Gulfstream Aerospace · Business jet
Gulfstream V/G550
Is the Gulfstream V/G550 safe? It is not ranked yet: with no fatal accidents counted in about 1.2 million flights since 2008, its record is too short to place it among the others: its score could be anywhere from 47 to 100.
Likely range 47 to 100
How the score is built
- Fatal accidents
- 0 in 1.2 million flights
No fatal accident in the data (ASN database to 3 November 2026).
- Full-loss equivalents
- 0
Each counted accident adds the share of people on board who died (1 = no survivors). This is what the score is based on.
- Flights flown
- 1.2 million
Estimated flights of all kinds. Flights of all kinds (private, charter, corporate, cargo, training and other civil use) 2008 to 3 November 2026: OpenSky 2022 flights of the type under any call sign (US military aircraft left out), re-weighted to World Bank departures country by country, carried to other years by the type's flights counted each year by FAA traffic flow management (TFMSC). Flights before 2008 are not used, like the accidents. About 107 flights per aircraft per year (fleet with a median service life of about 34 years). Uncertainty roughly ±30%.
- Technology generation
- Modern business jet (type first flew from 1990)
Small fleets are pulled toward the record of the other types of their generation: 0.86 full-loss equivalents per million flights over 29.4 million flights. Weight of this family's own record: 78%.
- Likely range
- 47 to 100
The score is 90% likely to lie in this range, given how few accidents a type has and the error in the estimate of its flights.
- Last fatal accident
- None
No counted fatal accident.
- Hull losses
- 2
Civil aircraft destroyed or written off from all causes, including non-fatal accidents, cargo flights and attacks; airframes flown by air forces on military operations are left out. ASN gives no fate for some damaged aircraft, so this can be a little low (context only, not in the score).
Compared with everyday risks
One flight on the Gulfstream V/G550 carries about the same risk of death as the activities near it below.
- An hour's walk1 in 14 million
- Driving 100 miles (160 km)1 in 5.9 million
- One flight on the Gulfstream V/G550This aircraft1 in 5.3 million
- An ordinary day: accidents and violence1 in 1 million
- A day of skiing1 in 830,000
- A scuba dive1 in 500,000
- Cycling 100 miles (160 km)1 in 430,000
- Running a marathon1 in 290,000
- A skydive1 in 250,000
- A general anaesthetic1 in 100,000
- Riding a motorbike 100 miles (160 km)1 in 83,000
Accident history
No fatal accident counts toward this score.
No fatal event since it entered service in 1997 is a good record for a long-range jet. The score counts only flights and accidents from 2008 on, about 1.2 million flights with no fatal event. It is not proof of a very low risk. This page explains what the zero says, what it does not say, and what the non-fatal records show.
What is the Gulfstream V, and who flies it?
The Gulfstream V first flew in 1995. The G500 of 2004 (the GV-SP) and the G550 are later versions of the same aircraft. About 800 were built and about 730 were seen flying in 2022. They serve corporate flight departments, owners, charter and fractional fleets, and governments (the C-37A and C-37B). Two pilots fly it. It is made for long legs.
What does "no counted fatal event" mean?
Up to 3 November 2026, the Aviation Safety Network lists no event on this family in which someone on board died. So the family has no fatal event of any kind in the data, counted or excluded. Our method scores the type on all its civil flights since 2008, and the count here is zero.
Two points matter:
- It means there is no pattern of fatal accidents that points to the type.
- It does not mean the rate is zero. A type with an average modern business-jet rate could well show no fatal event in about 1.2 million flights, so a zero is within chance. Confidence in the score is low, its likely range is wide, and with under 3 million flights the type is not ranked yet.
Why is the score per flight and not per hour?
The GV makes about 107 flights per aircraft per year in our model, because each flight is long. We measure risk per flight, not per hour. Most accidents happen in take-off, approach and landing, which each flight has once, however long the cruise. A passenger also takes a flight, not an hour. The cost is that a long-range jet looks worse per flight than it would per hour, and it takes decades to build up a large flight count.
What do the non-fatal records show?
The ASN lists eight records for this family, and two airframes Hull lossAn accident in which an aircraft is destroyed or damaged beyond economic repair. People may or may not be hurt.More in the glossary. Three are worth knowing:
- 14 February 2002, West Palm Beach: a ferry flight after maintenance. Wooden sticks left in the weight-on-wheels switches kept the aircraft in ground mode. The NTSB gave this as the probable cause of a hard landing. Nobody died, but the aircraft was written off.
- 1 June 2007, Zurich, G5 Executive (charter): the nose gear would not extend, and the crew landed with it retracted. The Swiss BFU traced this to the screws on a valve cover in the nose gear actuator. None of the 9 people on board died.
- 2 September 2025, Portland, Oregon: on the ground, the nose gear retracted while the crew started the engines on a private Part 91 flight. The NTSB had published only a preliminary report at our cut-off.
How do I check an operator?
Ask for the air operator certificate and look it up with the aviation authority. Ask whether two crew are type-rated on the GV. Look for an ARGUS or Wyvern audit. If the flight is private, you have none of these protections, so ask the owner about the crew's training. Compare with the older Gulfstream IV and the newer G650 family.
How can I tell if I am on one?
The ICAO code is GLF5. Look for two engines mounted on the rear fuselage and a row of large oval windows.
Questions people ask
Has a Gulfstream V or G550 ever had a fatal crash?
Not in our data. Up to 3 November 2026 the Aviation Safety Network lists no event on the Gulfstream V, G500 (GV-SP) or G550 in which anyone on board died. That is a good record, but the score counts about 1.2 million flights since 2008, too few to show that the true rate is very low.
Is the G550 safer than a Gulfstream IV?
Possibly, but our data cannot tell them apart firmly. Since 2008 the G550 family has no counted fatal event, while the Gulfstream IV family has four. The G550 is also a newer design, in the modern business-jet class. But the G550 has too few flights to be ranked yet, and the likely ranges of the two scores overlap widely.
Why is the G550 not ranked?
A type with fewer than 3 million flights and at most one counted fatal accident gets no rank yet, because one or two accidents would change its rate a lot. The score combines the G550's own flights with no fatal event and a smaller share of the record of other modern business jets, so a zero does not read as zero risk. Confidence is low.
What is the ICAO code for the Gulfstream V?
GLF5. It covers the Gulfstream V, the G500 (GV-SP) built from 2004 and the G550. The military C-37A and C-37B are built on the same design.
Sources
- 1.ASN record: G5 Executive Gulfstream V, Zurich, 1 June 2007 (opens in a new tab) · Aviation Safety Network
- 2.ASN record: Gulfstream V N777TY, West Palm Beach, 14 February 2002 (opens in a new tab) · Aviation Safety Network
- 3.ASN record: Speedero Gulfstream V, Portland, Oregon, 2 September 2025 (opens in a new tab) · Aviation Safety Network
- 4.SafetyScorer exposure model: OpenSky Network flights 2022 (all operators), World Bank departures, FAA TFMSC (opens in a new tab)Flights of all kinds (private, charter, corporate, cargo, training and other civil use) 2008 to 3 November 2026: OpenSky 2022 flights of the type under any call sign (US military aircraft left out), re-weighted to World Bank departures country by country, carried to other years by the type's flights counted each year by FAA traffic flow management (TFMSC). Flights before 2008 are not used, like the accidents. About 107 flights per aircraft per year (fleet with a median service life of about 34 years). Uncertainty roughly ±30%.