The flight crew’s desire to beat out another aircraft to the destination led to an unstable approach and a landing above Vref in a quartering tailwind that exceeded their Gulfstream G150’s limitations, resulting in a runway overrun, according to an NTSB final report. The two pilots and three passengers were not injured in the May 5, 2021, accident at Ridgeland Claude Dean Airport (K3J1) in South Carolina. An observer at the airport caught the landing on video.
When the twinjet touched down—some 1,000 to 1,200 feet down the 4,200-foot runway—the ground spoilers did not deploy. Without ground air brakes, the landing roll exceeded the available runway, the NTSB said. The airplane came to rest about 400 feet past the departure end of the runway in marshy terrain, substantially damaging the fuselage and wings.
The CVR revealed that while en route on the Part 91 corporate flight, a passenger asked about the ETA and the PIC replied, “I’ll speed up. I’ll go real fast here.” He estimated that another jet on the frequency would arrive at K3J1 two minutes sooner than they would. “They’ll [the other aircraft] slow to 250 [knots] below 10 [thousand feet] and we won’t,” said the PIC. “We know what we’re doing right now, we’re trying to win a race. This is Nascar.” The SIC responded, “That’s right,” after which laughter could be heard.
During the descent, the CVR recorded the overspeed warning tone multiple times. “Goal achieved,” said the PIC, and “final lap,” remarked the SIC. A controller informed the other airplane inbound to K3J1 that it would be second in line for landing; the PIC expressed excitement and informed the passengers that their flight would be arriving ahead of the other inbound airplane.
Although the PIC said he had “no thrust reversers,” a witness type-rated in the G150 reported that about two seconds after touchdown, he saw both reversers deploy and heard the “roar” of the reversers several seconds later.