Accidents
Flutter under scrutiny in crash of Grob SPn
Germany’s Federal Bureau of Air Accident Investigation (BFU) has provided some initial findings from its inquiry into the crash of Grob Aerospace’s second

Germany’s Federal Bureau of Air Accident Investigation (BFU) has provided some initial findings from its inquiry into the crash of Grob Aerospace’s second SPn jet prototype on November 29 last year. The early conclusions show that the investigators now have a fairly clear idea of how the accident happened, but they are not yet completely sure why it happened.

According to a February 7 statement from Grob, the preliminary BFU report said that parts had separated from the SPn test aircraft before the crash as it was approaching the manufacturer’s private Tussenhausen-Mattsies Airport in southern Germany, intending to make a high-speed pass with the landing gear retracted. Parts of
the elevator and horizontal stabilizer skin were found some 1,300 feet from the first impact site, which was almost a mile from the runway threshold.