BRAGGING RIGHTS
How popular planes stack up in speed
The axiom “speed sells” may be no truer than in the business jet manufacturing industry. After all, speed translates to passenger time saved, which helps harried executives fit in more in between zigzagging between cities. In a bid to sell more aircraft on the basis of their speed, business jet manufacturers will often achieve and publicise their speed records between city pairs.
One-upmanship
In March 2019, Bombardier flew its Global 7500 from Singapore to Tucson by taking off at 7:12am local time and landing at 8:19am local time, the same day, achieving a flight time of 16 hours and seven minutes.
“The Global 7500 aircraft was built to break all the records,” said David Coleal, President, Bombardier Business Aircraft. “It achieved the industry’s longest mission ever in business aviation after only two months in service. We’ve demonstrated its unequaled long-range and high-speed capabilities, but also its ability to break records confidently with healthy fuel reserves remaining, once again, confirming its unsurpassed performance to customers.”
Not to be outdone, the following month Gulfstream announced that it had eclipsed Bombardier’s city-pair speed record between Singapore and Tucson. According to the company, the Gulfstream 650ER flew an average of 597 miles per hour (Mach 0.85) over a distance of 8,379 nautical miles (nm). The flight beat the Global 7500 record by 44 minutes, earning the G650ER the distinction of fastest business jet in operation. The flight departed Singapore at 4:53pm local time and arrived the same day at 5:16pm for a flight time of 15 hours and 23 minutes.
In fact, Gulfstream proclaims that the G650ER and its sister model, the G650, have earned a combined 90 speed records. For instance, in 2015, the G650ER flew 8,010 nm from Singapore to Las Vegas in 14 hours and 32 minutes. In another speed attempt, the G650ER flew 7,475 nm from Singapore to San Francisco in just 13 hours and 37 minutes.
“The G650ER has no equal when it comes to its incredible combination of speed and range,” said Mark Burns, President, Gulfstream Aerospace. “Worldwide, you just can’t go farther faster, and this record proves it. With 350 aircraft in service, the G650 and G650ER show day in and day out that they are class-creating and -leading aircraft that set the standard when they were announced and continue to do so today. Simply put, all others follow.”
When aircraft manufacturers (or individual pilots) believe that they have broken a new city-pair speed record for a class of aircraft, the presumed record is frequently submitted to the National Aeronautic Association (NAA) for review and approval. Records are based on the
great circle distance between city-pairs, not the actual distance flown. In the earlier example of Singapore to Tucson, Gulfstream is awaiting NAA approval for the great circle distance of 7,990 nm even though the actual flight route was 8,379 nm at an average speed of 626 miles per hour.
Two speed records
HondaJet, with a range of 1,233 nm (plus NBAA IFR reserves), is ideal for business people who typically travel between cities that are up to three hours apart. With this in mind, in 2016 Honda proclaimed two new speed records over routes that prospective HondaJet passengers may truly fly.
The first city-pair was between Teterboro and Fort Lauderdale. The HondaJet departed at 2:15pm local time and landed at 5:06pm local time, for a flight duration of just two hours and 51 minutes. Cruising at FL430 (43,000 feet), the HondaJet encountered head winds of nearly 70 miles per hour thereby limiting ground speed to just 478 miles per hour. This might suggest that this record is ripe for breaking.
The second city-pair was between Boston and Palm Beach. This flight was slightly longer having departed at 7:18am and landed at 10:16am. According to Honda, the HondaJet was the first ever aircraft in its class to officially be recognised for establishing the time for this city-pair.
NAA presented Honda Aircraft with plaques to commemorate both city-pair speed records.
“We chose several of the busiest business aviation airports with extremely popular routes to demonstrate that the HondaJet will get customers where they need to be faster than any other light jet,” said Honda Aircraft President and CEO Michimasa Fujino. “These missions prove just how dramatically HondaJet design innovations like the Over-The-Wing Engine Mount increase performance and fuel efficiency over other light jets.”
Textron Aviation, maker of the popular Citation series of jets, laid claim in 2014 to four speed records for the Citation X+ over the course of two days.
“It was great. On the second day, we left Miami in the morning and arrived in Seattle in time to have lunch with the air traffic controllers. Then, we got back into the aircraft and flew to Wichita. We were home in time for dinner with our families. We were all over the country in one day and were still able to get home with time to spare,” said Neil Payne, a Cessna engineering test pilot.
Going the opposite way
While most speed records are set by travelling west to east so as to take advantage of tailwinds, Embraer has taken the opposite approach with several continental US-to-Hawaii flights.
On one record-breaking flight, the midsize Embraer Legacy 500 departed Burbank with five passengers on board and took six hours to travel 2,165 nm before touching down in Maui for an average speed of 422 miles per hour. The return flight from Maui landed in Phoenix. Thanks to tailwinds, the flight averaged nearly 526 miles per hour, over 2,470 nm in just five hours and 30 minutes.
The longest Legacy 500 flight to date, again with help from tailwinds, was from Düsseldorf to Dubai, a distance of 3,268 nm. The trip took seven hours and three minutes.
As is standard, Embraer’s recordbreaking flights were certified by NAA and the Federation Aeronautique Internationale.
“These new speed records reaffirm the Legacy 500’s superior performance and its suitability for transoceanic missions as well as coast-to-coast flights,” said Marco Tulio Pellegrini, President & CEO, Embraer Executive Jets.
With thousands of city-pairs across the globe, more record-breaking flights can be expected because when it comes to bragging rights, business jet manufacturers know that speed sells.