Gulfstream has delivered the first G500 corporate jet to a customer only four years after the aircraft was announced.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued both the type and production certificates on 20 July this year and the customer delivery was made to a North American customer earlier this week.
“We’re proud of the work we and our suppliers have done to deliver a technologically advanced, all-new, clean-sheet aircraft that exceeds our customers’ expectations and continues the longstanding Gulfstream tradition of excellence,” said Gulfstream president Mark Burns.
The G500 carries 19 passengers and has a range of 5200 nm and a service ceiling of FL510. With a maximum speed of 0.925 Mach, a G500 set 20 new city pair speed records during a whirlwind tour of the world earlier this year, which covered 44 cities in 18 countries.
Gulfstream's highly redundant Intelligence-by-Wire fitted to the G500 incorporates flight controls, autopilot, autothrottle and autobraking. The avionics are Gulfstream's own Symmetry Flight Deck.