WASHINGTON—Eclipse Aviation Corp.’s 500-model jet experienced some of the same operating glitches flagged by US inspectors before the plane was approved to fly, the Transportation Department’s inspector general said Wednesday.

Pilots reported erroneous stall warnings, cockpit-display failures and difficult flap movements in 2007 and 2008, the inspector, Calvin Scovel, said in a testimony prepared for a US House panel. It’s “troubling’’ that many of the reports echo issues predating the plane’s certification in 2006, he said.

The government’s handling of closely held Eclipse will be studied at a hearing on Wednesday of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, which is probing whether aviation regulators are too cozy with the companies they oversee.

Eclipse won Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) design approval in September 2006 for its six-passenger 500, a new type of aircraft called a “very light jet.’’ Production certification followed in April 2007. In June US safety officials issued an “urgent’’ inspection recommendation for the 500.

Some FAA workers said they raised safety concerns as Albuquerque, New Mexico-based Eclipse went through the design and production-approval stages for the 500. They allege that the clearances were rushed by superiors in order to meet company deadlines and win an FAA bonus.

The FAA’s desire to promote very light jets may have contributed to its decision to speed certification, Scovel said. An agency “performance plan’’ in fiscal 2006 that put a priority on design approval for such a plane may have led to “reduced vigilance,’’ he said.

The FAA said on September 12 that an internal review of the Eclipse 500 certification process recommended by Scovel found that the plane was safe and was approved properly.

Peg Billson, president of the aircraft division at Eclipse, said the same day that FAA didn’t show the company any special deference in approving the plane and that service complaints are typical of any new model.

The inspection recommendation was issued by the National Transportation Safety Board following a pilot’s report of an “uncontrollable’’ thrust surge as he tried to land a 500 in Chicago on June 5. The plane later touched down safely.

After that incident, FAA engineers found software flaws that should have been resolved before the jet’s design was approved, Scovel said. The FAA awarded the production certificate even with known deficiencies in Eclipse’s supplier and quality-control systems, he said.

Four years before the FAA backed Eclipse’s design, the company was allowed to approve and document parts as they were manufactured, even with no history in building an aircraft, Scovel said. The agency found “numerous deficiencies’’ on planes accepted and approved by Eclipse inspectors, he said.

The FAA also replaced inspection teams that had identified deficiencies and allowed an engineer formerly assigned to the Eclipse review to take a high-level position at the planemaker without a cooling-off period, Scovel said. (Bloomberg)

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