Canadian Regulators Knew of GE Engine Problem on Bombardier Jet Long Before Pinnacle Crash

Transport Canada knew about an engine problem that could cripple Bombardier regional jets 13 years before it contributed to a 2004 fatal crash in Missouri.

Transport Canada discovered the potentially catastrophic condition when it was testing the plane for certification in 1991.

But outside the tight circle of Bombardier, engine manufacturer General Electric and Transport Canada, the aviation community that operated the regional jets was left unaware.

The GE engines are installed on about 1,000 Bombardier regional jets, including some used by Air Canada Jazz.

Details of just how long the manufacturer and Canada's aviation regulator knew of the problem came to light yesterday as the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board released its report on the Missouri tragedy.

It blamed the pilots for the 2004 Pinnacle Airlines crash.

They were on a ferry flight without passengers when they flew their plane to its maximum certified altitude of 41,000 feet.

They lost speed and the plane started to fall from the sky. Both engines flamed out.

The pilots blundered more as they tried to recover, including flying the powerless plane too slowly. That led to core lock and doomed them.

"Simply adhering to standard operating procedures and correctly implementing emergency procedures would have gone a long way to averting this tragic accident,'' said U.S. safety board chair Mark Rosenker.

Core lock is essentially a jam after a jet engine stops and cools suddenly.

GE doesn't accept that core lock occurred and said it can happen with any jet engine pushed beyond its limits.

But the safety board says while the manuals contained the procedures, including a "target'' speed of at least 240 knots, pilots weren't told why they should fly that fast or that engines could lock up.

The safety board heard that Bombardier learned of core lock in 1983 when it first tested the engines for the Challenger business jet.

But the company treated it as a "production quality issue," not a safety problem.

Bombardier, Transport Canada and Air Canada Jazz were unavailable to comment yesterday.

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