Private jet bursts into flames while making emergency landing in Dominican Republic.

A U.S. registered Gulfstream G200 private jet (registration N318JF, operated by Aibonito Aviation LLC) crashed and burst into flames during an emergency landing attempt at La Romana International Airport (LRM) in the Dominican Republic on Sunday, June 7, 2026.

- The jet had just departed La Romana bound for Austin, Texas (no passengers aboard — only the two crew members).

- Shortly after takeoff (about 16 nautical miles southwest), the crew declared an emergency, likely due to a technical issue such as engine or hydraulic failure, and turned back.

- During the landing, the aircraft veered off the runway/slid across grass, then the rear section erupted in flames with a large explosion and thick black smoke.

- Both pilots — Erick Javier Diago (40) and Rudy Ghazal (34), U.S. citizens — were killed. No one else was injured on the ground.

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Gulfstream 200 registered to Aibonito Aviation LLC, San Juan, PR

They declared an emergency for hydraulics problems. There’s a second video that shows the main gear was down but it collapsed or was ripped off on the initial touchdown. The gear has a compressed nitrogen backup in the event of hydraulic failure.

AFAIK the ailerons on this plane are also hydraulic, and without the hydraulic assist it would be like driving a power steering car with no power. Which might explain why they didn’t touch down on the runway. Control was so marginal, the grass next to the runway was the best he could manage.

I can’t tell if the flaps were deployed but by the angle to the camera they wouldn’t necessarily have been observable until the wings already had been dragged agross the ground, which might have repositioned them. In any case, without flaps, they’d have had to make their approach and touchdown abnormally fast, which increased the likelihood of something like this.

It wasn’t looking too bad skipping along in the grass, nothing unsurvivable, until it hit a bump that sent the nose up. Then wind got under the wings and pushed the nose up maybe 12-15 feet off the ground. When the nose came down there appears to have been a depression, maybe a drainage area. The fuselage bottomed out hard in the depression and the left wing separated from the fuselage at the wing root, allowing jet fuel to escape.

The cloud of fuel reached engine mounts (#1 engine already had separated from the a/c) and ignited. In about a second flat the entire airframe was engulfed.

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