Eclipse Aviation says it is “too early” to tell if the inadvertent wheels-up landing of the fourth Eclipse 500 test aircraft, N505EA, earlier this month will affect the planned March 2006 certification of the very light jet.
N505EA is the fourth US Federal Aviation Administration-conforming flight test aircraft, and the first of two planned “beta” function and reliability test airframes.
The aircraft joined the test effort only on 9 July and experienced a gear-up landing on 4 September at Albuquerque International airport, New Mexico, says Eclipse.
The two pilots sustained no injuries, and the manufacturer says: “We think the aircraft is repairable.” It also confirms: “The cause of the gear-up landing was pilot error. No aircraft mechanical or electrical problems contributed to the event.”
The accident came just days after the flight test programme had begun to accelerate again with the addition of the fifth conforming flight-test aircraft, N506EA, and is now sure to add pressure to what was already a tight schedule.
Eclipse is well behind its original test schedule, which called for 500h to be accumulated by early August and 750h by late October 2005, although it says the remaining four aircraft “are ramping up flying all the time”.
The manufacturer denies that the increased pace of flight testing, which is seeing each aircraft perform multiple sorties each day, contributed to the incident in any way. “That has nothing to do with it,” says the company, which adds that the wheels-up event is “something every pilot fears and hopes they never do – the good news is no one was hurt and there is nothing mechanically wrong with the aircraft”.
Taking a crumb of comfort from the event, Eclipse president and chief executive Vern Raburn says the crash landing showed that the structure “can withstand events like this without injuries or catastrophic damage”.
He adds: “We are evaluating the damage to the aircraft, but are confident that we will demonstrate how easily a friction stir-welded structure can be fixed.”
The company, which has more than 2,200 orders for the $1.3 million Eclipse 500, says it “cannot discuss” what actions are being taken with the test crew of N505EA.
GUY NORRIS/LOS ANGELES
Source: Flight International
