Federal regulators have ordered the immediate inspection of throttles on small personal jets manufactured by Eclipse Aviation Corp. after one made an emergency landing in Chicago.
In response to an urgent recommendation from the National Transportation Safety Board, the Federal Aviation Administration issued an emergency order late Thursday requiring inspection of all Eclipse 500 aircraft throttles and replacement of malfunctioning ones before each plane is flown again. The FAA order also requires that operators immediately insert into the aircraft’s flight manual new emergency procedures for dual engine control failure.
The FAA said the Chicago incident had shown that the throttles for the plane’s two engines could remain stuck at full power if pushed forward with enough force, depriving the pilot of the ability to control the plane’s speed.
“The Eclipse 500 is still a new aircraft model, with some 200 having been delivered,” NTSB Chairman Mark Rosenker said Thursday. He said the agency’s inquiry into the accident revealed a safety issue that “needs immediate attention.”
The safety board said the plane in Chicago developed its problem after only 238 hours of flight.
“Had it not been for the resourcefulness of the pilots,” good weather and the plane’s proximity to Midway Airport, where it was landing, “the successful completion of this flight would have been unlikely,” the safety board advised the FAA. The two pilots and two passengers were unhurt; two landing gear tires were flattened.
Alana McCarraher, a spokeswoman for Eclipse in Albuquerque, N.M., said the company was fully cooperating with the NTSB.
“We think it’s safe and if there’s anything wrong with it then we’ll find out with the NTSB investigation,” she said. “But right now it’s in their hands.”
The board said that shortly before landing a windshear pushed the plane down rapidly, the pilot halted the dive by pushing the power up on both the Pratt & Whitney turbofan engines, but when he throttled the engines back down to slow the plane for landing, the engines remained at maximum power. The pilot aborted the landing and used the landing gear and flaps to slow the plane.
Midway cleared it for emergency landing. The pilot shut down one engine to slow the craft but noticed that the remaining engine then began to idle and threatened to stall the plane, but he was able to land before that.
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On the Net:
Eclipse Aviation Corp.: http://www.eclipseaviation.com
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