Dang, a lot of kooks in this thread. I actually fly these things. No, 14 paxs is not abnormal. That’s usually a standard layout. That doesn’t mean it’s 134.5. One family can easily be 14 paxs. Or a few groups of friends. Remember one couch can hold 4 paxs. 1 conference table of 4, and 6 individual seats.
Tons of business jets have removable steering torque links. It’s not just a Gulfstream thing.
It’s practically impossible to taxi the G-IV (or 3, or 5) using differential braking. Trust Me. I have tried. You can’t do it without someone pulling out a cellphone to video how silly it looks when you jet blast all the airplanes behind you and still can’t make the turn.
I find it hard to believe, but not impossible the pin was connected improperly. It requires a button to be pressed to get it in and out, plus has a safety pin, that blocks the button when installed correctly. If it did pop out because it wasn’t properly installed. I don’t see how that would be a factor going that fast.
I’m guessing it probably broke off the airplane with the torque links.
I’m willing to bet it was a nose wheel steering hard over failure which is an active recall on this plane and has been for years.
Props to the crew for getting it stopped after dumping a ton of hydraulic fluid out at 3000 psi during a high speed abort with no nose wheel at all.