I had seen 100s of G-IVs and G-Vs throughout my career in systems engineering. I even saw the beginning of the PlaneView Flight Deck and worked on the wireless and wireless telemetry for it. That included the ability to phone home through the Magellan (at the time) and Loran/INS/GPS to alert Gulfstream if there was a problem and the customer approved. However, I have never seen anything in "corporate aviation" as cool as a G650 flight deck.

For some stupid reason I am giddy about the fire selector lighting up during the left engine fire test...

The pilot demoed the pre-passenger boarding checklist and when they mashed the engine fire test button the left fire handle lit up as did the fuel selector on the throttle quadrant. Technically blowing the bottle shuts the fuel off to the engine, but it is a neat reminder to see that on the fuel selectors as well as a reminder to cut the correct one off as part of your emergency flow and leave the good engine fuel selector alone. I also liked the positioning on the throttle quadrant versus having to look overhead.

Also, I have never known of a G650 to have an engine fire or even an IDG overheat but also don't nose through Kathryn's Report or the NTSB documentation like I used to. In the 737 Sim the instructor loved the IDG overheat and if you missed it, or ignored it, you quickly had a (simulator) fire.

It probably costs a few hundred dollars or more to add that feature, but I think it's pretty neat and innovative. It would be neat to see a feature like that across newer aircraft.

Do any airliners have this feature? I recall the A320 Sim and 737 Sim a few years ago had a relatively simple switch for the fuel selector.

I think you meant "Inmarsat/Magnastar" and "FMS"

Saw this on a g650 last week. Not sure it’s needed given it outruns everybody.

Here’s a G650 panel (sorry for the potato pics, Dad sent me a short video of a walkthrough he got on one at HII). The fire handles are sweet, as is the rest of the plane.

I think you meant "Inmarsat/Magnastar" and "FMS"

Thank you so much for the picture!! He’s lucky to get to fly it or ride on it! They are an awesome plane!

I'm just not aware of any commercial Magellan satcom systems. Orbcom and Magellan GPS had the same owners for a short time. maybe it was an early Orbcom satcom data system?

I may be missing something, but I'm unclear as to what is unique about this, can you clear up my confusion?

I currently fly a Phenom 300 and Praetor 600 and, upon an engine fire being detected in either one, you get 3 items red and a voice

1. A Master Warning light, which flashes until you "accept" it and then it remains lighted along with the CAS message E1 or E2 Fire.
2. A red FIRE light is displayed in the N1 "Gauge" of the engine that is on fire
3. A red light in the firewall shut off switch lights up for the engine that is on fire
4. A voice stating "Fire, Fire, Fire"

When you "arm" the system by pressing the firewall shutoff switch, in the case of the Embraer's, it:

1. Arms the bottle
2. Shuts off fuel flow
3. Shuts off hydraulics
4. Takes the gen offline for that engine

As a side note, over the years I have been taught that "memory times stop at the red light", in other words, everything that you need to remember a do "quickly", in this case, ceases when you fire the bottle. This then changes the firewall shutoff light to half read, half white, indicating the bottle has been fired.

I have always been taught that you don't necessarily fire the bottle right away. A fire is detected by a fire loop, which may have other causes - one being a bleed leak. To determine this, pull the throttle to idle for that engine and do nothing a 20-30 seconds and see if the fire detect light goes out. If it does, you have a bleed leak and there is no reason to fire the bottle. If you are on the ground, however, you fire the bottle right away as there isn't enough bleed to heat the fire loop.

What am I missing about there G650 that is different? I assumed that all jets did this, at least the 4 that I am typed in act similarly.

Thx

Brad

Brad -

It was my first time seeing a G650 flight deck and the pre-flight flow and APU start before the passengers were on board. In addition to the fire bottle handle, the master caution, and the on-screen alerts, the fuel selector lit up red when the fire test for the engine was pressed. I had never seen that before and thought it was a neat safety item.

The last Gulfstream I flew on as a guest was a G-V. We were supposed to do a G-V flight for my 50th but I had been really ill and out of work for several months, so it didn’t happen.

If you are ever at KIAD, KJYO or KHEF, I would love to look at your pre-flight/pre-passenger flow and APU start before your passengers get there. Always happy to carry out catering, ice, local papers, carry off garbage, etc.

I wasn’t allowed to take pictures or record, else I would have.

I just got giddy over a safety item. I have worked on “phone home” telemetry and safety technology and wireless technology for aircraft. The lighting up of the fuel selector when the fire light is activated was just a neat thing (for me) to see.

Bob - I want to make sure that my question was not taken incorrectly, I understand now, but was curious as to the comments since it seemed like there was more than I saw.

I have been flying turbines for quite some time and am always trying to learn.

Next trip to IAD Ill let you know.

Brad

Fuel selector switches on the 757/767 also light up for a fire warning.

Citations have always been that way.

Thanks so much for sharing the Phenom, Citation, and 7x7 info! That’s really neat to learn. Most of my job has been ballast on the boss’s plane or a friend’s plane.

Sorry for going off-topic on other safety and telemetry items.

Brad - Looking forward to calling in “well” to my manager and annoying you for a few minutes during preflight and pre-passenger. Thank you so much!!

Also, I tend to go off-topic and am always happy to answer or redirect.

Safety improvements warm my cold dead ventricles!

With no experience on Gulfstreams, how is an engine fire warning distinguished from a bleed air leak or fire detection loop fault?

I ask because although it's been 20 years since I retired I vividly remember the procedure on the 747 for identifying which problem is setting off the fire warning that must be done before pulling the fire handle, and the highest percentage of problems were bleed air leaks, followed by shorts in the loop, then actual engine fires.

No replies yet, so I would guess the fire detection loop system has a self test feature that prevents a false warning, and the checklist calls for bringing the throttle to idle for a bleed leak check before shut down.

Engine fires on today's pylon-mounted jet engines just aren't the level of threat that the wing mounted radials of old airliners were, or unfortunately the wing mounted turbine and piston engines today.

With todays jets, doing something wrong in response to an engine fire can be a bigger safety threat than the fire itself. Silencing the bell brings down the level of excitement and allows for methodical thought and action. There's no rush.