Ending protracted speculation about how it would address the aging fuselage cross section of its large-cabin business jets, Gulfstream Aerospace this morning unveiled the G650, which will topple (but initially not replace) the G550 from its perch as the top Gulfstream business jet when it enters service in the first half of 2012.
Compared with its predecessor, the G650 will have a longer, three-inches-taller and 14-inches-wider cabin offering 28 percent more volume and a lower cabin altitude (4,850 feet at the FL510 ceiling), a larger baggage compartment, a larger main entry door and 16-percent-larger cabin windows that dwarf the already impressive portholes that have distinguished Gulfstreams ever since the GI turboprop. The G650 will ride on new wings, swept six degrees more than the G550’s. In the cockpit there will be PlaneView II avionics and fly-by-wire flight controls. New Rolls-Royce BR725 engines will propel the 99,600-pound mtow jet, which will have a bfl of less than 6,000 feet at mtow and 3,000-foot landing distance at mlw.
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