SPECIAL AIRWORTHINESS INFORMATION BULLETIN
Aircraft Certification Service
Washington, DC
U.S. Department of Transportation
Federal Aviation Administration
AIR-21-04

February 11, 2021

This is information only. Recommendations aren’t mandatory.

Introduction

This Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin is being issued to advise you of an airworthiness concern on Embraer S.A. Model EMB-500 airplanes with marketing designations of Phenom 100E or Phenom 100EV or that have incorporated a certain service bulletin (SB). Specifically, this SAIB informs the public of hydraulic powerpack failures and the effects these failures have on the airplane.

At this time, the airworthiness concern is not considered an unsafe condition that would warrant airworthiness directive (AD) action under Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR) part 39.

Background

The FAA received reports of failures of hydraulic powerpacks on certain Embraer S.A. Model EMB-500 airplanes. In some cases, this failure included an in-flight loss of hydraulic pressure resulting in an emergency gear extension and reports of limited braking. In accordance with the bilateral treaty between the United States and Brazil, the FAA reported this information to the Brazilian Agencia Nacional De Aviacao Civil (ANAC), the certificating authority for this airplane, as well as Embraer S.A., the type certificate holder. These reports are on Model EMB-500 airplanes with marketing designations of Phenom 100E or Phenom 100EV or that have incorporated Embraer S.A. SB No. 500-00-0009. This service bulletin installs the spoiler and speed brake function and a new hydraulic system.

Phenom 100E airplanes are equipped with PW617F-E engines, a G1000 avionics system, and spoiler panels; and Phenom 100EV airplanes are equipped with PW617F1-E engines, a G3000 avionics system, and spoiler panels.

In response, ANAC issued Special Airworthiness Bulletin No. 2021-01R01 that describes the EMB-500 hydraulic powerpack system and the safety implications of powerpack failures. ANAC concludes that the safety objectives of the airplane for all critical failures are still maintained despite the identified powerpack failures. However, in consideration of the undesirable effects of these recurrent failures on the availability of other airplane systems and possible exposure to failure combinations, ANAC recommends the incorporation of Embraer SB No. SB500-29-0007. This SB addresses the pressure drop in the integrated hydraulic pump suction port by replacing certain tubes and hoses, and by reworking the suction line support. ANAC confirms that this SB is part of a set of changes being introduced by Embraer that are intended to improve the reliability of the hydraulic powerpack.

In addition, the FAA notes that Embraer recently released Embraer SL No. 500-29-0006 that addresses the lubrication of the hydraulic reservoir when the airplane has been parked for 3 days or more. Embraer recommends this ground lubrication procedure as a good practice to increase the hydraulic system reliability.

Recommendations

Based on a further review of the ANAC safety assessment and referenced documentation, the FAA recommends the following:
 For Further Information Contact

Jim Rutherford, Aviation Safety Engineer, 901 Locust, Room 301 , Kansas City, MO 64106, United States; phone: (816) 329-4165; fax: (816) 329-4090; e-mail: jim.rutherford@faa.gov.

For Related Service Information Contact

Embraer S.A. Phenom Maintenance Support, Avenida Brigadeiro Faria Lima, 2170, P.O. Box 36/2, São José dos Campos, 12227-901, Brazil; phone: +55 12 3927 1000; email: phenom.reliability@embraer.com.br; website: https://www.embraer.com.br/en-US/Pages/home.aspx.

The ANAC Special Airworthiness Bulletin No. 2021-01R01 may be obtained from the ANAC website at https://www.gov.br/anac/pt-br/assuntos/regulados/aeronaves/boletins-especiais-deaeronavegabilidade