Gulfstream G500 Upgrades; Certification 2017 Gulfstream is targeting next year for the certification of the G500 luxury executive jet. Five test articles are currently flying around testing various regimes and parameters important to attaining certification of the type. Those test aircraft have flown over 360 flights amassing over 1,500 flight test hours. One of them is a production aircraft with a fully finished production interior.
One of the interesting facets to come out of the development of this new Gulfstream model is the number of windows the fuselage has. To this point, all designs and test articles have twelve signature large oval windows in the passenger cabin. However, Gulfstream is going to be manufacturing the client-based production aircraft with fourteen windows. The extra two windows on the final version will add even more natural light to the interior and provide more views out. During testing the G500 has flown to nearly the speed of sound at a maximum speed of Mach 0.995 at FL530. For more information: Gulfstream Aerospace 500 Gulfstream Road Savannah, GA 31407 www.gulfstream.com ***
