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Mach 0.995

Old 08-30-2010, 09:15 PM
  #1  
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Default Mach 0.995

Gulfstream's 650 hits Mach 0.995

AOPA Online: Gulfstream’s G650 hits Mach 0.995

Gulfstream Aerospace’s new G650 reached Mach 0.995 in flutter tests, a feat that prompts the company to dub its top-of-the-line airplane the world’s fastest civil aircraft. The speed was attained as part of the G650’s certification flight test program. Gulfstream experimental test pilots Tom Horne and Gary Freeman, along with flight test engineer Bill Osborne, pitched the airplane’s nose down 16 to 18 degrees below the horizon to hit the target speed. The maneuver was designed to test the airplane’s natural flutter resistance when the wings, tail, and control surfaces were subjected to vibrations from onboard flutter exciters. The vibration frequencies exerted on the airplane ranged from two hertz (cycles per second) to 58 hertz, or about as fast as a fluorescent light flickers.
The airplane performed as expected. Horne said, “The airplane is very predictable. It’s very easy to control and get precise control at those speeds. The airplane response has matched the expectations of our engineers, and we’ve been able to easily fly the test conditions and march through the test plan.”
The four airplanes participating in the G650 flight test program—which began on Nov. 25, 2009—have completed more than 170 flights and 575 flight-test hours.
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Old 08-31-2010, 12:14 AM
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And this is progress? Douglas took a DC-8 supersonic in the 60s and TWA went supersonic over Detroit in a 727.
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Old 08-31-2010, 05:14 AM
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I would say with all the modern restrictions and "safety" crap, I guess you could call it a small victory
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Old 08-31-2010, 06:33 AM
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Originally Posted by Twin Wasp View Post
TWA went supersonic over Detroit in a 727.
I'd like to hear the story there...
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Old 08-31-2010, 07:20 AM
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I went and read the NTSB report http://libraryonline.erau.edu/online...s/AAR81-08.pdf and it turns out I had missunderstood a comment I'd heard. Turns out they only exceeded the aircraft's mach limit, .90, while doing a split S over Saginaw, MI. They rolled inverted, went 90 degrees nose down, hit .96 mach and then pulled 6 Gs on the pull out.
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Old 08-31-2010, 07:27 AM
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16-18DND? Who cares?

Will it out-run a X in level flight? If not, it still isn't the fastest civil aircraft. Sorry.

-mini
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Old 08-31-2010, 08:38 AM
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Originally Posted by minitour View Post
16-18DND? Who cares?

Will it out-run a X in level flight? If not, it still isn't the fastest civil aircraft. Sorry.

-mini

I agree, the X was rumored to have exceeded Mach 1 during flight testing.

X
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Old 08-31-2010, 08:44 AM
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Originally Posted by minitour View Post
16-18DND? Who cares?

Will it out-run a X in level flight? If not, it still isn't the fastest civil aircraft. Sorry.

-mini
Originally Posted by X Rated View Post
I agree, the X was rumored to have exceeded Mach 1 during flight testing.

X
Six in one, half dozen the other. I'll ride or fly in either. Someone come get me when we can break the sound barrier for business/commercial use.
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Old 08-31-2010, 09:39 AM
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Originally Posted by CaptainCarl View Post
Six in one, half dozen the other. I'll ride or fly in either.
I can't say for certain how I'd feel if offered a position actually doing it, but from the tight confines of the light jet, I'd take it over the big stuff any day.

Big plane = big suitcase.

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Old 08-31-2010, 10:02 AM
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If you're getting paid by the hour, give me the slowest jet out there.
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