GE Aviation

--EVENDALE, Ohio - The United States Air Force (USAF), following an exhaustive 11-month review, has notified GE Aircraft Engines that there are no safety issues with GE military engines in connection with electrical bonding on the engines. The USAF review conclusively rejected allegations made by Ian Johnson in a qui tam lawsuit unsealed in June, 1994, that GE engines may have safety problems.

The USAF statement, issued by the Pentagon today, says: "After extensive testing and evaluation, the Air Force has identified no concern for flight safety related to electrical bonding in GE aircraft engines. We conducted a thorough technical evaluation of the safety and maintenance records of Air Force aircraft that use GE engines and performed field testing to evaluate the performance of these engines in various electromagnetic interference (EMI) environments under variable bonding conditions. No concerns for safety of flight were found."

"These USAF test results further confirm the outrageous nature of false allegations made by Johnson," said Henry Hubschman, vice president and general counsel for GE Aircraft Engines. "These allegations grossly distorted the remarkable safety record of more than 40,000 GE military and commercial engines worldwide. Not one of these engines has ever failed in service from causes related to electrical bonding during more than 200 million flight hours over several decades.

"Mr. Johnson's charges were an affront to the thousands of GE Aircraft Engines employees whose dedication have made GE engines the safest and most reliable in the world."

The USAF findings support similar conclusions reached in late 1994 by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which found no safety issues involving electrical bonding on GE's commercial engines.

GE cooperated fully with the USAF review, which involved a full examination of its GE-powered engine systems, including field experience, extensive bonding measurements, stringent EMI (electromagnetic interference) testing of the engine control system of the GE F110-GE-129 engine which powers the F-16 aircraft, and consultation with leading experts in the field of electrical bonding, electromagnetic interference and lightning protection.

The USAF and FAA findings sharply contradict safety issues raised in Johnson's qui tam suit, as well as public comments made by James Helmer, the Cincinnati attorney representing the Johnson case. GE thoroughly reviewed the technical issues of electrical bonding in aircraft engines when Johnson raised the issue within GE's compliance system in 1992. GE promptly disclosed Johnson's allegations to the FAA and the U.S. Department of Defense. GE had always believed, and conclusively confirmed then, that its electrical systems were safe. This GE conclusion has now been reaffirmed by both the USAF and the FAA.