Gulfstream G650 Rolled Out, Under Its Own Power

from Aviation International:

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Gulfstream G650 Rolled Out, Under Its Own Power
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Gulfstream Aerospace this morning rolled out the first wide-cabin G650 to much fanfare, and a crowd that completely filled the G650 production hangar, at its Savannah, Ga. headquarters. What made the event even more noteworthy is that the $64.5 million (2009 $) twinjet–dubbed T1 for test aircraft one–did so under the power of its own Rolls-Royce BR725 engines. “We’ve all been looking forward to this day since we officially announced the G650 program last year,” said Gulfstream president Joe Lombardo. “The G650 is a statement about Gulfstream,” referring to its willingness to invest in new aircraft programs. Jay Johnson, president and CEO of Gulfstream parent General Dynamics, called the fly-by-wire G650 “the new Gulfstream standard.” The clean-sheet aircraft was launched in March last year and is expected to fly by year-end. FAA certification is slated for late 2011, with deliveries to follow in 2012. Lombardo said that T1 has already started “slow” taxi tests, which will be followed by higher-speed tests and, once all the systems are cleared, first flight by Gulfstream test pilots Jake Howard and Tom Horn.

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