Biz Jet Reality: Safety-Reliability-Price

At least two people died after a Dassault Falcon 50 biz jet crashed on Thursday 27th September 2018, at Greenville Downtown Airport (KGMU) in South Carolina. The jet appears to have gone off the end of Rwy 19 (1644M/ 5,393 ft in length) at KGMU and over the embankment (most likely becoming airborne again in the process, judging from the damage) before coming down on the airport perimeter road adjacent to the (just visible) approach lights. The National Transportation Safety Board is conducting an investigation.

The pilot was pronounced dead at the scene and the co-pilot died at a nearby hospital, the coroner told the station. A married couple on-board the plane are in critical condition.

The Greenville County Coroner's Office identified the pilots as 49-year-old John Caswell, of Port Saint Lucie, Florida, and 66-year-old Stephen Fox, of Indian Rocks, Florida. The plane took off from Tampa, Florida, and the weather was clear. The two pilots had a combined experience of more than 17,000 hours. One

One pilot had more than 11,600. However, only the Captain had an Airline Transport Pilot’s certificate, the other just had a Private Pilots licence but was the owner of the jet.

The Falcon 50 is an aircraft, well known for its short field capability. The runway at KGMU being 5393 feet long and the Falcon 50 only requiring 2150 feet to land. Weather on the day was good. So this points me into thinking that the owner/pilot was probably landing the plane and due to his low experience ended up performing a long landing, that resulted in the accident.

Data collected by Flight Safety Foundation, found that since 2000 there have been five times more fatal crashes on high-end corporate aircraft, than on passenger airlines. According to the investigators 88 percent of those crashes were caused by human error. Accident records show repeated examples of crews skipping safety checks, working long days, and overlooking hazards such as ice on the wings and unstabilized approaches.

In the case of the accident at KGMU, looking at the pilots unable to make the runway indicates they were unstable. Flight Safety Foundations (FSF) Approach-and-Landing (ALAR) Task Force were the cause of 66% of approach and landing accidents. In this case it looks like a high-energy approach (i.e. high and fast) resulting in runway overrun.

An approach is stabilized only if all the criteria in company standard operating procedures (SOPs) are met before or when reaching the applicable minimum stabilization height. The following minimum stabilization heights are recommended by FSF:

? 1,000 feet above airport elevation in instrument meteorological conditions (IMC); or,

? 500 feet above airport (VMC)

At the minimum stabilization height and below, a call should be made by the pilot not flying/pilot monitoring (PNF/PM). Any time an approach is not stabilized at the minimum stabilization height or becomes un-stabilized below the minimum stabilization height; a go-around should be performed. Unfortunately, this type of SOP is not built into most private jet operators procedures, as a go-around is something private jet passengers do not like. However, I disagree and suggest to always brief your passengers on what a go-around is and that if done it is for safety reasons. I have heard horror stories of pilots being fired because they performed a go-around and the boss was late for a meeting…

When chartering and/or operating a private jet there are always three things you need to look at and they are:

1. Safety
2. Reliability
3. Price

If the price is low, like you see on many of these private jet APPs, almost certainly either reliability and/or safety is compromised. I look at some of these prices and work the numbers and there is no way can some of these numbers work with such low prices without sacrificing something...

Fabrizio Poli is President/CEO of Maple Jets Group. He is also an accomplished Airline Transport Pilot having flown both private Jets and for the airlines. Fabrizio is also a bestselling author and inspirational speaker & has been featured on Russia Today (RT), TRT World, Social Media Examiner, Bloomberg, Channel 5, Chicago Tribune, Daily Telegraph, City Wealth Magazine, Billionaire.com, Wealth X, Financial Times, El Financiero and many other Media offering insight on the aviation world. Fabrizio is also regularly featured as an Aviation Analyst on Russia Today (RT) and TRT World. Fabrizio is also aviation special correspondent Most Magazine. Fabrizio is also considered one of the world's top 30 experts in using Linkedin for business. You can tune in weekly to Fabrizio's business Podcast Living Outside the Cube available both in video & audio. You can also follow Fabrizio's aviation videos on Biz Jet TV  Fabrizio's latest book "Health4Flyers", the first natural-health book for and frequent flyers is now available worldwide.