Accident on 13 July 2012 at Le Castellet aerodrome (83) to the Gulfstream G-IV aeroplane registered N823GA operated by Universal Jet Aviation (UJT)
Perte de contrôle en direction lors du roulement à l'atterrissage, sortie latérale de piste, collision avec des arbres, incendie
During a visual approach to land on runway 13 at Le Castellet aerodrome, the crew omitted to arm the ground spoilers. During touchdown, the latter did not deploy. The crew applied a nose-down input which resulted, for a short period of less than one second, in unusually heavy loading of the nose gear. The aeroplane exited the runway to the left, hit some trees and caught fire. The runway excursion was the result of an orientation to the left of the nose gear and the inability of the crew to recover from a situation for which it had not been trained. The investigation revealed inadequate pre-flight preparation, checklists that were not carried out fully and in an appropriate manner. A possible link between the high load on the nose gear and its orientation to the left was not demonstrated.
The report contains several safety recommendations regarding:
- the nose gear steering system of the G-IV.
- the recovery procedure associated with an uncommanded action of this system and the associated training.
- the arming of the ground spoilers.
- the performance of checklists by the operator’s staff.
- the rescue and fire-fighting service (RFFS) for Le Castellet aerodrome.