Forgot to bid:
I agree on too much hangar talk. In my 30 plus years of flying I've noticed there is always someone willing to impress the class with tales of daring, as well as ask the silly long answer question at 4:55 PM on Friday! Perhaps we are our own worst enemy in this regard.
FSI SAV G550 recurrent is 2 days class & sim (at least back when I was there). Not much time for hangar talk. The initial was two weeks, M-F 8 to 5 and focused mostly on the Planeview and HUD/EVS systems. When I went through it was the daytime class plus about 4 hours of the Gulfstream manuals in the evenings.
As for the 5 manuals, easy. That's how Gulfstream makes 'em. When I was at a regional we had an FOM and a Flight Standards Manual, period. So I know what you are saying and agree. The airline I fly for now has a separate manual for every day of the year, six for the two different versions of the A320 we fly and it is a friggin mess. Can't find anything in less than a 2 hour hop & skip through 5 different manuals. Since they are all PDF files on an electronic flight bag we are spared the three flight bags and two rain jungles of pulp wood it would take to carry them all.
Cheers...