Pilots performing post-maintenance stall test killed as Raytheon Hawker 800XP crashes in Michigan

Flight Global ^ | 11/13/2025 | Jon Hemmerdinger

[DFG]

Raytheon Hawker 800XP

[Red Badger]

2 minutes..............

[Texas Eagle]

"Pilots conducting stall checks should have prior experience in performing stalls in the Hawker and must be prepared for unacceptable stall behaviour at any point leading up to and throughout the manoeuvre,” the manual says.

Yyyeahhh. You'd think that would go without saying.

[PGalt]

Condolences to families and friends of those killed.

[Red Badger]

AVIATION ping.................. 😪

[freefdny]

“ Duncan had given the jet’s primary captain a list of “experienced test pilots, for hire, to perform the post-maintenance stall test flight”, says the NTSB. “After being unable to coordinate the stall test flight with a test pilot, the flight crew elected to perform the post-maintenance stall test themselves.”
I don’t know how common this is,but in this case it was obviously a bad decision.

[V_TWIN]

If they weren’t trained and certified to perform these tests and checks this should never have happened.

Very sad

[packrat35]

They choose poorly...

RIP to them.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

My guess is the aircraft failed the stall test.

[sjmjax]

I’d like to know what were the unusual stall characteristics of the Hawker that made recovery so difficult.

It most civilian aircraft, stall recovery is a pretty simple process.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

You have to perform a stall test after any wing maintenance. What’s the logic behind that requirement?

And you have to hire a test pilot to do that test? Wow.

It’s shocking two experienced pilots could not handle the stall in ideal test conditions. How could they have handled a stall in normal biz jet operation with passengers?

[ProtectOurFreedom]

“You’d think that would go without saying.”

Manuals are written by lawyers.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

“My guess is the aircraft failed the stall test.”

The aircraft might have passed with flying colors (so to speak). The pilots, on the other hand...

[Texas Eagle]

Yeah, well, even a blind squirrel finds an acorn once in a while.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Yes. Remind me to not fly a Hawker biz jet. Of course, I’ve never set foot in any biz jet and, at my age, unlikely to ever do so.

[StACase]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Yoj_85MDJc&t=36s

[P8riot]

The jet took off at 17:28 local time from Battle Creek Executive airport and climbed to 15,000ft, then at 17:27 “began a rapid descent”

I guess they shouldn't have installed the flux capacitor

[E. Pluribus Unum]

I meant no disrespect to the victims. I just like black humor.

[Semper Vigilantis]

That time table had me wondering too.

Perhaps there was structural failure that contributed to their inability to recover. What was done to the wings requiring a stall test? In my experience, any structurally sound commercially made aircraft should recover from a 'normal' stall, give time and altitude. Perhaps they entered a flat spin where the plane is no longer flying, but falling? Do Biz Jets have 'black boxes'?

[ProtectOurFreedom]

I got your humor (same sense of humor here).