A new hushkit, designed to achieve Stage 3 noise compliance with less than a 1% aircraft performance loss, is being designed by a US company for the Rolls-Royce Spey-powered Gulfstream GII and GIII business jets.
New York-based ReallyQuiet plans to begin certification testing of the hushkit on a GII from its Mojave Flight test centre by the end of February.
"Environmental concerns are now a major issue within the business aircraft industry, and this hushkit will provide Gulfstream owners with a no-performance loss solution to the Stage 3 noise pollution regulations, and may also increase the resale value of the aircraft," says ReallyQuiet's founder and hushkit designer George Ottendorf.
Ottendorf, who has also designed similar systems for the Dassault Falcon 20, Learjet 20 and de Havilland DC-8, plans to capture around 75% of the 400 GII and GIII aircraft still in operation around the globe. The $1.5 million hushkit is scheduled to receive certification in the last quarter of this year, and will be installed on the first aircraft in January 2000.
Source: Flight International
