DLR G550 jet enters Flight Experimental Service

DLR G550 starts experimental Flight service​

The research aircraft "HALO" - High Altitude and LOng Range - is based on a production Gulfstream G550, one of the most modern twin jet business jets. Due to its unique modifications and excellent performance HALO is qualified to serve as an ideal multipurpose platform for environmental research.

The main purpose of this craft is to explore the composition of the upper atmosphere. Gulfstream slightly altered the structure of this aircraft to suit its different purpose. Then the Swiss-based Ruag Aerospace installed more than 20 additional openings in the fuselage and wings to allow for air inlets, sensors and monitoring systems at its Oberpfaffenhofen facility near Munich.

The altered G550 offers more advantages over the other modified aircraft DLR had, a Dassault Falcon 20E. For starters, this G550 can carry a 3-tonne payload and also fly to just under 50,000 ft which allows them to test in the boundary between the statosphere and trophosphere. Between now and 2015, ten missions are planned with various scientific institutes and universities.

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