Gérard Guillaumaud (May 17, 1961 – November 29, 2006) was a

French Air Force The French Air and Space Force (, , ) is the air force, air and space force of the French Armed Forces. Formed in 1909 as the ("Aeronautical Service"), a service arm of the French Army, it became an independent military branch in 1934 as the Fr ...

test pilot.

Career

Guillaumaud was born in Paris, France and was a graduate of the

National Test Pilot School The National Test Pilot School (NTPS) is the only civilian test-pilot school in the United States, located in Mojave, California. It is organized as a not-for-profit educational institute under California state law and is governed by a board o ...

(NTPS) in

Mojave, California Mojave (formerly Mohave) is an unincorporated community in Kern County, California, United States. Mojave is located east of Bakersfield, and north of Los Angeles, at an elevation of . The town is located in the western region of the Mojave ...

. He holds a number of world records in aviation according to the

Fédération Aéronautique Internationale The World Air Sports Federation (; FAI) is the world governing body for air sports, and also stewards definitions regarding human spaceflight. It was founded on 14 October 1905, and is headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland. It maintains worl ...

(FAI). On 16 August 2004 he completed a non-stop crossing of the north Atlantic in a Diamond DA42 Twin Star, a first for a diesel-powered general aviation aircraft. Guillaumaud flew the maiden flight of several aircraft in his career including: * the on 22 February 2005, * the Grob G180 SPn on 20 July 2005, * and the Diamond D-Jet on 18 April 2006.

Accident and death

Guillaumaud was piloting a demonstration flight aboard the second Grob G180 SPn test aircraft (

Aircraft registration An aircraft registration is a code unique to a single aircraft, required by international convention to be marked on the exterior of every civil aircraft. The registration indicates the aircraft's country of registration, and functions much li ...

: D-CGSP) on 29 November 2006. When he was approaching the in Germany, both

elevators An elevator (American English) or lift (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English) is a machine that vertically transports people or freight between levels. They are typically powered by electric motors that drive tracti ...

and the left

horizontal stabilizer A tailplane, also known as a horizontal stabilizer, is a small lifting surface located on the tail ( empennage) behind the main lifting surfaces of a fixed-wing aircraft as well as other non-fixed-wing aircraft such as helicopters and gyroplan ...

separated from the aircraft.Crashed Grob SPn jet 'lost elevators and stabiliser'
/ref> The G180 hit the ground and Guillaumaud died in the impact. The European Flight Test Safety Award was established by his fiancée Heidi Biermeier to honour him and his life’s work.

References

External links

Flight test safety committee awards

Grob Aerospace
{{DEFAULTSORT:Guillaumaud, Gerard 1961 births 2006 deaths Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents in Germany French aviation record holders French test pilots Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 2006