Originally Posted by
Old_Slartibartfast
My concern at the time, which I felt was quite reasonable, was that the engine and FADEC in question was already certified by the FAA, and was flying (had been for a couple of years by then). It was also part way through EASA certification (which it achieved) and QQs insistence that they ignore all the existing certification work and delay the programme for a year (and charge taxpayers a great deal more money) was not reasonable. All I wanted them to do was look at the evidence that had been used by the US DoD and the FAA, and consider taking that into account during their certification recommendation process - they point blank refused to do this.
There was no parallel with the HC.2 FADEC at all, different airframe, different engine, different companies involved, different software compiler. To the best of my limited knowledge the HC.2 FADEC had never had its code independently looked at until around the time of the ZD576 accident in 1994, so there was no link or comparison between the two at all.
I thought the issue was the software rather than the engine and/or FADEC? The software is key to a FADEC operation and must be fully tested in each revision it goes through. With respect, this has everything to do with the Chinook HC2 FADEC because again it was the code that made it 'positively dangerous' (BD's words after an independent audit of it produced so much bad code that it was stopped, as there was no point in continuing). Little wonder that BD/QQ insisted thereafter of having your FADEC code similarly checked! The Achilles Heel of a FADEC is its code. Anything other than fully tested intact software and you have an accident looking for a place to happen. As I mentioned previously, the A400 Seville fatal accident didn't have to look far as it happened right after becoming airborne.
Point blank? Sounds like a good response to you if you wanted them to forgo their mandated obligations. You got your FADEC, albeit a year late. Pity the same thing didn't happen to the HC2. 29 people would have stayed alive.