Safety

NTSB: no obvious malfunctions in Eclipse 500 crash

By John Croft

US National Transportation Safety Board investigators say the Eclipse 500 that overran a runway when landing at a Pennsylvania general aviation airport on 30 July showed no signs of pre-impact issues with the airframe, mechanical subsystems, engine or braking controls.

The aircraft was substantially damaged when the pilot and passenger exited the end of the runway and plummeted down a 12m (40ft) embankment and into trees. Neither was injured.

Investigators found 670m of skid marks along the final portions of the 1,020m runway, raising the potential that the pilot may have inadvertently landed too fast and locked the brakes.

© Eclipse Aviation

Eclipse earlier this year, armed with flight monitoring data from the fleet, alerted pilots to problems with blown tyres caused by landing too fast and locking the manual braking system. Officials removed the flight data system for analysis and planned to issue a preliminary report this week.

Investigators continue to examine first responder reports that one of the aircraft's engines could not be shut down after the crash, an issue that draws attention to ongoing investigation involving malfunctioning throttle controls of an Eclipse 500 after a go-around on 5 June at Chicago's Midway airport.

The US Federal Aviation Administration has mandated a new Eclipse service bulletin detailing inspection procedures and potential modifications to the throttle quadrant.