Unapproved Parts Notice Announcements

Eclipse Aerospace has been notified by one of their suppliers that they produced certain articles that may have contained suspect components. For Eclipse 500 owners, the effected articles are WX-500 Stormscopes. Eclipse Aviation records indicate the 115 of the affected units were installed in production aircraft. The supplier has completed their research and testing on the subject items and has determined that there is no need to remove working units from service. The below letter from L-3 Communications contains the details.

Dear QA Manager:

Throughout the industry there is heightened awareness of the possibility of counterfeit parts being introduced into the supply chain. L-3 Communications Corporation (L-3) is a leading advocate of this awareness and has taken many strides to ensure the safety to our customers and reliable, safe operation of our products.

In addition to a previously conducted inventory evaluation related to a single suspect distributor, L-3 Communications Avionics Systems, Inc. (L-3AS) has proactively conducted an inventory inspection of components received from all distributors to determine if suspect parts have been introduced into our inventory. During the investigation L-3AS discovered a small percentage of electronic components that warranted additional analysis. These parts were sent to a third party for verification and have been confirmed as suspect counterfeit. As such, L-3AS is providing this letter as notification that a limited number of L-3AS products may have been delivered with a suspect part.

The parts potentially entered the supply chain between 2004 and 2011 and subsequently these components may have been used in L-3AS WX-500, WX-950, WX-1000 series, AC-685B and AC- 685C product lines (hereafter LRUs). The listing of the LRUs with the affected components and evaluation is detailed below.

EVALUATION

As the design approval holder of the subject LRUs, L-3AS Engineering has completed a system safety assessment of the effect of the suspect counterfeit parts on the operational compliance of the affected LRUs. This assessment determined that the presence of these parts in the end item deliverables does not create the potential for an unsafe condition.

The parts are functionally correct, but it appears that some of the parts were reclaimed and not newly manufactured, and are therefore non-compliant.

The affected LRUs each passed all functional inspection test requirements, including required environmental stress screening and end-item acceptance tests prior to delivery. A review of field history data has not revealed an elevated failure rate associated with the use of these suspect counterfeit parts with LRU returns and reliability well within historical projections.

COMPONENT FUNCTION

INSPECTION & MITIGATION

L-3AS immediately contained all suspect parts and LRUs to prevent from shipping. An analysis was performed by an independent third-party that specializes in assessing part authenticity and they confirmed that, based on the L-3AS selected sample of suspect components they examined, some of the selected parts were "suspect counterfeit", i.e. appear to have been reclaimed or used parts being represented as new.

All remaining suspect counterfeit parts have been segregated within the factory. All suspect counterfeit parts are secured in a bonded area and genuine components, as identified, are returned to stock. Confirmed new components are being expedited and brought into the factory to support delivery needs. Work-in-process and finished goods are being inspected and LRUs with confirmed genuine parts are being released for delivery.

DISPOSITION

The subject components have been determined through engineering analysis to pose no flight safety risk and no tangible reliability risk appears to exist. There is no need to return potentially impacted LRUs for inspection or evaluation at this time. However, should one of the listed LRUs suffer a confirmed failure for any reason, the LRU may be returned to L-3AS as appropriate and in the course of the bench test the subject component will be inspected.

L-3AS has notified and is working with the FAA on the investigation of the suspect counterfeit parts issue. We will keep you apprised and notify you promptly of developments in this matter. While the matter continues to be under investigation and new information is obtained, we wanted to give you the best available information at the earliest possible time.

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact Mr. Glenn Gilbert, Director of Customer Support at 616.285.4382 or e-mail, Glenn.Gilbert@L-3com.com.