Gulftream is nearing the induction of the G700 into completions, Gulfstream Aerospace president Mark Burns said.
With
five G700 ultra-long-range jets now in the flight test program, Gulfstream
Aerospace has wrapped up many of the tests required for certification of its
new $75 million flagship as the company proceeds toward service entry in
2022.
Gulfstream
unveiled the new model, which will sit on top of its product line with a
five-living-area cabin and a 7,500-nm range, during last year’s NBAA-BACE in
Las Vegas, and flew the first flight test vehicle just four months later on
Valentine’s Day. Since then, four more G700s have been added to the flight-test
program, with T5 taking to the skies last month.
“The
G700 development program continues to go very well,” said Gulfstream president
Mark Burns. “Now we’ll be inducting the first airplane into completion very
soon.”
Colin
Miller, senior v-p of innovation, engineering, and flight for Gulfstream,
agreed, saying the program, which has amassed more than 850 flight
hours, hasn’t “missed a beat.” He added that the G700 test aircraft has
flown to 54,000 feet, reached Mach 0.99, and completed nearly all of the
fundamental tests that are needed as the company prepares for certification.
This has included flutter testing, stalls, loads, flying qualities, cold
weather, and high altitude. The company now is “deeply immersed in avionics
testing,” Miller said, “and we’re preparing for certification.”
The
program has remained on track despite Covid-19, which Miller credited to
Gulfstream’s protocols put in place during the pandemic. “Many of the
protections and protocols that we developed...were instrumental in enabling us
from the first flight through today to keep pace with our flight-test program.”
He
also credited the performance of the aircraft for keeping on schedule. The
aircraft has performed “exceptionally well,” Miller said. “Almost every flight
we fly comes back squawk-free with no maintenance discrepancies, which enables
us to turn the aircraft and fly them the next day. And now, with five aircraft
in flight test, we’re hitting our stride and accomplishing a great number of
test points and actually accelerating a little bit above our plan that was done
a year ago.”
In
addition to having to navigate the Covid pandemic, Gulfstream has kept the
program on a steady pace in an environment of heightened certification
scrutiny. Miller acknowledged that there is more certification scrutiny in the
aftermath of the Boeing 737 Max crashes. But, he added, “the regular
certification process has always been very rigorous and FAA oversight has
always been very thorough. They’ve been very involved with everything we have
done.”
Through
Gulfstream’s organization designation approval, the company works
“hand-in-hand” with the FAA, he said, “and we have brought our certification
plans forward in the context of lessons learned from the 737 Max and reviewed
them with the FAA. And, we haven’t made a single change.” In that
process, he said, “we learned...that our oversight and our approach is very
thorough and appropriate.”
He
pointed to the investment Gulfstream has made in labs and flight tests to
thoroughly vet designs, especially for software that is a critical part of the
review process. “We’ve made a big investment in being able to analyze and
stress software in our labs and in the airplanes to ensure that it’s robust and
safe,” Miller said. “And we’re now working with the FAA to gain even more
credit for what we can do in our labs because we can test our advanced
capabilities more thoroughly, I believe, than anyone else can. The FAA
appreciates that.”
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