IAI rolls out mid-size business jet and plans maiden flight for May, with certification set for first quarter of next year
Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) plans an aggressive seven-month, two-aircraft flight test programme for the Gulfstream G150, leading to certification of the mid-size business jet in the first quarter of next year. A larger-cabin derivative of Gulfstream's IAI-produced G100, the G150 was rolled out at the Israeli company's Tel Aviv plant on 18 January.
Maiden flight of the instrumented first aircraft, 201, is scheduled for 18 May. The second aircraft, 202, will join the flight-test programme in the third quarter, says Stan Dixon, G150 programme manager. A 75-flight, 235h test programme is planned for the two aircraft, leading to Israeli and US amended type certification of the "green" airframe early next year.
Gulfstream will then be responsible for installation and supplemental type certification of the G150 interior at its Dallas, Texas completion centre, leading to entry into service in the third quarter of next year. The first aircraft to be delivered will be Gulfstream's demonstrator, followed by the first of 50 G150s on firm order for US fractional-ownership operator NetJets, says Dixon.
The G150 will replace the G100 in production at IAI, with the 158th and final G100 to be delivered later this year. Demand for the G100 has been tailing off, with only four built last year and four more this year, In contrast, IAI plans to deliver 15 G150s next year, increasing to at least 24 in 2007, and has tooling to build up to four a month. IAI has made an $80 million investment in development of the G150, sources say.
Compared with the G100, the $13.5 million G150 has a wider cabin, uprated Honeywell TFE731-40 engines, new Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21 avionics and increased-reliability systems. The aircraft is designed to carry four passengers 5,000km (2,700nm) at Mach 0.75, and have US coast-to-coast capability at M0.8.
A "lateral stretch" increases cabin width by 305mm (12in), to 1.75m (5.75ft) and height by 50mm, also to 1.75m. The nose is reshaped, the cockpit widened, and a 405mm plug inserted aft of the wing to fair the wider fuselage into the existing G100 tail.
GRAHAM WARWICK / TEL AVIV
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY ARIE EGOZI
Source: Flight International
