Aircraft

The US Federal Aviation Administration says the reduction of fatal accidents in the three years since a special pilot training mandate for Mitsubishi MU-2B twin-turboprop was put in place in 2006 is proof of the effectiveness of the safety programme.

According to John Hickey, FAA deputy associate administrator for aviation safety, of the two accidents that have been recorded since then, one involved someone walking into a propeller and the other resulted in a runway excursion in heavy rain after an in-flight engine failure. In the 30 months preceding a 2005 safety evaluation on the type by the FAA, however, there were 14 accidents, 10 of which were fatal, says Hickey.

Originally used specifically as a corporate aircraft, the MU-2B has found applications in other sectors, such as air cargo, where pilots "may have less experience in high-performance aircraft", says the FAA. Control issues for the aircraft, last produced in 1984, centred on a lack of understanding and handling of the aircraft's unique energy and speed management requirements, leading to loss-of-control problems associated with stalls. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries America (MHIA) supports the aircraft.

© John Croft/Flightglobal

Key to the success of the programme has been setting out a standardised training regime, including checklists, for pilots flying the aircraft, which Hickey says handles more like a turbojet than turboprop. "A normal twin-engine rating without being specific to the type is not adequate to fly it," says Hickey.

Texas-based Turbine Aircraft Services, MHIA's US support arm for the MU-2, says there are roughly 370 aircraft flying, with about 40 used in cargo service, all of which are covered by the SFAR.

"The problem in the past has been a lack of standardised training," says Pat Cannon, vice-president of Turbine Aircraft Services. "There were 30 different training programmes and 20 different checklists when the FAA looked into this in 2005. The SFAR caused everyone to learn to play from the same sheet of music. We now have standardised training and standardised checklists."

Pilots must pass initial or recurrent ground and flight training yearly from a qualified SFAR instructor to fly as pilot-in-command of the aircraft, says Cannon. While the FAA provides training material for the course, Cannon says Mitsubishi has developed a manual "that better defines the manoeuvres that must be done". Along with in-flight training, SimCom has an MU-2B simulator at its campus in Florida that can be used to complete the training.

Despite the effort, Cannon says the programme is not bulletproof. "Any time you make a rule, you'll have some people in the system who are not going to want to do it," he says. "We know that there will be a few of those."