GV Classic 885 mod

[G4G5]

We are looking into updating our cockpit with the new Honeywell 885 package that Gulfstream is offering.

I am looking for anyone who has done this modification.

 

[Rick James]

I doubt that we'll do the mod, but the new displays are awesome. That along with the reduced noise from the fans would be much appreciated. The number I heard was $750k.

 

[Jetdriver69]

We won't be doing ours either. The downtime is excessive for our operation and I doubt you would recoup the money in resale. Hopefully we will get a 550 within a year or so and sell the old bird off.

 

[G4G5]

It's actually a cost effective alternate to a G550. Our 5 has less then 3000 hours on it, we looked into replacing it with a G550 with all the latest mods, power by the hour for the engines and apu and we can't do it for anywhere near the one million dollars we are budgeting to upgrade the cockpit.

That leaves us with a big question, how do we comply with Australia's 2013 ADS-B requirement, EuroControls 2014 CPDLC requirement for anyone who wants to fly above FL290 and Gander/Shanwicks 1/1/2015 requirement of mandatory CPDLC?

Better start thinking about it now if you own a G4 or G5 classic or in the next few years your resale is going to take a huge dump when you can't fly to Europe.

 

[Rick James]

That leaves us with a big question, how do we comply with Australia's 2013 ADS-B requirement, EuroControls 2014 CPDLC requirement for anyone who wants to fly above FL290 and Gander/Shanwicks 1/1/2015 requirement of mandatory CPDLC?

Are all the 550's equipped to comply with these new regs?

 

[semperfido]

Not necessarily.

 

[G3G4]

Will you just be able to install newer FMS without the new Du885?? Or are they a package deal?

 

[G4G5]

Will you just be able to install newer FMS without the new Du885?? Or are they a package deal?

I am getting the quote now. You can keep your old school FMS's and still do the mod or you can upgrade them at an additional expense. We are also looking into the cockpit LED mod.

For our particular operation it pays to do the upgrades, We fly 300 hours a year(lots of sitting around). We can't get a G550 with under 3000 hours for anywhere near the cost of a cockpit upgrade, re-rag and paint. I can dump $1.5-2 million into my aircraft (which has power by the hour everything under extended warranty) and still come out millions ahead.

Your mileage may vary, if you are doing 500+ a year and your Gv has 5-6000+ hours it may not pay to do it. Then a used 550 may be what you need but it will take me another 10 years to reach 6000 hours on the airframe by then it's 650 time.

 

[G3G4]

We are in the same situation. We fly about 400 a year with our V. I was wondering if you can do the opposite. Keep the screens we currently have and just do the FMS upgrade.

 

[G3G4]

We did the LED cockpit upgrade in our airplane. They are great but I do find at night The lights right above the pilots head, ie, landing, taxi, nav lights etc are Really bright. If you turn down the lights to the point where its comfortable that makes all the other lights too dim to see on the over head