Gulfstream Evokes Harmony With Debut of G300
By JulieInTheSky1971
True to form, Gulfstream’s team had an ace up their sleeve ready to lay on the table at their Discover the Difference customer event strategically positioned on September 30, two weeks before NBAA-BACE 2025.
During the opening remarks kicking off the event, Gulfstream Aerospace President Mark Burns unveiled the latest model in the Savannah-based OEM’s new line of business jets: the G300. A super midsize jet set to compete in a segment with a very deep bench, the G300 will replace the popular G280, which just celebrated its 300th delivery back in June.
I was happy I’d made the trip down to Georgia once again, if only for a quick peek at the silvery new mockup and a whirlwind tour of the new Service Center East—with 367,000 square feet accommodating up to 26 aircraft—and an eagle-eye view of the G500/G600 production lines.
The visit gave me the chance to reflect on my previous two, in which I’d been introduced to the G700, G800, and G400, and witnessed the first of the G500s and G600s on that same line.
Gulfstream has achieved under Burns’ watch over the past decade a rationalization of its high-end product, the luxury form of transportation that has entered the cultural lexicon. What started with the turboprop Gulfstream I back in 1958 hit its stride with the Gulfstream GIV and V in 1987 and 1998, respectively. The G650 has logged more than 1 million flight hours with roughly 560 in service.
But Gulfstream has its replacements ready in its long-range, large cabin models. The show must go on. And that’s a good thing, from a pilot’s perspective. Not just because we love to fly something new, always.
On the Gulfstream Flight Deck
The G700 possesses the first flight deck of a large-cabin jet that made me feel—as soon as I comforted myself into the left seat—as if I could turn it on and taxi it away with little prompting.
I’ve yet to actually prove this theory, but hear me out.
Synchronicity—maybe they should have named it that rather than Symmetry, or the slimmed version on the newly announced G300, Harmony—of the flight deck underpins this feeling, and Gulfstream has taken it across the model line to demonstrate the point. From the long-legged G800 through to the soon-to-deliver G400, the Symmetry flight deck makes its trade in presenting clearly to the pilot what needs to happen next, in its context-driven Phase-of-Flight architecture.
Gulfstream continues the pilot-centric view with the digital flight control system, twin “active control” sidesticks that work together to translate the pilot flying’s desires into action—without producing unwanted confusion between the two sticks, and therefore, improving their communication to the pilot not flying should they take the controls.
Fold in the Predictive Landing Performance System, EVS and SVS, and heads-up displays, there’s a lot going on underneath the surface.
We’ll get a chance to delve more deeply into what Gulfstream has for pilots in an upcoming feature. Til then… I’m biding my time.
