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Commemoration Comes Less Than Five Years After Aircraft Entered Service
SAVANNAH, Ga., June 17, 2008 –Gulfstream Aerospace, a wholly owned subsidiary of General Dynamics, recently rolled out the 200th Gulfstream G550/G500 at its manufacturing plant in Savannah. The business jet will now be outfitted and painted at the company’s completion facility in Long Beach, Calif. Gulfstream also has completion facilities for large-cabin aircraft in Appleton, Wis., Brunswick, Ga., and Savannah.
“The roll-out of this aircraft represents a significant milestone,” said Joe Lombardo, president, Gulfstream. “In less than five years, our work force has assembled 200 aircraft of the G550/G500 family. This roll-out reflects the hard work, dedication, and innovation of Gulfstream’s employees, as well as the popularity of the aircraft in the business-aviation industry.”
The G550/G500 was officially introduced on Sept. 9, 2002, in Orlando, Fla. In a first for Gulfstream, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued the Type and Production certificates for the G550 on the same day, Aug. 14, 2003. A Type Certificate indicates the FAA has approved the design of an aircraft, while a Production Certificate confirms a manufacturer’s production processes comply with FAA regulations.
The first G550 was subsequently delivered on Sept. 17, 2003, while its
sister ship, the G500, was certified by the FAA on Dec. 8, 2003, and delivered
to its first customer on May 20, 2004. In the 100th anniversary year of
powered flight, the G550/G500 Development Team was honored with the 2003
Robert J. Collier Trophy by the National Aeronautic Association for its
technological break-through in aviation. The trophy is the most prestigious
aviation award in the United States.
The current in-service G550/G500 fleet of 172 aircraft has a 12-month dispatch
reliability rate of 99.87 percent. In addition, the G550 has established
close to 40 city-pair speed records. The most notable is a 14.5-hour,
7,301-nautical-mile nonstop flight from Seoul, South Korea, to Orlando, Fla.,
on Oct. 3, 2003. That flight took place less than two weeks after the
aircraft entered service. The Gulfstream G550 and G500 business-jet
fleet recently surpassed 200,000 flight hours.
The G550 is the first civil aircraft to receive a Type Certificate issued by the FAA that includes an Enhanced Vision System (EVS) as standard equipment on an aircraft. The Gulfstream EVS provides actual, real-time images detected by an infrared camera mounted to the nose of the aircraft and viewed by the pilot on the Head-Up Display (HUD).
The aircraft’s cockpit was the first to feature PlaneView®, an integrated avionics suite incorporating the Honeywell Primus Epic architecture and display system. The PlaneView® flight deck was designed by pilots and engineers to improve safety by reducing pilot workload and improving pilot situational awareness. Its four 14-inch liquid crystal displays provide flight-critical information in an easy-to-see format.
In January 2008, Gulfstream became the first Part 25 Original Equipment
Manufacturer (OEM) to have a synthetic vision system certified by the FAA.
The Gulfstream Synthetic Vision-Primary Flight Display (SV-PFD) displays
three-dimensional, color terrain images that are derived from data stored
in the Honeywell Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System (EGPWS). At the
same time, the FAA also certified Gulfstream’s second-generation EVS.
The certifications for both SV-PFD and EVS II are approved for
applications on Gulfstream G550, G500, G450 and G350 aircraft.
Both the G550 and the G500 feature twin Rolls-Royce BR710 engines, each of which provide 15,385 pounds of thrust. The G550 has a range of 6,750 nautical miles, while the G500 can fly up to 5,800 nautical miles nonstop.
NOTE TO EDITORS
Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of General Dynamics (NYSE: GD), designs, develops, manufactures, markets, services and supports the world’s most technologically advanced business-jet aircraft. Gulfstream has produced some 1,600 aircraft for customers around the world since 1958. To meet the diverse transportation needs of the future, Gulfstream offers a comprehensive fleet of aircraft, comprising the wide-cabin, high-speed Gulfstream G150®; the large-cabin, mid-range Gulfstream G200®; the large-cabin, mid-range Gulfstream G350®; the large-cabin, long-range G450®; the large-cabin, ultra-long-range Gulfstream G500®; the large-cabin, ultra-long-range Gulfstream G550® and the ultra-large-cabin, ultra-long-range G650®. Gulfstream also offers aircraft ownership services via Gulfstream Financial Services Division and Gulfstream Pre-Owned Aircraft Sales®. The company employs more than 9,700 people at seven major locations. We invite you to visit our Web site for more information and photos of Gulfstream aircraft at www.gulfstream.com.
General Dynamics, headquartered in Falls Church, Va., employs approximately 84,000 people worldwide and reported 2007 revenues of $27.2 billion. The company is a market leader in business aviation; land and expeditionary combat systems, armaments and munitions; shipbuilding and marine systems; and information systems and technologies. More information about the company is available on the Internet at www.generaldynamics.com.
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Document last modified Tuesday, June 17, 2008 |