FAA Orders Review of Eclipse 500 Certification

Air Safety Week, August 25, 2008

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is conducting a month-long review of the Eclipse 500 Very Light Jet (VLJ) in response to allegations of safety issues when the VLJ was certified by the federal agency in 2006. The charges will also be aired at a congressional hearing in September.

The union representing the federal aircraft certification workers, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), has complained that the FAA ordered that the Eclipse 500 be certified over the objections of FAA inspectors and pilots still testing the aircraft. NATCA filed a grievance in October 2006, alleging that the federal agency certified the aircraft despite "several outstanding safety/regulatory issues."

The FAA disclosed on Aug. 20 that a review team had on Aug. 11 begun a 30-day review of the Eclipse 500. Jerry Mack, a former Boeing safety executive, is leading an oversight team of seven FAA experts with specialties such as flight testing, avionics, and certification. The team members are independent of the original certification group.

The FAA convened this Special Certification Review (SCR) team to look at: aircraft safety, certification of aircraft trim, flaps, screen blanking, and stall speeds. These issues were the subject of Service Difficulty Reports (SDRs) that have been filed by operators since the aircraft was certificated on September 30, 2006. The team will look at whether or not any of these issues were raised during the certification process and if any of the issues are currently a threat to safety.

In the past decade, the FAA has conducted only six similar special reviews of particular aircraft. They included the Liberty XL-2 (2008), Mitsubishi MU-2B (2005), Cessna 208 (2005), Twin Cessna 400 Series Models (2004), Raytheon 390 (2004), and the Beechcraft T34 (2003).

Eclipse Aviation, the aircraft's manufacturer, said it welcomed the FAA's review and would cooperate. "Eclipse is confident the review will find that the Eclipse 500 was in full compliance with all federal regulations at the time of its certification, and that all FAA testing was completed with the highest degree of thoroughness, accuracy and integrity," the company said in a statement.

"Without a doubt, this special review will uncover what we already know - that the Eclipse 500 marks the safest new airplane introduction into service in 20 years," said Roel Pieper, Eclipse Aviation's CEO. "Customer safety has always been a priority at Eclipse, and we look forward to this investigation dispelling any inaccuracies about the certification of this airplane for once and for all."

In June, the FAA briefly grounded the Eclipse 500 after a flaw was discovered that caused one to lose power over Chicago. Both engines on the Eclipse 500 became stuck at full power as the pilots were trying to land.

The FAA, at the urging of the National Transportation Board (NTSB), issued an Emergency Airworthiness Directive, mandating throttle control inspections for over 200 of the very light jets.

The NTSB had issued two urgent recommendations to the FAA regarding the Eclipse 500. The Safety Board said the FAA should: require immediate inspection of all Eclipse 500 airplane throttle quadrants to ensure that pushing the throttle levers against the maximum power stops will not result in an engine control failure; and, the FAA should further require that all units that fail inspection be replaced and replacement parts be similarly inspected.

The Safety Board also urged the FAA to require Eclipse to immediately develop for the Eclipse 500 airplane an emergency procedure for a dual engine control failure and incorporate the procedure into the airplane flight manual and quick reference handbook via an airworthiness directive.

On June 5, the Eclipse 500 (N612KB) on approach to Chicago Midway Airport, experienced a failure that resulted in uncontrollable maximum power thrust from two Pratt and Whitney Canada PW610F turbofan engines.

After referencing the emergency procedures of the aircraft's quick reference handbook, the pilots shut down one of the engines. However, following the shutdown of the engine, the other engine rolled back to idle power and continued to be unresponsive to the throttle.

The pilots declared an emergency, were cleared to land on any runway and were able to land the plane without injury to the two pilots or two passengers.

The Safety Board noted that the dual-channel failure of both throttle levers occurred after the airplane had accumulated only 238 hours and 192 cycles since new. As a result, the Board is concerned about the reliability of an assembly that fails in such a short time.

Furthermore, when the failed throttle quadrant assembly was replaced on the accident airplane, pushing the throttle levers on the replacement unit against maximum power stops caused an R ENG CONTROL FAIL message to appear on the crew alerting system display.

The Board further noted that the Eclipse 500's flight manual and quick reference handbook provide an emergency procedure for a single engine control failure, but not for a dual engine control failure, such as occurred in the incident. The Safety Board is concerned that should there be another dual engine control failure aboard an Eclipse 500, pilots will be without guidance and may be unable to restore control.