Structural failure appears to have caused the fatal crash of the second Grob SPn prototype light jet near the company airfield in Tussenhausen-Mattsies, Germany, on November 29. Grob Aerospace CEO Niall Olver told AIN that the elevators and left-hand stabilizer separated from the aircraft before impact and were found “several hundred feet” behind the main wreckage. “We know they separated,” said Olver, “but we don’t know why.”
Grob changed the design of key control surfaces on Aircraft No. 2 from those on Aircraft No. 1 to accommodate anti-icing requirements and to provide more roll authority. The front end of the belly fairing was also re-profiled, according to Olver. Aircraft No. 2 was equipped with larger ailerons and a longer horizontal stabilizer than on Aircraft No. 1. Grob had also redesigned the “hinge fit” on the elevators. While Aircraft No. 1 had flown its full flight envelope up to 41,000 feet and Mach 0.8, Aircraft No. 2 had yet to do so.
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