In 1983 a Gulfstream aircraft was in the news all over the world. On April 18 of that year, Gulfstream II, XA-FOU (c/n 152) made an emergency landing on Mallow Racecourse, County Cork, Ireland.

The aircraft had flown the Atlantic from Newark, New Jersey and was headed for Munich, in Germany carrying four passengers. Strong winds added an hour to the flight time, cutting into the fuel reserves. After a couple of missed approaches to Shannon Airport, which was under heavy fog, the Gulfstream II was diverted to Cork Airport. The captain, Mexican Ruben Ocaña, knew he did not have fuel to make it as far as Cork Airport, so he was redirected to Mallow Racecourse. When he landed on the grass field, early in the morning, there was only three minutes of fuel left. Because the airplane hit some of the fence posts there was some small damage to the wing of the plane. The unhurt business executives, among them Emilo Azcarraga-Milmo, the owner of Televisa, Mexico’s largest TV network, were brought to Shannon Airport for their connecting flight to Munich.

Plans to take the wings off the plane and ferry it by road to Cork Airport were not carried out. The plane’s insurers, Lloyds of London, and Air Claims of America, insisted on a temporary, 3,000-foot tarmac runway. Captain Ocaña and his three crew became intimate with the town. They had to stay for 39 days until the temporary runway was installed on the racecourse by the Irish Sugar Company.

The day of the plane’s take-off (23 May 1983) was a gala affair. The event was covered by television stations and about 2,000 people gathered to witness the departure of the Gulfstream aircraft. Captain Ocaña spoke a few words of Irish as a farewell. The pilot was instructed by Gulfstream not to retract the landing gear during the short flight to Shannon. After take-off Ocaña flew out and came back to do a fly-pass over the runway. Later the captain was praised in Mexican media and by Gulfstream. The unusual event was the inspiration for a movie in 2010, ‘The Runway’. 

Compared to this major event the history of c/n 152 is not that exciting. First flight was performed on 23 September 1974. Registered to Grumman American Corp. in September 1974 as N17587 the aircraft was delivered from Associated Air Center, Dallas (TX) to Televisa SA, Mexico City as XA-FOU in March 1975 and operated by Jet Executivos. The 12 passenger interior included a closed circuit videotape system which was used as an inflight working tool by the owners who produced and sold TV films in various parts of the world.

In the following years the GII changed its owner and registration frequently. The aircraft was operated by: Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. (N202GA, 06-1985), Finevest Services Leasing Corp. (N202GA, 08-1985), Mid Atlantic Airways (N62WB, 11-1985), Ultrajets Inc. (N62WB, 03-1990) and Little Ceasar Enterprises Inc. (06-1990, N559LC/11-1990 and N559L/03-12-2010). On 31 November 2011 registration N559L was cancelled. Currently Gulfstream II, c/n 152 is withdrawn from use. Not in Ireland but at Detroit-Willow Run (MI) and was last noted in 2016.