Fourth Gulfstream G600 Takes To The Skies Yesterday Gulfstream announced that the fourth G600 made its debut flight and joined the ongoing test program. The jet still unpainted took off from Savannah-Hilton Head Airport around 6:50PM local time and spent just over an hour in the air. The aircraft climbed to as high as 51,000-feet and reach Mach 0.925. The fourth aircraft joins the test regime only six weeks after the third test article.
The four testbed aircraft have now accumulated around 130 flights to date. The fifth and final aircraft in the test program has already been delivered to the completions center where it will be outfitted with a full production completed interior. “To have four first flights and fly more than 570 hours in less than six months is a remarkable achievement,” said Dan Nale, senior vice president, Programs, Engineering and Test, Gulfstream. “The rapid maturity of this program is due to the work we did before the flying even started — the strategic planning, the research, the lab development — combined with the success we’ve had in the similar G500 program. Thanks to our concurrent flight-test programs, we can apply lessons learned from the more mature G500 program to the G600, resulting in a more streamlined certification effort.” The G600 is anticipated to gain FAA certification in 2018. For more information: Gulfstream Aerospace 500 Gulfstream Road Savannah, GA 31407 www.gulfstream.com ***
