Corvalis Composite Issues Required Emergency Landing
Ouch... The fallout from an incident (and near-accident) that
occurred to a Cessna Corvalis, last year, is likely to be an
expensive one. The FAA is proposing an aggressive $2,425,000 civil
penalty against Cessna Aircraft Co. after carbon composite parts of
the wing of one of its aircraft came apart during flight. On
Dec. 6, 2010, an FAA test pilot performing a production audit test
flight in a Cessna Corvalis experienced a failure of the skin on
the left wing. About seven feet of the left wing skin separated
from the forward spar and damaged a fuel tank.