WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal regulators want to fine the Cessna Aircraft Co. $2.4 million, saying the company's failure to follow quality-control procedures caused a 7-foot composite section of the wing of small, high-performance plane to detach during a test flight.
The Federal Aviation Administration said Thursday that one of the agency's pilots was conducting a test flight of the Cessna Corvalis last December when a portion of the wing skin separated from the forward spar and damaged a fuel tank. A spar is a beam-like structure inside the wing and is a principal load-bearing component.
The pilot made an emergency landing.
The agency said excessive humidity at a Cessna manufacturing plant in Mexico prevented the bonded materials used to make the wing from curing properly. Thirteen of the planes were ordered grounded.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.
