Gulfstream’s G250 is making its show debut here in Atlanta after a 14h 31min, 6,192nm from Tel Aviv, with station stops in Shannon, Bangor and Savannah.
Ronen Shapira, chief pilot for Israel Aerospace Industries and the G250 was accompanied on the transatlantic crossing by Captains Ravi Palter and pilot Dov Davidor on the trip from Tel Aviv, along with technicians Uzi Mizrahi and Amir Levi.
The longest of three legs for Serial Number 2003 (4X-WBJ) clocked in at 5h 49m, between Israel to Shannon, Ireland, was stretched to 6h 12min and included avionics testing in Ireland. The testing included a full approach, missed approach testing of the aircraft’s Rockwell Collins Pro Line Fusion avionics, for which the G250 is the launch customer.
As it transited through Europe, Shapira says air traffic control frequently called up to the new jet to ask what type of aircraft the crew as flying. Prior to its flight, the aircraft had received reduce vertical separation mimumums (RVSM) approval, enabling its 41,000ft initial cruise and later climb to 43,000ft on the first leg to Ireland.
Shapira says this was not the aircraft longest flight for the G250 since its first flight, 2003’s second flight topped out at 7h 1m.
As part of the first over-water crossing, the super mid-size Honeywell HTF7250G-powered twin flew no more than about 400nm from land at any time during the transatlantic leg.
The aircraft touched down on US soil for the first time on October 15 in Bangor, Maine after another 5h and 56min leg, landing in dreadful weather conditions, prompting a 30 degree, 20 gusting to 29kt crosswind approach in heavy rain.
“We had landed previous with a higher crosswind component in Israel,” says Shapira, a former IAF F-15 pilot. “It was quite uneventful. When you consider the integration between the airplane, the auto-pilot, the auto-throttles and the new wing, you have and airplane with flying qualities very similar to the G550.”
The aircraft departed Bangor on 16 October with 8,600lbs of fuel – below maximum – and climbed directly to 43,000ft at Mach .80 in 18m and flew to Savannah, Georgia, home to the head office of Gulfstream Aerospace, touching down at 11:25 local time.
The aircraft, serial number 2003 transitioned to Atlanta and Peachtree DeKalb Airport on Sunday marking the types show debut along side the large-cabin high-speed Gulfstream G650.
Following its visit to NBAA, G250 will continue its flight test campaign in the US, heading to Bakersfield, California for far-field noise testing and high altitude takeoff performance in Alamosa, Colorado. The aircraft will visit Savannah once again before returning to Tel Aviv. Shapira says the aircraft plans to return to the US in January for natural icing tests.
For the G250, 2011 will be spent accomplishing its certification campaign as it aims for joint certification from European, American and Israeli regulators, with first delivery to follow by the end of that year.
Two additional airframes, S1 and F1, are part of the static and fatigue ground test campaigns. Limit load testing has already been completed and ultimate load testing is under way.
Further more, the G250 integration test facility has also completed more than 1,400h of testing on software version 2.1, which is currently flying on the test fleet.
As of October 12, the G250 had completed more than 214h over 73 flights since first flying in December. The three aircraft flight test program includes dedicated aircraft for aircraft performance, systems, and avionics testing.
Map Credit Gulfstream
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This post originally appeared at Flightglobal.com from 2007 to 2012.