Gulfstream: April 2008 Archives

FlightBlogger Feature Part III of IV. All images are copyright of FlightBlogger unless otherwise specified.

Read Part I - Ground School
Read Part II - To The Sky

FlightBlogger Feature Part II of IV. All images are copyright of FlightBlogger unless otherwise specified. Read Part I - Ground School.

The sun was getting low on the horizon on this notably cold February evening. The wind, which had been quite gusty during the day, was beginning to calm down as dusk arrived. Our aircraft, a Gulfstream G450 registered as N922H was still flying when we arrived at the at the Landmark Aviation terminal at Washington Dulles International Airport. A joint Honeywell and Gulfstream team had spent the afternoon demonstrating the Synthetic Vision-Primary Flight Display for members of the media. Ours was the final demonstration of the day following a crew from the CBS Evening News.

FlightBlogger Feature Part I of IV. All images are copyright of FlightBlogger unless otherwise specified.

On the evening of February 11, 2008, three of my colleagues from Flight and I were invited by Gulfstream and Honeywell to participate in an in-flight demonstration of the next generation in aviation situational awareness. The Synthetic Vision-Primary Flight Display (SV-PFD), which is part of the Integrated Primary Flight Display (IPFD) from Honeywell, received FAA certification on Gulfstream jets just two weeks before.

The system, which provides a forward three-dimensional terrain model, is now available on the Gulfstream G350, G450, G500 and G550 business jets. If you happen to already own one of these four types of Gulfstream aircraft, an upgrade will run you about $300,000. The SV-PFD also joins the Enhanced Vision System, certified in 2001, which displays an infrared view ahead of the aircraft.

Image Credit Gulfstream

Before we get underway, it’s important to see the Gulfstream flight deck architecture as a whole.