Ultra-Long-Range G550 Business Jet Completes Flight in Under 10
Hours
The ultra-long-range
Gulfstream G550 has set another city-pair speed record - this time
between Newark, N.J., and Tel Aviv, Israel. The 6550 flew the
5,031nm route in 9 hours and 52 minutes, thereby establishing
its 15th city-pair speed record since it first entered service
nearly two years ago. Gulfstream is awaiting official recognition
of this city-pair speed record by the National Aeronautic
Association (NAA).
The G550 took off from Newark international Airport at 8:16 p.m.
local time on Aug. 28. it flew 5,031 nautical miles at an average
cruise speed of Mach 0.86, landing 9 hours, 52 minutes later at
1:08 p.m. local time on Aug. 29 at Ben Gurion Airport.
"This new speed record demonstrates the G550's exceptional range
and performance, which have become the hallmark of this outstanding
business jet," said Bryan Moss, president, Gulfstream.
"But there's even more to this plane than reliability and
performance. While the pilots were flying for a new city-pair speed
record, the passengers remained productive, conducting business as
they would at their place of business."
In addition to
face-to-face and telephone communication, in-flight G550 passengers
also can send and receive e-mail, monitor the stock market, surf
the Internet or perform any other Web-based task, at the same speed
found in most corporate offices through Gulfstream's
ultra-high-speed Broad Band Multi-Link (BBML) service. Gulfstream
is (currently) the only manufacturer that exclusively builds
business jets offering this service, which is reportedly 10
times faster than the most widely used in-flight, high-speed data
service.
While the service is
not available over the North Atlantic region until the first
quarter of next year, the BBML system is fully operational over
North America and will become fully operational over Europe and the
Middle East before the end of this year.
Gulfstream Senior international Captain Hank Gibson served as
pilot-in-command and international Captain Tony Briona served as
second-in-command. Also onboard were Carl Schomberg, production
test pilot, who served as first officer, Gulfstream Chief Flight
Attendant Sally Greer and five passengers.
Today, there are 59 aircraft that comprise the in-service G550
fleet, which collectively have flown more than 25,000 flight hours
and completed some 10,000 takeoffs and landings.