PPRuNe Forums - NTSB recommends changes to Challenger manuals

I'm not sure where this popped up from - the NTSB report on the accident came out last November - but I thought it might be of interest...

July 22, 2008
The US National Transportation Safety Board recommended on Monday that Bombardier revise the reference book for its Challenger 600 planes to include more detailed instructions for takeoff.

The recommendation to regulator Transport Canada follows an investigation into a February 2005 incident, in which a Challenger jet ran off a runway at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey, while attempting to take off.

The plane crashed through an airport fence and crossed a six-lane highway before hitting a building. Both pilots and two passengers were seriously injured.

The safety board, an independent US federal agency, found that the accident was probably caused by an attempt to take off with the center of gravity beyond the forward limit, which prevented the plane's nose from lifting off the runway at the expected speed.

Simulator tests during the investigation showed that with the center of gravity at the forward limit, and with the controls not adjusted properly, the plane did not begin liftoff until it was significantly above the "nominal rotation" speed, when the pilot usually begins to initiate takeoff, the safety board said.

The investigation said this was comparable to the delay experienced in the Teterboro incident, which caused the pilot to abandon the takeoff.

The delayed liftoff with the Challenger jets raised concerns that other pilots, fearing their plane might similarly not fly, would abort takeoff at speeds well above those at which such a decision can safely be made, the board said.

The board recommended that the takeoff stabilizer settings listed in the Challenger 600 and 601 flight manuals should be included in the reference handbook that is carried in the cockpit and that operators be informed of the changes.

A spokeswoman for Bombardier said that any changes to the handbooks would be done by aviation training company Flight Safety International, which is responsible for the handbooks.

"Our aircraft flight manual already has the information required from the recommendation, so from a Bombardier perspective, it's done already," said Danielle Bordeau, spokeswoman for the business aircraft division.

The board also recommended that the US Federal Aviation Administration encourage Challenger operators to provide training to their pilots to familiarize them with the takeoff characteristics of the plane.

(Reuters)