The FAA last Friday grounded all Cirrus Vision Jets through an Emergency AD prompted by Cirrus reporting three incidents on Cirrus Model SF50 airplanes of the stall warning and protection system (SWPS) or Electronic Stability & Protection (ESP) System engaging when not appropriate. Over the weekend, Cirrus senior vice president of sales and marketing Ben Kowalski told Flying, “Out of an abundance of caution, we immediately began working with the FAA and our internal teams to determine the root cause and began our operator communication process. We proactively and quickly issued two service advisories and one mandatory service bulletin to ensure our operators were up to speed on the issue and to remind them of the proper airplane flight manual (AFM) procedures to follow in case of an angle of attack (AOA) related issue. We then quickly identified the root cause as an AOA sensor hardware issue, not a software issue.”
Cirrus Releases Update on Vision Jet Grounding
Key Takeaways:
- The FAA issued an Emergency AD grounding all Cirrus Vision Jets (SF50) following three incidents where the stall warning and protection system engaged inappropriately.
- Cirrus identified the root cause as a hardware defect in the Angle of Attack (AOA) sensor, manufactured by Aerosonic, stemming from improper torquing and lack of thread locker on internal set screws.
- Corrected AOA hardware sensors are now being manufactured and shipped to operators for replacement, though the timeline for the entire fleet's return to service is currently unknown.
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