Before every flight by Gulfstream test pilots, the flight test engineer conducts an exhaustive briefing on every imaginable detail. Obvious issues are weight, CG location, fuel load, reference airspeeds and so on. Less apparent are restrictions on operation of the specific airplane being used, such as airspeed or altitude limits that have not yet been cleared or the experimental status of equipment and avionics onboard. But the greatest emphasis is placed on the safety of the flight.
On the very first page of the briefing package and flight test cards that describe each maneuver in detail is a declaration of the risk involved in the flight. Details of the risk are described in the following “test safety hazard analysis” page. The TSHA, as Gulfstream calls it, is a brutally honest analysis of what could go wrong with the machine or the people flying it.
