Spurred by an August incident at Farnborough Airport in Hampshire, England, involving the uncommanded movement of flaps on a Bombardier Challenger CL-600, the manufacturer and Transport Canada are identifying actions to prevent similar incidents, the U.K. Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) says.
The AAIB is continuing its investigation of the Aug. 14 incident, but preliminary findings indicate that, as the airplane was climbing after takeoff from Farnborough, an uncommanded flap extension occurred and was not halted by the airplane’s uncommanded movement protection system. The airplane was traveling faster than the maximum flaps-extended speed, the board said in a special bulletin, issued Sept. 22.
The airplane, carrying seven passengers and a three-member crew, took off at 1618 local time with 20 degrees of flaps; after takeoff, the pilots moved to fully retract the flaps. However, as the airplane climbed through Flight Level (FL) 190 (approximately 19,000 …
