Flight Details
A crew consisting of a captain (pilot monitoring) and a co-pilot (pilot flying), along with a cabin aid, operated a flight from Athens to Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen, then on to Nice with three passengers. After dropping them off, they departed Nice at 12:56 for a short flight to Le Castellet aerodrome to park the aircraft due to lack of parking at Nice. The flight was conducted under US regulation 14 CFR Part 135. Cruise at FL160 lasted about 5 minutes.
Approach and Landing
Cleared for a visual approach to runway 13, the crew disengaged the autopilot and auto-throttle. The landing gear was down and flaps were in the landing position. The GND SPOILER UNARM message appeared on the EICAS with a single chime, indicating the ground spoilers were not armed. The crew did not arm them. At a height of 25 ft, a SINK RATE warning triggered. The pilot flying corrected, and the main landing gear touched down 15 meters beyond the touchdown zone, 365 meters from the threshold, slightly left of the centerline. The ground spoilers did not automatically deploy. The crew braked and selected thrust reversers, which did not fully deploy. Hydraulic brake pressure increased slightly, but deceleration was slow.
Runway Excursion
Four seconds after touchdown, a MASTER WARNING activated, followed by another five seconds later. The nose landing gear touched down 785 meters beyond the threshold but then lost contact as the pitch attitude increased. The aircraft crossed the centerline to the right; the crew corrected with left rudder input. A strong nose-down input caused the nose gear to contact again at 1,050 meters. The crew manually deployed speed brakes. Maximum thrust reverser was reached one second later, at 655 meters from the runway end. The aircraft began curving left; the crew applied right rudder to the stop and right brake but did not correct the trajectory. The aircraft skidded to the right and ran off the runway to the left 385 meters from the end at about 95 knots ground speed. It struck a runway edge light, the PAPI for runway 31, a metal fence, and trees, catching fire instantly.
Post-Impact Fire
An aerodrome firefighter responded quickly but could not bring the fire under control. The occupants were unable to evacuate the aircraft.
Investigation Findings
The investigation determined that the accident resulted from a combination of factors: the ground spoilers were not armed during approach; a lack of complete before-landing checklist performance; procedural and ergonomic issues with monitoring ground spoiler extension; a possible left tiller input or nose gear steering failure causing left orientation beyond rudder pedal authority; lack of crew training for uncommanded nose wheel steering; inadequate introduction of that procedure by Gulfstream and the FAA; failures in documentation updates; and FAA monitoring deficiencies.