around-the-world record.
From left: Tom Horne, Bud Ball, Eric Parker,
Ross Oetjen and John McGrath.
A Gulfstream G650 has set a new round-the-world record in claiming the mantle of the fastest westbound time for a non-supersonic aircraft of 41 hours 7 minutes.
Gulfstream says the aircraft recorded an average speed of 915km/h for the 20,310nm, three-stop flight, which departed on its first leg from San Diego’s Brown Field Municipal Airport at 9.08pm local time on July 1, landing at Guam 10 hours and 29 minutes later. The second leg was a 10 hour flight from Guam to Dubai World Central-Al Maktoum International Airport. The third leg saw the jet fly from Dubai to Cape Verde’s AmÍlcar Cabral International Airport in 8 hours, 52 minutes, with the final leg back to San Diego taking 10 hours 10 minutes. Total time on the ground for the three refuelling stops was 90 minutes.
All legs were flown at the G650’s standard high-speed cruise of Mach 0.90. Five pilots shared the flying over the four legs.
The G650’s record, for the C-1.l class of aircraft with takeoff weights of 35,000 to 45,000kg, was officially certified by the National Aeronautic Association (NAA) and the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale in September.
