European Air Agency Affirms Bombardier Q400 is Safe

TORONTO (AP) -- The European Aviation Safety Agency reported Wednesday that Bombardier Inc.'s Q400 turboprops are airworthy after ruling that a series of recent accidents were not caused by design flaws.

"We are very pleased with that statement, it proves that the aircraft is safe to fly and that's what we've been saying from the beginning,"Bombardier spokesman Marc Duschesne said.

The European air authorities conducted the review after Scandinavian airline SAS AB permanently grounded its fleet of 27 Bombardier-built Q400s after one of its planes made an emergency landing in Copenhagen on Oct. 27 with a landing gear malfunction, the third such incident in seven weeks.

No one was seriously injured, but the Scandinavian airline said the accidents had damaged confidence in the planes.

According to the EASA, the most recent incident "was not due to a design error" and said the airworthiness of the aircraft is maintained.

Danish aviation authorities had earlier issued a preliminary report indicating that a piece of rubber stuck in the landing gear had prevented the gear from extending properly, causing the incident.

According to the EASA statement, Scandinavian airworthiness authorities will reissue the certificates of airworthiness "in the coming days."

Two previous incidents in early September were already found to have been caused by corrosion in a bolt in another section of the landing gear. Following those incidents, all 165 Q400s in use worldwide were temporarily grounded and the part in question inspected.

EASA said its concerns about that bolt have already been met through the previous directives that recommended airlines take remedial actions.

Officials of the airworthiness authorities of Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Canada, as well as representatives of Bombardier and the landing-gear manufacturer Goodrich Corp. participated in the airworthiness review meeting at EASA's headquarters in Cologne, Germany.

Dow Jones Newswires contributed to this report.

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