NTSB Urges Emergency Inspections of Eclipse Jets

An Eclipse 500 makes a slow speed pass at the EAA Airventure 2006 in Oshkosh, Wis., on Thursday, July 28, 2006. The National Transportation Safety Board has urged the FAA to require Eclipse 500 operators to conduct immediate inspections of their jets' throttles after an Eclipse 500 made an emergency landing at Chicago Midway following what the NTSB is concerned may have been a complete throttle failure. Credit: AP Photo/Andy Manis

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal safety investigators on Thursday urgently recommended the immediate inspection of throttles on small personal jets manufactured by Eclipse Aviation Corp. after one made an emergency landing in Chicago.

In a letter to the Federal Aviation Administration, the National Transportation Safety Board urged the FAA to require the immediate inspection of all Eclipse 500 aircraft and require the company to immediately develop an emergency procedure for dual engine control failure on that aircraft.

"The Eclipse 500 is still a new aircraft model, with some 200 having been delivered," NTSB Chairman Mark Rosenker said. He said the agency's inquiry into the accident reveals a safety issue that "needs immediate attention."

The agency 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 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 (the plane) 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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