Four people killed in the crash of a G650 test airplane in Roswell, N.M.

[edie]

Very sad news!

UPDATE: Four people killed in Gulfstream crash were company employees, officials say | savannahnow.com (http://savannahnow.com/latest-news/2011-04-02/update-four-people-killed-gulfstream-crash-were-company-employees-officials)

By Savannah Morning News
In a news release sent out Saturday afternoon, Gulfstream officials confirmed that the four people killed in the crash of a G650 in Roswell, N.M. were company employees.

Gulfstream Aerospace President Joe Lombardo gave the following statement in the e-mail:

“Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of those who were lost."

“We are cooperating 100 percent with the investigation,” Lombardo is quoted as saying.

The crash occured about 9:30 a.m. Mountain time. Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Lynn Lunsford said the plane went down shortly after taking off from Roswell International Air Center. The G650's landing gear collapsed, Lunsford said, and the plane burst into flames.

FAA officials did not immediately know whether the four people on board are Gulfstream employees but said that Gulfstream does its own flight testing. Gulfstream officials say they will release comments on the crash later today.

The luxury jet still is in flight-testing mode and has not been approved to go to market. Savannah-based Gulfstream has more than 200 firm orders for the G650, which carries a price tag of $64.5 million. Company officials said in February that there was a waiting period of five years for the plane, and the first G650 was expected to be delivered in 2012.

Introduced in 2008, the G650 is Gulfstream's longest-range, highest-speed, largest-cabin jet to date.

Gulfstream reported $5.2 billion in revenue last year.

Read Sunday's Savannah Morning News for more information.

GULFSTREAM CONFIRMS CRASH OF G650 FLIGHT TEST AIRCRAFT (http://www.gulfstream.com/news/releases/2011/gulfstream-confirms-crash-of-g650-flight-test-aircraft.htm)

[angelorange]

Very sad.

More here:

Gulfstream G650 crashes during test flight killing four - National Airlines/Airport | Examiner.com (http://www.examiner.com/airlines-airport-in-national/gulfstream-650-crashes-during-test-flight-killing-four)

[ICT_SLB]

This does have some implications on future escape installations on Flight Test Vehicles. This is the third FTV lost during some sort of landing or takeoff mishap (the other being an LJ-45 at Wallops where the 3 crew walked away after a lot of difficulty in getting out - happily with no post-crash fire).

Normally this is aimed at providing an escape path during an inflight stall but it appears that exiting after fuselage deformation may now be a higher risk. The only installation that has some aspects of this is the explosive exit hatch on another Learjet.

[Double Zero]

Some Flight Test aircraft - say the Concorde prototypes, had an escape system consisting of a lowerable chute to allow bailing out, rather hopefully below the intakes.

A lot of good people have been lost on Test Flights, and they were not all pilots; it has long since seemed to me that if one's trying 'what if ?' there ought to be an escape Plan B for all concerned, and yes I've been involved in a tiny way.

I knew a technician, fresh from survival training who was castigated for saying he'd rather have a life-raft compared to the equally heavy public chemical loo in an aircraft, ( I was all for chance of the raft rather than 'going' with a few onlookers ).

There is also the Flight Testing Jetstream incident, the Trident and so many others...

I realise escape systems may be said to incur an unrealistic design / weight penalty, but I reckon in the 21st Century it's worth thinking about a way of giving the people a sporting chance ?