What’s your wingspan?

One of the things we are required to memorize on the way to getting our type ratings is the wingspan of our aircraft. You will be parking that airplane in a hangar and need to know if it will fit! So we in the Gulfstream GVII-G500 memorize 87 feet 1 inch. It says so in our books, after all.

But our books are what they give us pilots. What do they give to the people doing the purchasing?

There you will see 86 feet 4 inches.

I know it is only a 9 inch difference, but what if you have a hangar opening of 87 feet even? If you talk to Gulfstream Ops, the answer is 87’1" but if you talk to the sales people, it is 86’4”. Who is right?

It mattered to us a lot. It isn’t that we have only inches to spare, but if the people who made the airplane can’t agree on the wingspan, how reliable are those numbers after all?

To find out, we taped a plumb line (a string with a weight at the end) from the widest point of the winglet to the ground and marked the spot.

We repeated that process on the opposite wing and measured the distance. The answer:
86 feet 3 -3/4 inches
(with 7,000 lbs of fuel)

So does that mean your manuals are wrong? I don’t think so. I don’t think it unreasonable to guess the wing will “grow” nine inches or so with a full load of fuel. So keep that 87 feet 1 inch figure in your head. But also know that when questioned, “What is the wing span of your aircraft?” the answer is “it depends.”

So, how about the G600? Same answer: “it depends.”

86 feet 3 -3/4 inches

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