Challenger 350 engine shutdown in climb out of Nassau, 2025

Final reportEngine shutdownDay

The short version

A NetJets Europe Challenger 350 was climbing out of Nassau when the crew heard a loud bang from the left side and felt significant vibration and a yaw to the left. The left ITT peaked at 1,162 °C. The crew brought the engine to idle, declared a MAYDAY, shut the engine down and landed safely about 16 minutes after the bang.

What happened

  1. Before 2055 UTC, CS-CHJ takes off from runway 32 at Nassau for Teterboro with 2 crew and 6 passengers. The crew report a normal takeoff. The autopilot is not engaged.

  2. At 2055:38 (about 1555 local), at 6,405 ft pressure altitude and 218 kt, left engine vibration rises to 0.34 in/s for about 2 seconds. The right engine shows 0.13 in/s. Left bleed pressures drop. The crew hear a very loud bang from the left, feel strong vibration and a yaw to the left, and correct the yaw by hand. They then hear cracking sounds from the left engine. They put the event at about 5,500 ft and 230 KIAS.

  3. At 2055:39 the CAS shows a left engine exceedance and the thrust levers come back. The left lever reaches 0° at 2055:49.

  4. At 2055:41 left ITT peaks at 1,162 °C. The right engine is at 840 °C at the same moment.

  5. With the left engine at idle, N1 looks normal to the crew but some vibration remains. The pilot monitoring declares a MAYDAY with Nassau Departure.

  6. At 2058:56 the crew select left engine shutdown. Left fuel flow reaches zero at 2058:59, and left oil pressure falls to zero by 2059:33.

  7. At 2111:59 the aircraft touches down, 13 minutes after the shutdown. The FDR records a gross weight of about 35,780 lb.

All times are UTC. Local time was 1555 at the time of the bang.

The report says the crew shut the engine down in line with the manufacturer's and operator's procedures and landed without further incident. Nobody was hurt. The weather was good: wind 050° at 8 kt, visibility 7 NM, scattered cloud at 1,800 ft, 24 °C.1

The left engine went to StandardAero in Augusta, Georgia, and was torn down from 3 to 5 June 2025 under AAIA and NTSB supervision. The outside of the engine was in good condition, with no fire under the cowl and nothing uncontained. The fan, low-pressure turbine, combustor and inlet guide vanes were in good order. Inside the compressor, abradable coating had come away from the 2nd, 3rd and 4th stators, and blades on the 3rd and 4th blisks were bent. The forward sump chip detector held a small metal sliver. The other chip detectors and screens, and the oil and fuel filters, were clean.1

Why it happened

  1. The report gives the probable cause as the release of abradable coating from the 2nd, 3rd and 4th compressor stators of the left engine. That led to the ITT exceedance and the crew's in-flight shutdown.1

  2. The aircraft was certified, equipped and maintained in line with regulations, and both pilots were licensed and qualified. Weather and navigation aids were not factors.

  3. The crew saw no aircraft or engine problems before the flight.

  4. All maintenance the manufacturer required on the left engine had been done. At the time it had about 4,775 hours and 3,117 cycles since new, with no shop visits. Its first scheduled digital video inspection was due at 4,800 hours.

  5. Honeywell Service Bulletin AS907-72-9081, issued on 25 September 2018, introduces improved 2nd, 3rd and 4th stage compressor stator vanes with an updated abradable spray process. It is optional, at the operator's choice, and had not been incorporated on this engine.

  6. The report links the loss of coating to damage at the blade tips, and that damage to the vibration and the heat exceedance.

The AAIA issued no safety recommendations.1

What a crew can take from it

  1. Fly the aircraft first. The bang came with a yaw at about 6,000 ft and over 200 kt with the autopilot off. The pilot flying corrected the yaw quickly by hand. In a climb, a sudden yaw with a loud noise is an engine problem until proven otherwise. Keep the wings level and hold the climb speed while the other pilot reads the engine page.

  2. Identify the engine from more than one cue. Here the yaw, the noise, the vibration, the bleed pressures and the ITT all pointed to the left side. Before a thrust lever moves, both pilots should agree which engine it is. Say it aloud and confirm the hand is on the correct lever.

  3. You usually have time. The thrust levers came back within seconds of the exceedance. The shutdown came about three minutes later, after the MAYDAY call. The engine at idle still vibrated, so the crew went on to shut it down. Work through the QRH at a steady pace once the aircraft is under control and climbing.

  4. A climb-out failure is not only a V1 cut. This engine had no defects in its records and all its scheduled maintenance was done. It failed in the climb at about 6,400 ft, with the aircraft fast and heavy. Brief the engine failure after takeoff as well as the one on the runway: who flies, where you go, which runway you want back.

Study it on the course

Sources

  1. Aircraft Accident Investigation Authority of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. Aviation Occurrence Investigation Report OCC-2025/0002, Final Report, Bombardier Challenger CL-35 CS-CHJ, Lynden Pindling International Airport, Nassau, 20 January 2025. Dated 19 January 2026.
  2. AAIA Bahamas, accident and serious incident database (2025: CS-CHJ).
  3. AAIA Bahamas, preliminary report OCC-2025/0002.
  4. Aviation Safety Network, occurrence 472552.

Last updated 22 October 2026

For study only. Always use the approved AFM, QRH and operator procedures.