Gulfstream Aerospace G-IV accident near St. Louis, Missouri, August 14, 2026
On August 14, 2026 at about 7:59 pm local time, a 1999 Gulfstream Aerospace G-IV, registered N406JS, was substantially damaged in an accident during landing near St. Louis, Missouri (Spirit Of St Louis airport). It was flown under charter and air-taxi rules (Part 135). No one was hurt; 10 people were on board or involved. The weather was visual conditions (good weather).
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The NTSB's probable cause their words, unchanged
The NTSB has not yet published a probable cause for this accident. Investigations usually take one to two years; this page updates when the final report is released.
Source: NTSB aviation accident database, copy made October 4, 2026. Docket and reports at the NTSB.
What the record shows
- Date
- August 14, 2026 · about 7:59 pm local time
- Place
- St. Louis, Missouri · Spirit Of St Louis · map
- Type
- Accident
- Injuries
- No one was hurt; 10 people were on board or involved.
- Weather
- visual conditions (good weather)
- Aircraft
- Gulfstream Aerospace G-IV, built 1999 · all G-IVs on the register
- Registration
- N406JS · no longer on the register · serial 1394
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Flight · charter and air-taxi rules (Part 135)
The NTSB's narrative preliminary · quoted from the NTSB record
On August 14, 2026, about 1459 central daylight time, a Gulfstream Aerospace G-IV airplane, N406JS, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident near St. Louis, Missouri. The three crew members and 7 passengers were not injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations part 135 on-demand air taxi flight. According to the crew, they received a STEER BY WIRE FAIL Crew Alerting System (CAS) message before departure from Eagle County Regional Airport (EGE), Eagle, Colorado. They completed the appropriate checklist and the message cleared. While on approach to Runway 8R at Spirit of St. Louis Airport (SUS), St. Louis Missouri, after lowering the landing gear, the crew again received a STEER BY WIRE FAIL CAS message. The crew completed the checklist; however, the message did not clear. The airplane landed on the runway and as the nose wheel contacted the runway it began to shimmy. The nose landing gear (NLG) separated from the airplane followed by a collapse of the left main landing gear. The airplane veered left into the grass and came to rest upright. During the accident sequence, the airplane sustained damage to the lower fuselage and left wing. According to the pilot, during the preflight inspection, the airport ground crew was unable to install the pip pin that goes into the NLG torque link that is used to engage and disengage the scissor link with the Nose Wheel Steering actuator for the NLG. The pilot was able to install the NLG pip pin which has a secondary safety pin that is normally installed into the pip pin to help ensure it remains engaged. The pilot reported that he forgot to install the secondary safety pin. Postaccident examination of the runway and surrounding grass areas found several items of debris. The NLG pip pin, which is normally seated in the NLG torque link, was found separated from the NLG with three ball locks remaining as seen in figure 1. The NLG pip pin normally has four ball locks; the missing ball lock and the NLG upper scissor link could not be located. Examination of the NLG revealed that the safety pin was found intact in the open position and with the separated NLG still attached to its lanyard cord as seen in figure 2. Figure 1. Nose landing gear pip pin. Figure 2. Nose Landing Gear with open safety pin and torque link depicted. The airplane was equipped with a cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder, which were removed and sent to the National Transportation Safety Board Vehicle Recorders Laboratory in Washington, DC, for download. The wreckage was retained for further examination.
The complete narrative as the NTSB published it. The NTSB's docket holds the report as a PDF and any photographs, statements and other documents from the investigation.
The factual record from the NTSB's investigation tables, in plain English
What happened, in order
- Unknown or undetermined during landing defining event
The aircraft
- Maximum gross weight: 66,000 lb
- Seats: 22
- Landing gear: fixed
- Operator: Hera Flight LLC
The flight
- Departed from: EGE Eagle CO at 5:42 pm
- Flight plan: IFR
- A second pilot was aboard
Weather at the time
- Light: daylight
- Wind: from 170° at 7 knots
- Visibility: 10 statute miles
- Sky: clear
- Temperature: 91°F (33°C), dew point 75°F (24°C)
- Altimeter: 30.00 inHg
- Observation at 3:00 pm from KSUS
Weather report (METAR): METAR KSUS 141954Z 17007KT 10SM CLR 33/24 A3000 RMK AO2 SLP149 T03330244 PNO $
Injuries
| Fatal | Serious | Minor | None | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cabi | 1 | |||
| Flig | 2 | |||
| Passengers | 7 |
About this page
Everything above comes from the NTSB's public accident database: the narrative, probable cause and findings are the NTSB's own words, and the coded tables behind its report (pilot, aircraft, flight, weather, injuries, sequence of events) are written out in plain English. Pilots' ages, home towns and medical details are left out on purpose. The docket at the NTSB holds the report as a PDF and the investigation's photographs and documents. This site never names pilots, passengers or anyone else involved. A preliminary report describes what is known soon after the event and can change; the final report, with the probable cause, usually follows one to two years later and this page is refreshed when it does. Case number CEN26LA290.