Gulfstream passes 100-flight hour mark for G500

Gulfstream has added 40 flights and 85 flight hours to the G500 test campaign in the last two months, completing initial handling qualities tests and an attitude recovery stall system.

The first of four G500 test aircraft now has flown 45 flights and logged 100 flight hours, including one 5h22min mission, altitudes up to 38,500ft and speeds up to Mach 0.80, Gulfstream says.

The pace of testing has quickened since Gulfstream briefly paused the test programme in early August to perform routine modifications to support flutter testing.

“The team recently flew three missions in one day, with hot refueling between flights, for a total flight time of nearly seven hours,” says Dan Nale, Gulfstream’s senior vice-president of programmes, engineering and test.

The T1 test aircraft is now involved in flutter and envelope expansion testing. Meanwhile, ground testing has cleared the limit loads for structures such as fuselage, wing, vertical and horizontal stabilisers, main landing gear, nose landing gear and all control surfaces, says Gulfstream.

More flight test aircraft are set to join the programme soon, with T2 and T3 being prepared for flight now.

The G500 is scheduled to receive airworthiness certification from the US Federal Aviation Administration in 2017, with deliveries beginning in 2018. Its longer-range sister aircraft, the G600, follows with certification in 2018 and entry into service in 2019.