A congressional committee on Wednesday heard a litany of concerns about the FAA's oversight of the certification of the Eclipse very light jet, including a report that the FAA okayed the jet for a single pilot even though the FAA's Flight Standardization Board had determined that the aircraft required a two-pilot crew. The House Aviation Subcommittee heard from Calvin Scovel, the Inspector General for the Transportation Department, who said his investigation showed that FAA employees were given "marching orders" by management and a target date was set for the jet's certification. "It was a calendar-driven process ... with a predetermined outcome," he said. He added that FAA Administrator Robert Sturgell told him that the FAA, which recently completed a "special review" of the E500's type certificate, will also review the production certificate. When asked by U.S. Rep. Robin Hayes, of North Carolina, if the Eclipse jet is a safe airplane to fly, Scovel responded, "My office has no evidence that it is unsafe." Scovel later said that given the information that was available to the FAA on Sept. 30, 2006, when it awarded the type certificate, "a reasonable decision would have been to defer the granting of the type certificate."
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.avweb.com/news/house-panel-investigates-eclipse-certification