Challenger 604 off runway in Almaty

[freeflyer14]

During Global Express development while demonstrating recovery from unaccelerated aerodynamic stalls with a FAA test pilot at the controls the jet pitched-up and could not be returned to controlled flight without deploying the stall chute. This is precisely what occurred during Challenger 600 development with the exception that Bombardier test pilots were at both cockpit stations and that they could not get rid of the stall chute after getting the nose down. Subsequently, there was insufficient thrust available for sustained flight and controllability was suspect. Two of the crew were able to bail out and sustained severe injuries. The remaining pilot and flight test engineer perished with their craft. The surviving test pilot now works in the Atlanta Aircraft Certification Office.

How did these guys possibly bail out of a Global? I am not being a smart ass, seriously, how did these guys live to tell about this? I wasn't aware that test pilots in cases like this had chutes or had any means of getting out of the airplane should something go wrong (besides the drag chute). What door did they get out of? The story behind this has to be incredible. I have somewhere in the neighborhood of 1000 skydives, and I cannot imagine how they got out of a barely flyable Global without dying. How come they could get out but the other two couldn't? And how the hell did the Global receive certification after something like this? You have a link to any articles about this?

 

[GVFlyer]

During the initial portion of a certification flight test program the flights are limited to essential crewmembers and all wear parachutes.

For egress in aircraft such as the Global (and the Gulfstream), a knotted rope is rigged between the cockpit and the aft baggage door.

In the event of an emergency which requires abandoning the jet, the crew is expected to pull themselves along the knotted rope to the baggage door and bail out.

The Global pitched up, but did not crash. The stall chute was effective in returning the aircraft to controlled flight. In the original Challenger 600 certification program, the chute got the nose down, but could not be cut away causing the Canadair to crash and killing the two occupants who were unable to bail out.

I don't know why two crewmembers were able to get out and two weren't. Age? Agility? Competent reaction to the bail out command? Centrifugal loads? Shifting interior components? I know the pilot who was flying the Challenger test article (he now works for the FAA's Atlanta ACO), but he does not talk about this mishap.

GV