Under a brilliant Savannah, Ga. sky this morning, Gulfstream Aerospace's new flagship G650 rolled up to its production hangar where a standing-room-only crowd of employees, vendors, officials and buyers cheered, whistled and stomped as the ultrajet made its first public appearance.

Eschewing any tugs, the white and blue striped aircraft, fitted with a pitot-static test boom, taxied out, powered by its twin Rolls-Royce BR725 engines. Approximately 7,000 people were gathered in the G650's new Nicholas Chabraja Manufacturing Building for the aircraft's debut.

Gulfstream's largest, fastest, longest-ranging and most expensive aircraft ever, the 7,000-nm G650 also features the most advanced cockpit in the Gulfstream fleet. Significantly it has an all-new fuselage cross section with a wider and taller cabin than the previous top-of-the-line G550 model and passenger windows that are noticeably larger than in previous Gulfstreams, but which retain their signature oval shape. The aircraft's maximum operating speed of Mach .925 will make it the world's fastest civilian aircraft.

First announced in March 2008, the $64.5-million G650 is on schedule for first flight before year end. Five aircraft, including the one featured today, will participate in the flight test program; customer deliveries of certificated models are to begin in 2012. The company reports orders in hand for "approximately" 200 aircraft, a figure that it notes is well ahead of its original forecasts.

Photo credit: Benet Wilson