Gulfstream G650 Grounded by Vibration

The landing gear door vibration that cut short the first flight of Gulfstream's flagship G650 on Nov. 25 in Savannah has yet to be remedied, according to Heidi Fedak, Gulfstream's communications manager.

"We're still working on it. We expect the second flight to be imminent," she said. No information was available on the exact cause of the vibration or steps being taken to alleviate the problem, nor a target date for when the airplane would be released to resume the flight test program.

However, Fedak did say that the second test aircraft has been released by production to the flight test department for installation of "orange gear" used in test measurements.

Gulfstream plans to use three dedicated test aircraft and two production aircraft in the 1,800 hour G650 flight test program. Fedak said the aircraft remains on schedule for certification in 2011 with customer deliveries to begin in 2012.

Source: AviationWeek