The pilot of an Eclipse 500 pushed the throttles forward during a wind-shear encounter at Chicago Midway Airport last month with enough force to result in an “eng control fail” crew alerting system message followed by a maximum uncontrolled thrust condition on both of the airplane’s Pratt & Whitney Canada PW610F turbofans. Unable to slow the airplane for landing, the pilot elected to shut down one engine for the subsequent landing attempt. When he did, the thrust on the good engine dropped to idle and became unresponsive to thrust lever inputs, resulting in a hard landing that blew out both of the airplane’s main tires.
None of the four people aboard Eclipse 500 N612KB were hurt in the landing, but the June 5 incident prompted an emergency AD on June 12 requiring inspections of the thrust levers in more than 200 in-service airplanes to ensure there is no indication of binding or “unusual noises,” such as grinding or scraping that might suggest a defective throttle quadrant.
More In Aircraft
