Two multifunction control display units in the center console provide a flight management system (FMS), radio tuning and other functions. The throttle quadrant assembly that sends electronic commands to the engine Fadecs has servos that move the throttles in response to auto-throttle commands.
Other standard features include triple VHF comm and dual nav radios, dual distance measuring equipment, dual combined Mode S/Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) transceivers, dual FMS with 12-channel wide-area-augmentation/satellite-based-augmentation-system GPS receivers, dual digital air computers and dual solid-state attitude-heading reference systems, along with a single Multiscan weather radar, automatic direction finder receiver, HF transceiver, triple-frequency emergency locator transmitter, radio altimeter, 120-min. cockpit-voice/flight-data recorders and a terrain awareness and warning system (TAWS). A VHF comm radio is data-link capable for air traffic control functions such as Europe's Link 2000.
The passenger seating area is 17 in. longer than the G200's because the fuselage fuel tank has been removed.
Buyers have a choice of interior configurations with standardized floor plans, cabinetry, cabin sidewalls and systems. Eight-, nine- and 10-passenger configurations are available, each having a forward four-seat club section.
About half the buyers opted for an aft section with two facing chairs on the right side with a 6.7-ft.-long, three-place divan on the left. Others selected a four-place conference grouping on the left side of the aft cabin with the three-place divan on the right. The life raft is stored underneath the divan.
All seat pairs fold into berths. The divan may be extended into the aisle to form a 31-in.-wide berth. The aircraft can sleep four on extended flights in fully or near-flat berths.
The cabin management system is designed to use off-the-shelf iPod Touch personal digital assistants (PDA), loaded with a company supplied app, as the remote control. Two iPod Touch PDAs are included with the aircraft. The master seat has an iPod Touch docking station for charging as well as an Iridium satellite phone communications handset.
The cabin audio/visual system offers dual 160-gigabyte media servers that each can store 80-100 high-definition movies. There also are laptop ports for inflight business presentations.
Standard equipment includes a 19-in. forward bulkhead LCD monitor and a proprietary moving map system with flight information, high-resolution satellite imagery, geographic borders and passenger briefing videos.
Belt into the left seat of G280, as we did recently, and it is immediately clear that the Plane-View280 flight deck puts this aircraft on par with the best of Gulfstream's large-cabin aircraft. Brian Dickerson, the company's senior production test pilot, was in the right seat and Bob Wilson, midsize Gulfstream aircraft experimental test pilot, rode along as safety pilot.