There is an old axiom among pilots that says the three most useless things in aviation are fuel on the ground, air above, and runway behind.

In the context of “runway behind,” similar themes thread through many runway execursions: an unstabilized approach, an attempt to salvage it instead of making a go-around, a short final too hot and high, a touchdown too long and too fast, improper use of braking and other slowing systems, and a delayed or improper decision leading to being unable to stop the aircraft before running out of control, options, and, ultimately, runway.

Category 5 Hurricane Irma affected much of the Caribbean in the first half of September 2017, but Puerto Rico escaped the worst of the 150 mph-plus winds. While neighbors in St. Maarten, St. Thomas, Barbuda and Anguilla suffered massive destruction, the U.S. territory became a hub of relief and humanitarian efforts, exporting supplies to those less fortunate. But a week later the entire island found itself in the same situation, if not worse, from Hurricane Maria, which made a direct impact on September 20.

A Category 4 storm at the time of impact, it wiped out the island’s aging power grid, leaving 3.4 million inhabitants in the dark and, without electricity to power water pumps, most were left without running water. Also hit hard was the Commonwealth’s telecommunication system, with virtually every cellphone transmission tower smashed.

There are only a handful of airplane types whose names have made it into the lexicon of the public at large: Blackbird, Concorde, B-52, and 747 Jumbo Jet, to name a few. To that list must be added the name Lear Jet (or Learjet as it later became), which rapidly became a synonym for the private jets that transported the rich and famous between their glamorous engagements and vacation retreats.

While the marque may no longer be in production, and its status as a must-have accessory for celebrities and industry luminaries long usurped by names such as Gulfstream and Falcon, its legacy will live on for decades.

The flight crew’s desire to beat out another aircraft to the destination led to an unstable approach and a landing above Vref in a quartering tailwind that exceeded their Gulfstream G150’s limitations, resulting in a runway overrun, according to an NTSB final report. The two pilots and three passengers were not injured in the May 5, 2021, accident at Ridgeland Claude Dean Airport (K3J1) in South Carolina. An observer at the airport caught the landing on video.

When the twinjet touched down—some 1,000 to 1,200 feet down the 4,200-foot runway—the ground spoilers did not deploy. Without ground air brakes, the landing roll exceeded the available runway, the NTSB said. The airplane came to rest about 400 feet past the departure end of the runway in marshy terrain, substantially damaging the fuselage and wings.