The US Bankruptcy Court of the Eastern District of Washington has approved Business aircraft winglet manufacturer Tamarack Aerospace’s Chapter 11 disclosure statement, which outlines its plan to pay back all debtors as it emerges from bankruptcy.
Tamarack voluntarily went into Chapter 11 reorganization in June 2019 after regulators in Europe and the USA grounded Cessna Citation business jets fitted with the company’s active load alleviation system (ATLAS) Active Winglets for three weeks. Tamarack expects to come out of bankruptcy before June this year.
Tamarack’s Active Winglet system automatically adjusts to changing flight conditions. According to the company the winglets instantly react to load, enabling higher aerodynamic benefits than other wingtip modifications.
In April 2019 the European Aviation Safety Agency’s (EASA) issued an emergency Airworthiness Directive (AD) that stated that “the active load alleviation system, when operational, deflects the Tamarack active control surfaces (TACS) on the outboard wings. Recently, occurrences have been reported in which ATLAS appears to have malfunctioned, causing upset events where, in some cases, the pilots had difficulty to recover the aeroplane to safe flight. Investigation continues to determine the cause(s) for the reported events.”
In May a similar FAA AD was issued with the information that five incidents of aircraft uncommanded roll had occurred and “in each incident the pilot was able to recover from the event and land the aircraft safely.”
The ADs required operators of EU-registered Cessna CitationJet/CJ1/CJ1+, CJ2, and CJ3 light jets fitted with Tamarack Aerospace’s ATLAS winglets to deactivate those devices before continued flight. The ADs were then resolved in August following a factual review by the FAA, EASA, the National Transport Safety Board and the UK’s Air Accidents Investigation Branch.
“This court approval and our continued sales of Active Winglets is a testament to the financial health of Tamarack, the robustness of our product, and our commitment to our customers, vendors, and investors,” said Tamarack president, Jacob Klinginsmith.
“Tamarack always has our eye fixed on the future to equip a fast-growing fleet of all kinds of business, commercial and military airframes. Our Active Winglets save substantial fuel and reduce the carbon footprint – many times more than the now obsolete passive winglets,” said Tamarack Founder and CEO Nick Guida.
