This page tracks known accidents of the three known light jets (Eclipse, Cessna Citation Mustang, Embraer Phenom 100), so that operators of these aircraft may learn from the mistakes of others.
When official government reports are available, those references are cited. In some cases, where local authorities have not requested an NTSB investigation, there may not be any official report available, yet an accident has clearly still occurred.
Accident Date
|
Aircraft |
Accident Type |
Reference |
| 2010-02-17 |
Phenom 100 PR-UUT |
Runway overrun |
ASN 72817 |
| 2009-11-01 |
Phenom 100 N59PW 0081 |
Both main tires blown on landing, possible brake failure. |
JetBrief |
| 2009-11-01 |
Phenom 100 N514AF 0039 |
Brake failure |
JetBrief |
| 2009-10-12 |
Phenom 100 PP-AFM 0049 |
Runway overrun. Crew claims brake failure even though runway is only 2700' |
JetBrief
CENIPA
|
| 2009-08-19 |
Mustang PH-TXI C510-050 |
Professional crew did not lower gear |
AAIB Report |
| 2009-05-14 |
Mustang PR-VDL |
Both main tires blown on landing, possibly overweight |
Blog post |
| 2008-05-06 |
Eclipse N612KB |
Bad software in FADEC leads unrecoverable loss of thrust control |
NTSB Prob |
| 2009-04-15 |
Eclipse N875NA |
Fairing separation in turbulence due to manufacturing |
NTSB Prob |
| 2008-12-14 |
Phenom 100 |
Runway overrun at factory due to inadequate maintenance |
Embraer PR |
| 2008-07-30 |
Eclipse N333MY |
Runway overrun |
NTSB Prelim |
| 2008-04-19 |
Mustang N54PV |
Runway overrun due to distraction of autopilot malfunction |
NTSB Prelim |
| 2007-12-19 |
Mustang N13616 |
Fuel vent covered, improper pre-flight |
NTSB Prelim |
| 2008-04-17 |
Eclipse N539RM |
Stalling of the rudder trim actuator motor during sim. SE training |
NTSB Prob |
| 2005-09-03 |
Eclipse N505EA |
Crew did not lower gear |
NTSB Prob |
(Click on the above column headers to sort).
Comparison to the GA Fleet
According to the 2009 NTSB Statistics, across the entire GA fleet there 7.20 accidents and 1.33 fatalities per 100,000 flight hours. As of March 2010, there are roughly 60,000 Mustang flight hours, and 10,000 Phenom flights hours. As a rough guess, one can assume approximately 50,000 Eclipse hours. This makes a rough total of 120,000 flight hours for the light jet fleet. The above table lists 14 accidents and 0 fatalities so far.
Per 100,000 hours
|
Entire GA Fleet
|
Light Jets
|
Accidents
|
7.20
|
11.66
|
Fatalities
|
1.33
|
0
|
So light jets are so far doing worse than the GA fleet in terms of accidents, but better in terms of fatalities. Note that this isn't quite a fair comparison as some of the light jet accidents listed above may not be considered an accident for NTSB purposes. For example, two blown tires on landing may not trigger an NTSB accident report.
Summary:
As of March 2010, approximately 250 Eclipses, 300 Mustangs and 100 Phenom 100s have been built for a total of 650 aircraft. There have been no known fatalities or even significant injuries as of this date, which is excellent news considering this is the first jet for a significant percentage of the owners.
In very broad terms,
- Eclipse incidents have been primarily due to manufacturing and design issues. This may be a testament to Eclipse pilots as they do not have the advantage of anti-skid brakes like the Mustang and Phenom.
- Mustang and Phenom incidents have been primarily due to operator error during landing, especially runway overruns.
See Also:
Presentation about Citation accidents due to lack of stabilized approach (PDF)
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