April 4, 201114 yr Bad week for aviation. Destruction at Sun n' Fun, the Southwest drop-top, and now Gulfstream has lost a G650 and four flight test crewmembers. Link Kent Crenshaw, Gulfstream's Chief Test Pilot, was a former CC of the 6519th Test SQ (now the 419th FLTS at Edwards), the B-2 Chief Test Pilot for Northrop Grumman, a BUFF pilot in Vietnam, and a laundry list of other quals and accomplishments. Vivan Ragusa was a former USN test pilot who flew the X-31.
April 4, 201114 yr Jesus. Godspeed to the crew. The article below said they were doing "takeoff performance tests" Article with picture Based on the picture, looks like they were on rwy 21. Comparing that to Google Earth it seems they departed somewhere around 6,000 ft down the runway, traveled around 3,000 feet over dirt, the intersection txwys B & E, and an access road. Also missed the last few jets parked along 30/12. The jet came to rest about 1800 feet off the side of the runway. Edited for link Edited April 4, 201114 yr by contraildash
April 4, 201114 yr I just met the pilots last Tuesday while we were in Roswell for Inst/Qual training. We talked for about 15 minutes at the FBO before we departed. Kent and Vivan were very nice guys and seemed to enjoy their job very much. Vivan made the comment that getting hired at Gulfstream was "like winning the lottery". What a tragedy.
April 5, 201114 yr Let's not forget about the two guys in the back who lost their lives as well. Technical specialists David McCollum and Reece Ollenburg. It's a dangerous job for all involved, not just the pilots.
April 5, 201114 yr Let's not forget about the two guys in the back who lost their lives as well. Technical specialists David McCollum and Reece Ollenburg. It's a dangerous job for all involved, not just the pilots. 2
April 9, 201114 yr NTSB prelim is out. Simulated engine failure on takeoff with minimum flap setting. NTSB Prelim
April 9, 201114 yr Let's not forget about the two guys in the back who lost their lives as well. Technical specialists David McCollum and Reece Ollenburg. It's a dangerous job for all involved, not just the pilots. David McCollum was a pilot. He was recently hired by Boeing as a Production Test Pilot. He was just finishing up negotiations for salary and start date.
April 9, 201114 yr David McCollum was a pilot. He was recently hired by Boeing as a Production Test Pilot. He was just finishing up negotiations for salary and start date. Had also previously worked in the airline world. At Gulfstream, he was working as both an FTE and pilot. David McCollum
October 15, 201213 yr NTSB faults Gulfstream test program. Engineers predicted higher stall speeds, two previous incidents were mid-diagnosed. Crew rotated as planned during engine out takeoff certification, right into a stall without indication from stall warning system, drug a wingtip... https://m.aopa.org/aircraft/articles/2012/121010ntsb-faults-gulfstream-for-g650-test-crash.html ETA: iPhone embed skilz fail. Edited October 15, 201213 yr by Learjetter
October 31, 201213 yr Wow. Kinda damming on the Gulfstream team. The NTSB determines that the probable cause of this accident was an aerodynamic stall and subsequent uncommanded roll during an OEI 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 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 AOA 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. Also noticed there was no section on crash survivability. Most NTSB reports I've read have one. Edited November 1, 201213 yr by contraildash
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