Gulfstream Totes Up EVS Scoreboard

It’s been almost four years since Gulfstream Aerospace’s Enhanced Vision System (EVS) was first placed into service as an FAA-certified synthetic flight visibility aid aboard a U.S. Air Force C-37A/Gulfstream V, in May 2002. This week, Gulfstream noted that its EVS is operating on 213 in-service Gulfstream business-jet aircraft, including some 92 copies of the company’s G550 and G450 jets. The Gulfstream EVS is a proven navigational safety system, said Pres Henne, senior vice president, programs, engineering and test, Gulfstream. We knew four years ago that this was a revolutionary system and decided then to seamlessly integrate it into the flight decks of our new aircraft models. The EVS is standard equipment on the G550 and G450 and is a factory option on new G500 and G350 aircraft. It can be retrofitted to GV, GIV/GIV-SP, G400 and G300 business jets. To date, Gulfstream has retrofitted EVS into a total of 118 customer aircraft, including G500s, GVs, GIV-SPs, G400s, G350s and G300s.

The Gulfstream EVS system, developed in cooperation with Kollsman Inc., is based on a specially designed forward-looking infrared (FLIR) camera that projects an infrared real-world image onto the pilots head-up display (HUD). Using the EVS, pilots can “see” otherwise-invisible objects at night or during inclement weather. In 2004, the FAA implemented a FAR Part 91 rule change that allows pilots to use enhanced flight visibility systems down to an altitude of 100 feet above a runways touchdown zone. The FAA initially certified the system on Sept. 14, 2001.