Gulfstream Flying High with G500 and G600, Triumph Group to Provide Gulfstream G500/600 Wing Components, NBAA Responds to USA Today Story

Business and general aviation aircraft deliveries continued their resurgence during the first nine months of 2014, thanks to rising demand for jets and piston-engined types, according to the latest statistics from the General Aviation Manufacturers Association.

Worldwide shipments between January and September rose by 5.7% to 1,678 aircraft valued at $16 billion, compared with 1,587 shipments valued at $15.4 billion for the same period in 2013, the US-based association reveals.

All airplane producers no doubt are continuing to assess the near term and long term business indications of last week’s National Business Aviation Association’s convention and exhibition, which was a huge success for attendees and exhibitors alike.

Gulfstream should be particularly happy. It received very strong customer interest in its newest large-cabin, long-range jets: the G500/G600, both of which are clean-sheet designs. The company has letters of intent from an unspecified number of prospective buyers. The next step will be converting these letters to firm contracts spelling out terms and conditions.

The new aircraft not only have larger cabins than the G450 and G550, but they will also fly higher, faster, quieter and farther—on less fuel. High-speed cruise for both aircraft is Mach 0.9. At Mach 0.85 long-range cruise speed, the $54.5-million G600 has a range of 6,200 nm, compared with the G550’s 6,000 nm. The 43.5-million G500 has 5,000-nm range, compared with the G450’s 4,220 nm at Mach 0.8. In addition to a larger fuselage cross-section, the new jets share with the G650 fly-by-wire controls and systems and wing aerodynamics.

Triumph Group has been selected by Gulfstream Aerospace and UTC Aerospace to provide the wing structural components and the nose wheel steering system for the G500/600 aircraft.

NBAA (jetOptions is a member of NBAA) responded swiftly this week to a “biased [and] sensationalist” article published in USA Today, alleging that general aviation (GA) manufacturers and federal regulators have deliberately withheld safety improvements to reduce the risk of post-impact aircraft fires.

In his Oct. 27 article “Investigation: Post-crash fires in small planes cost 600 lives,” writer Thomas Frank asserts that concerns over equipment costs have prevented manufacturers from improving post-impact fire safety in GA aircraft.

“On behalf of the more than 10,000 Member Companies of the National Business Aviation Association using general aviation as a safe mode of transportation across the country and around the globe,” wrote NBAA President and CEO Ed Bolen in a response to the newspaper’s letters editor. “I find it unfortunate that USA Today has again published what seems to be a biased, sensationalist opinion piece [that] paints an unfair and inaccurate portrait of our industry, rather than presenting an objective and fact-based analysis of the many facets that have contributed to safer GA operations over the past several years.