SAVANNAH, Ga., September 3, 2009 — Gulfstream Aerospace, a wholly owned subsidiary of General Dynamics (NYSE:GD), recently marked the entry-into-service of its 500th revolutionary Gulfstream Enhanced Vision System (EVS). The milestone comes eight years after the company began offering the industry-leading flight deck technology to operators of large-cabin Gulfstream aircraft.
The original Gulfstream EVS, and now the second-generation EVS II, uses a nose-mounted FLIR (forward-looking infrared) camera, specially designed by Elbit Systems of America – Commercial Aviation Kollsman, to generate actual, real-time images of the aircraft’s surroundings. The system dramatically increases situational awareness at night and during low-visibility daylight conditions by allowing pilots to see terrain, runways, taxiways and approaches that are undetectable by unaided sight. To date, EVS I is in-service on 464 Gulfstream aircraft, while EVS II is in-service on 36 Gulfstream aircraft.
“For more than 50 years, safety has been the prime focus at Gulfstream,” said Pres Henne, senior vice president, Programs, Engineering and Test, Gulfstream. “This milestone reaffirms that. It has been said that the Gulfstream EVS is one of the greatest strides forward in aviation safety since the introduction of the instrument landing system in 1929.”
Initially certified by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in September 2001, the Gulfstream EVS was the first of its type to be available on a business-jet aircraft. In late 2007 and early 2008, Gulfstream became the first Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) to have both enhanced and synthetic vision systems — EVS II and Synthetic Vision-Primary Flight Display (SV-PFD) — certified at the same time by the FAA, bringing a new and unmatched level of safety to the flight deck. The EVS II, whose hardware components are 22 pounds lighter, with four times the computational power and four times the memory of the original, has an improved maintenance interface within the Gulfstream PlaneView flight deck featuring Honeywell Primus Epic avionics.
In July 2009, Gulfstream received FAA certification to use EVS II on the wide-cabin, high-speed Gulfstream G150. The system is available for both new and in-service G150 aircraft. With the addition of the G150, the Gulfstream EVS is now available either as an option, or in some instances standard, on Gulfstream GIV/GIV-SP/GV/G150/G300/G350/G400/G450/G500/G550 aircraft. It will also be available as an option on the new Gulfstream G250 and will be standard on the new, ultra-large-cabin, ultra-long-range Gulfstream G650.
On large-cabin aircraft, the EVS image appears on a Head-Up Display (HUD) unit. On the G150, the images appear on 12-by-10-inch LCD Multi-Function Displays (MFDs) and are easily selectable through the G150 Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21 menu system.
In recognition of its efforts in developing the Gulfstream EVS, the company received the FAA’s Excellence in Aviation Research Award for 2004, a 2002 Flight International Aerospace Industry Award, a 2002 “Diplome D’ Honneur” from the Federation Aeronautique Internationale, and the 2002 Honeywell Bendix Award for Aviation Safety.
Gulfstream continues to undertake research and development work in vision-enhancing products at its designated Center of Excellence for Advanced Vision Systems in Savannah.
Gulfstream continues to undertake research and development
