I have been to dozens of new airplane rollouts in the last 30-plus years, and I was amazed when the all-new Gulfstream G650 taxied into view at a rollout ceremony in late September under its own power. That just doesn’t happen. Rollout ceremonies are usually a party to show that the airplane is getting close, not that it has all the necessary parts and can move under its own power.
The G650, which was announced in March 2008, is the biggest, fastest and longest-range business jet yet. It is also the first entirely new design from the company since the Gulfstream II. The G650 features a cabin with 6-foot-5-inch headroom that is 8½ feet wide, the largest purpose-built business jet by far. Top speed is expected to be Mach .925 (525 knots), squeezing it past the speedy Citation X to claim the top speed for a civilian jet. And the G650 can cover 5,000 nm at Mach .90 (516 knots), or 7,000 nm at Mach .85 (488 knots), also far ahead of the competition.
