are very proud of everyone who had a part in making this happen and keeping our promise to customers, as is a Gulfstream tradition, of a 2019 entry into service,” Burns said.