Round-up 5/3

G200 4K-AZ88 (189) had an "incident" at Moscow SVO on the 26th. See aviation-safety.net The 28th was a busy day. G280 N270GA (2170) ferried Tel Aviv to Stansted. G650 N667GA (6367) ferried Savannah to Appleton as GLF44. G500 N939ML (72022) was delivered initially to Portland as GLF44 (see pic below) and G650 N6CP (6349) was delivered Appleton to Trenton. The 4th produced G280 N271GA (2171) ferrying Tel Aviv to Stansted and some research has confirmed that this is the 50th G280 to ferry via Stansted. G650 N5CP (6347) delivered from Appleton to Trenton on the same day. Pfizer now have 4 G650s in their fleet. Don't think we've had an upgrade to G650ER since the end of January. 6357 has just changed to an ER on the register this morning.

Picture by Russell Hill at Portland

IAI to Gulfstream pt3

The final part of this story (for now) brings us up to date. The 1126 Galaxy used the Astra SPX wing but had a wider fuselage enabling 3 abreast seating and new engines. It first flew on December 25th 1997. In 2001 (along with the Astra that was in production at the same time) it was rebranded the G200 to reflect the merger with Gulfstream. The last G4s became G300s and G400s (G4SP) to complete the range. A total of 250 G200s were built with the last one being rolled out at Tel Aviv in December 2011.
The G200 evolved in to the G250 and first flew on December 11th 2009. Improvements over the earlier G200 included new engines, an updated glass cockpit and a larger wing plus a T-tail. With China becoming an ever more important customer for Gulfstream, it was found that the number 250 in Mandarin was "inappropriate" so the model was rebranded as the G280. Deliveries of these to Dallas for outfitting continue as can be seen in the updates on this blog.
Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) have now been producing biz jets for 50 years and are just about at the 1000 mark (the 180th G280 will do that). Long may they continue.

G200 above at GVA and G280 below at PBI

Round-up 22/5

Upgrade on the register to G650ER was 6310. G280 N280BA (2147) ferried Tel Aviv to Stansted on the 16th. G650 N632GA (6332) ferried Savannah to Long Beach on the 17th as GLF96. G650 M-YSIX flew Bournemouth to Savannah on the 19th after 3 weeks of storage. The 19th was also the 4th anniversary of the G650ER entering service. This version has now flown more than 135,000 hours. A Chinese G200 came to grief on the 20th. See link G650 6301 was cancelled to Qatar on the 21st, presumably to become the 5th with Qatar Executive making it the largest operator of this model. Next Tuesday is the first day of EBACE at Geneva so there may be a delay in me posting again. This is my 300th post.

Part of the Gulfstream line up at EBACE 2016

Update: Just found a pic of VP-CLH which would appear to be 6308.

Pendley Aviation upgrades

Pendley Aviation, based at Luton, have said goodbye to their G200 G-ZZOO (163) which departed to St. Johns in Canada on 19th April and subsequently became N163GA. It has been traded in for brand new G450 G-ULFM (4359) which has just been registered to them and should appear shortly. Hope to post a pic once it arrives but in the meantime ...

G-ZZOO departing Luton in 2015



Christmas Greetings from St. Maarten

Christmas is the time that billionaires, high rollers and chilly Canadians visit the island of Sint Maarten in the Caribbean. The runway of the Princess Juliana airport extends almost to Maho Beach which is famous for the spectacular arrivals that skim over the perimeter fence. Frederick K Larkin was lucky enough to visit here recently and he has sent me these great pics. Can I also take this opportunity to wish all my readers a Happy Christmas and a great 2017.