N652GD

Substantial
Fatal

GULFSTREAM GVIS/N: 6002

Accident Details

Date
Saturday, April 2, 2011
NTSB Number
DCA11MA076
Location
Roswell, NM
Event ID
20110403X03645
Coordinates
33.292499, -104.525276
Aircraft Damage
Substantial
Highest Injury
Fatal
Fatalities
4
Serious Injuries
0
Minor Injuries
0
Uninjured
0
Total Aboard
4

Probable Cause and Findings

The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident as follows: an aerodynamic stall and subsequent uncommanded roll during a one engine-inoperative takeoff flight test, which were the result of (1) Gulfstream’s failure to properly develop and validate takeoff speeds for the flight tests and recognize and correct the takeoff safety speed (V2) error during previous G650 flight tests, (2) the G650 flight test team’s persistent and increasingly aggressive attempts to achieve V2 speeds that were erroneously low, and (3) Gulfstream’s inadequate investigation of previous G650 uncommanded roll events, which indicated that the company’s estimated stall angle of attack while the airplane was in ground effect was too high. Contributing to the accident was Gulfstream’s failure to effectively manage the G650 flight test program by pursuing an aggressive program schedule without ensuring that the roles and responsibilities of team members had been appropriately defined and implemented, engineering processes had received sufficient technical planning and oversight, potential hazards had been fully identified, and appropriate risk controls had been implemented and were functioning as intended.

Aircraft Information

Registration
N652GD
Make
GULFSTREAM
Serial Number
6002
Engine Type
Turbo-jet
Year Built
2010
Model / ICAO
GVIGLF6
Aircraft Type
Fixed Wing Multi Engine
No. of Engines
2

Registered Owner (Historical)

Name
GULFSTREAM AEROSPACE CORP
Address
500 GULFSTREAM RD MS B-16
Status
Deregistered
City
SAVANNAH
State / Zip Code
GA 31407
Country
United States

Analysis

The Safety Board’s full report is available at http://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/reports_aviation.html. The Aircraft Accident Report number is NTSB/AAR-12-02.On April 2, 2011, about 0934 mountain daylight time, an experimental Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation GVI (G650), N652GD, crashed during takeoff from runway 21 at Roswell International Air Center Airport, Roswell, New Mexico. The two pilots and the two flight test engineers were fatally injured, and the airplane was substantially damaged by impact forces and a postcrash fire. The airplane was registered to and operated by Gulfstream as part of its G650 flight test program. The flight was conducted under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident.

Data Source

Data provided by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). For more information on this event, visit the NTSB Records Search website. NTSB# DCA11MA076