GE Achieves Strong Performance for G650: Aircraft Health and Trend Monitoring and Secondary Power Distribution System

Oct. 21, 2013
The system continuously manages and analyzes data throughout the flight creating a comprehensive set of health information for the engines, avionics, power, electrical, mechanical and other aircraft systems.

Las Vegas, NV – October 21, 2013 – GE Aviation today announced strong performance for the aircraft health and trend monitoring and secondary power distribution systems on the Gulfstream Aerospace G650 business jet since entry into service last year. 

Gulfstream’s real-time health and trend monitoring system automatically reports high-level problems while the aircraft is in flight or on the ground to the company’s top-ranked product service and support organization. GE’s Integrated Vehicle Health Management (IVHM) technology powers Gulfstream’s PlaneConnect™ Health & Trend Monitoring system.  

“In one case, a G650 reported a problem in flight five hours before reaching its destination airport – when it arrived at its planned fuel stop, a technician and replacement parts were on site to fix the problem, expediting aircraft dispatch to its final destination and preventing an off-site AOG,” noted Alan Caslavka, president, Avionics & Digital Systems for GE Aviation.  “We’ve been really pleased with the performance and continue to seek enhancements to serve Gulfstream operators.”

The system continuously manages and analyzes data throughout the flight creating a comprehensive set of health information for the engines, avionics, power, electrical, mechanical and other aircraft systems.  Wireless connectivity links every aircraft to a Ground Services Network (GSN) providing a web-based service that delivers a real time, 24/7 picture of aircraft health for Gulfstream and the operator. Since entry into service, the fleet has recorded more than 1/3 of a terabyte of data for short-term troubleshooting support.  More than 25 GB of this data has been automatically prioritized for retention/analysis and transmitted from aircraft across the globe.

“The power distribution system uses modular, solid-state power tiles that support either distributed or federated systems with a highly scalable design,” said Vic Bonneau, president of Electrical Power Systems for GE Aviation.  “The system has demonstrated solid performance on the G650.”

The G650’s secondary power distributed system architecture incorporates many aircraft utility functions allowing for the elimination of other aircraft system line replaceable units. This combined with the distributed architecture, eliminates miles of wiring and 400 mechanical circuit breakers.

GE Aviation, an operating unit of GE (NYSE: GE), is a world-leading provider of jet, turboprop and turboshaft engines, components and systems for commercial, military, business and general aviation aircraft. GE Aviation has a global service network to support these offerings.  For more information, visit us at www.ge.com/aviation. Follow GE Aviation on Twitter at http://twitter.com/GEAviation and YouTube.