On the second of April 2021 a very special Gulfstream arrived at Woensdrecht AB in The Netherlands. Gulfstream G550, N516GA/LAJ502 (c/n 5616) was ferried on a direct flight from Savannah (GA) and touched down at 11 o clock in the morning. The aircraft is the third Gulfstream for the Japan Coast Guard and was in full CG colors with taped-off registration (JA502A) and CG roundel. Before delivery to the Coast Guard the aircraft was modified by Fokker Services at Woensdrecht. On the 17th of April 2024 PH-AQI left Woensdrecht airport in the morning for Frankfurt am Main and from there on to Israel. 

The Japanese Coast Guard earlier bought two Gulfstream V aircraft now operated from Tokyo-Haneda. C/n 683 was registered to Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. in December 2001 as N683GA. On 18 November 2002 the aircraft arrived in The Netherlands (Fokker Services at Woensdrecht (EHWO)) for modifications. On June 2nd 2003 also c/n 689 arrived at Woensdrecht registered N689GA (12-2002). Before delivery to the Japanese Coast Guard both aircraft returned to Savannah (GA). N683GA was ferried to Georgia on August 3rd, 2004. The N689GA registration was cancelled on 10-10-2004 and the new registration JA501A was applied 05-11-2004 registered to Marubeni Aerospace. On January 17th, 2005 the aircraft was registered to the JCG. A couple of months later also c/n 683 was first cancelled (N683GA, 20-03-2005) and then registered to the JCG as JA500A (14-04-2005). 

A nice fact, the JCG Gulfstream G550 is now registered in the Dutch Aircraft Register as PH-AQI. There was a PH-registered Gulfstream in the past flying for Philips Vliegbedrijf. For more details on the fascinating history of this GII, click on the picture below.