Pilots of a Gulfstream G150 that overran at Chicago Executive airport on 3 September landed too far along the runway in wet conditions, leaving them insufficient distance to avoid ploughing into a runway arrestor system.
In a preliminary report, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) says the pilots did not discuss the landing prior to touching down and that the pilot flying had never previously landed a G150.
The incident involved a G150 (N1927G) operated by Wheeling, Illinois-based Priester Aviation during a flight from Baltimore to Chicago Executive, also in Wheeling. The pilots were alone on the jet and returning from a charter flight earlier that day to Baltimore.
The copilot, in the left seat, was at the controls during the return flight, which was to be “his first landing in a G150”, the NTSB says. A check airman, in the right seat, was to be monitoring the copilot.
Prior to landing, the pilots received updated weather information for Chicago Executive. A controller told them the “runway was 100% wet”. They were cleared to land on the airport’s 5,000ft (1,520m)-long runway 34.
After receiving the weather report, the pilots “did not discuss landing speeds, landing zone or touchdown points”, says the report.
The pilots added 10kt (18.5km/h) to their reference landing speed to accommodate a crosswind, bringing their target landing speed to 128kt.
During the landing, while about 2,100ft along the runway, the jet “porpoised”, touching down again at 2,800ft, leaving just 2,200ft remaining, says the NTSB.
Investigators later calculated the aircraft’s actual minimum landing distance in those conditions as 3,600ft.
The copilot applied the brakes and deployed the thrust reversers, however video of the landing showed that the jet’s spoilers were not deployed.
“He felt an initial deceleration, then the airplane stopped decelerating, but he kept pressing the brakes and was pulling really hard on the thrust reverser handles,” the NTSB says.
The jet ploughed into an “engineered materials arresting system” at the end of the runway and then through an airport perimeter fence before stopping on a road.
“The nose landing gear collapsed and the airplane sustained substantial damage to the forward fuselage,” the report says. Neither pilot was injured.
