Mark Huber is an aviation industry veteran who has worked in the flight training, aircraft sales, aircraft component, and airport development businesses. He has flight time in more than 50 different and diverse aircraft, including helicopters, aerobatic aircraft, vintage warbirds, jet fighters, business jets and turboprops, and transport-category aircraft. He has jumped out of several of these—on purpose—with a parachute. His defense and aviation journalism has been published in a variety of national and international periodicals.

Contributor

Mark Huber

Gulfstream Aerospace brought the lone flying test article of its new G500 large-cabin business jet to Las Vegas Henderson Executive Airport this week for NBAA 2015. Test pilot Scott Evans told AIN that Gulfstream has made good progress with the completely fly-by-wire aircraft. “As far as the control laws and the control law development, we are exactly where we want to be,” he reported. “We are building on something that is a known entity [the G650] to us.”
Evans, who has been with the program for six years, said that flying the G500 is virtually indistinguishable from flying the G500’s immersive flight simulator. “We've increased the visual display area in the simulator,” it makes it “kind of like Imax for airplanes,” he explained. “We've done more wind-tunnel tests on this airplane than we have done in the past.”
Evans added that any dissimilarities between the aircraft and the simulator in the lab are incorporated into the lab so “at this point the lab flies just like the airplane. It gives us a lot of capability once we get to that point." 
Mark Kohler, Gulfstream's vice president for advanced aircraft programs, said that the aircraft has reached Mach 0.995 and 50,000 feet in test flights to date, on its way to certification goals of maximum speed of 0.925 Mach and 51,000 feet. Two other test aircraft, along with two production articles and one fatigue article are currently in various stages of build. 
Gulfstream (Booth C9406) remains on track to certify the aircraft in 2017 and begin customer deliveries in 2018, Kohler said. A production article, P1, should fly with a complete production interior by the middle of next year, he said. To date T1 has made 44 flights and logged 160 hours since its first flight in May. Its longest flight to date was 5 hours, 22 minutes. 
According to Kohler, the first G600, the G500’s longer sibling, is coming together in Savannah and remains on track for first flight in 2017, certification in 2018 and deliveries in 2019.

News and developments about airplanes, helicopters and unmanned air vehicles used in all varieties of operations, including airlines, military, business, commercial, general aviation and private.

Gulfstream G500 Program Making Rapid Progress

Gulfstream says the G500 program is on track for certification in 2017.

2024 Corporate Aviation Leadership Summit

Jessica Reed

News and issues relating to business, corporate and private aviation, primarily regarding turbine-engine-powered airplanes and helicopters. Subjects include aircraft, engines, maintenance, operations, personnel, acquisitions, accidents, safety, security, and training.

Jo Damato and Andrew Broom assume additional responsibilities

NBAA Expands Roles for Two Senior Executives

Matt Thurber

Similarities between the piston- and jet-powered Cirruses make transition training easier

Transport Canada Certifies Cirrus SR G7 and Vision G2+

Kerry Lynch

Aircraft will be able to take off in 150 feet of runway

Electra Launches Hybrid-electric EL9 STOL Aircraft

Hanneke Weitering

First production-representative Alia CX300 takes flight

Beta Flies First Electric Airplane Produced in Vermont Factory

G700 next headed to the Bahrain International Airshow for display alongside the G500

Gulfstream’s G700 Surpasses 65 City-pair Records

Honda's secretive eVTOL program picks up steam

FAA Greenlights Honda eVTOL Flight Tests

Curt Epstein

Some models are seeing high demand, others not so much

Broker: Preowned Cessna Citation Market Remains Mixed

Charles Alcock

New developments at airports including regulations and noise issues; legal disputes; openings, acquisitions and mergers.

News and developments about aircraft engines, including turbofan, turboprop, turboshaft and piston.

NBAA-BACE 2015

More In Aircraft