Hop-A-Jet Seeks to Bolster FAA Engine Corrosion AD

Charter operator urges regulators to close critical inspection loopholes following fatal Challenger 604 accident.

Meg Godlewski

Tuesday, June 16, 2026 at 12:43 PM ET

Verified

Edited By:

Travis Tingle

Hop-A-Jet operates a fleet of charter jets out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. [Courtesy: Hop-A-Jet]

Key Takeaways:

Hop-A-Jet is urging the FAA to strengthen a proposed airworthiness directive (AD) concerning engine corrosion prevention following a fatal February 2024 crash of one of its Bombardier Challenger 604 aircraft.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) determined the probable cause of the dual-engine failure was corrosion in the GE CF34-3B engines' variable geometry (VG) system, which was visible in prior borescope inspections but not reported to the operator.
Hop-A-Jet argues that current maintenance programs and manufacturer-authorized inspections do not sufficiently require the identification, reporting, and escalation of internal compressor corrosion findings to aircraft operators.
The company requests the FAA mandate comprehensive corrosion inspections, require reporting of findings to operators and regulators, add sea/salt exposure as a risk factor, and revise maintenance/flight manuals to address these issues.

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Hop-A-Jet is calling on the FAA to strengthen an airworthiness directive (AD) on engine corrosion prevention. The private charter jet operator submitted comments in response to the agency’s release of a notice of proposed rule making (NPRM), Docket No. FAA-2026-3875, for certain GE CF34 engines.

The AD was created in response to the investigation of a February 9, 2024, fatal accident involving a Hop-A-Jet-operated Bombardier Challenger 604 aircraft. The aircraft was on a 5-mile final to Runway 23 at Naples Airport (KAPF) in Florida when both engines began to lose power. The aircraft came down on a freeway at rush hour, struck a road sign and a retaining wall, then caught fire.