To the disappointment of many, Gulfstream is saving the public debut of its new ultra long-range corporate jet, the Gulfstream V, for a specialist business aircraft convention later in the year.
Instead, Gulfstream is bringing a GIV-SP to the show by way of emphasising the importance of both these product lines.
A demanding certification schedule, which Gulfstream says is on track and on the home stretch, prevents Gulfstream from bringing the GV to Farnborough, but the company takes the view that its responsibilities to its customers and to meeting delivery schedules must take precedence.
The company has 63 firm orders for the $37.5 million aircraft.
Gulfstream has four aircraft in flight test at its Savannah, Georgia-based headquarters and a fifth aircraft in the completion centre.
This fifth aircraft will be Gulfstream's customer demonstrator and is expected to debut at the National Business Aircraft Association (NBAA) convention in Orlando, Florida, in November.
By mid-August, Gulfstream test pilots had clocked up around 280 flights and 620h on the aircraft. Total flight test time by certification is expected to be around 1,200h.
The GV has been flown to a speed of Mach 0.95, an altitude of 53,000ft (16,000m), and to a bank angle of 55o at 51,000ft without any signs of problems, says Gulfstream test pilot Randy Gaston.
"It's a fun aircraft to fly, but also a very safe aircraft to fly. You put it on like a comfortable pair of shoes," says Gaston. US Federal Aviation Administration certification is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 1996, and Gulfstream is confident of this happening before the NBAA convention in mid-November.
Gulfstream acknowledges that there is a weight issue to address with the aircraft. Work continues to reduce the empty weight of the aircraft as well as the weight of its BMW Rolls-Royce BR710 engines, which also power the GV's rival, the Bombardier Global Express.
Although regarded as the number one "miss" in the programme, Gulfstream says it has sufficient built-in weight growth capability in the GV to meet the promised range of 12,000km (6,500nm) at M0.8.
Source: Flight Daily News
