We Fly: Gulfstream G650

Isabel Goyer

Tuesday, September 10, 2013 at 12:24 AM ET

Verified

** Gulfstream G650**

Key Takeaways:

The Gulfstream G650 is a highly advanced, customer-driven business jet, setting new standards for speed, range, and luxury in civil aviation.
It features innovative bonded-skin fuselage construction, resulting in an exceptionally quiet cabin with large windows, remarkably low cabin altitude, and superior comfort for long-haul flights.
Equipped with a three-axis fly-by-wire flight control system and advanced avionics (including enhanced vision), the G650 offers precise, consistent handling and robust safety features.
The G650 boasts an impressive 7,000 nm range at Mach .87, enabling direct ultra-long-haul travel that significantly reduces journey times and complexity compared to commercial options.

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In the driving rain, I taxied the big Gulfstream G650 across the ramp, being careful to keep it at a crawl on the slightly downhill grade. The line guy in optic-green rain gear directed me to nose up to the slab-sided metal hangar, its proud Gulfstream logo just visible through the fast-moving streaks of water on the big windscreen obscuring my view. After we ran the short post-flight list and shut down, I sat there in silence, taking in the most remarkable flight of my life in what just might be the most capable and advanced civil airplane ever produced.

Gulfstream G650 at a Glance

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It had been a good morning, something for which I was ready but which nothing could have sufficiently prepared me. It had all started with what sounded like a softball question.