When an Eclipse pilot at Chicago Midway Airport firewalled the throttles for a go-around caused by wind shear, the engine controls stuck in the maximum-thrust position. The very light jet landed safely with two pilots and two passengers on board, but the incident led to an emergency airworthiness directive from the FAA. According to Eclipse, the AD involves a simple inspection of the throttle quadrant and can be performed by any licensed pilot, requiring only a logbook entry. So far, according to Eclipse, the 10-minute inspection has not led to any Eclipse 500s being grounded. The pilot of the incident airplane apparently pushed hard enough to exceed the design limit of the throttle stops, causing the engine controls to revert to the last registered position-full power. After shutting down one engine, the pilots found that the other one dropped to idle power. They made an emergency landing at Midway with no further damage to the VLJ. Eclipse has delivered more than 200 Eclipse 500s so far. The jet involved in the incident reportedly had flown 238 hours and experienced 192 cycles.
Landing Incident Prompts AD on Eclipse 500; None Grounded
Key Takeaways:
- An Eclipse jet experienced throttles stuck at maximum thrust during a go-around, necessitating an emergency landing, which pilots accomplished safely by shutting down one engine.
- The incident was caused by exceeding the design limit of the throttle stops, causing engine controls to revert to full power.
- This led to an emergency FAA Airworthiness Directive (AD) for Eclipse 500s.
- The AD requires a simple, 10-minute throttle quadrant inspection that can be performed by any licensed pilot and, according to Eclipse, has not resulted in any aircraft groundings.
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