C680A flight crew reported airframe vibration on climb. The flight crew reduced airspeed and after communicating with company; completed a diversion and landing.
Synopsis
C680A flight crew reported airframe vibration on climb. The flight crew reduced airspeed and after communicating with company; completed a diversion and landing.
Narrative
We were assigned to fly Aircraft X ZZZ-ZZZ1 on a ferry flight prior to a passenger trip to ZZZ2. There had been a write up by the previous crew for 'airframe vibration' at about 270 kts. and had been worked on and released by maintenance prior to our taking the aircraft. I believe that a 'push rod' and associated bushing were found to be worn and were replaced. We briefed the possibility of encountering this problem again and discussed contingency plans in the event that it happened again. We left ZZZ and climbed to 12000 ft. with my Second in Command (SIC) flying the aircraft from the right seat. Upon accelerating through 270 kts. to about 290 kts.; we experienced a very significant airframe vibration. We immediately slowed the aircraft to about 210 kts. where the vibration ceased. We decided to immediately divert and discussed our options which were ZZZ3 which was off our nose and ZZZ4 which was just behind us. In FINALLY reaching someone in ZZZ5 and discussing with Dispatch and maintenance; it was decided that ZZZ4 was preferable. We [requested priority handling] with ATC and asked for Crash/Fire/Rescue upon landing as we did not know what was wrong with the aircraft and were quite concerned as the repairs done obviously did not address the issue. We landed uneventfully at ZZZ4 and turned the aircraft over for maintenance. While we did our usual preflight inspection; control check; etc as mentioned we briefed the possibility of this vibration happening again. In retrospect; I believe that 'airframe vibration' should be assigned a flight check prior to ferry or passenger legs. Having a problem inflight of known origin as compared to something of unknown origin is quite disconcerting. While I know that we have a phone number for inflight emergencies; the natural response in the heat of the moment is to simply punch in the stored number for Company ops. While we finally reached a Dispatcher; they were unable to get anything but voicemail. In our opinion; if a crew calls in with an inflight emergency of any kind; the first person to receive the call should be able to hit 'the big red button' and get everyone prioritized to handle the situation. Perhaps being able to punch in the tail number and EMERGENCY that goes to everyone required would be a good solution.
Second reporter narrative
We were assigned to take Aircraft X from ZZZ to ZZZ1 after it had been released from maintenance earlier that day. The aircraft had previously been written up for an airframe vibration passing through 270 knots and 15;000 feet. Maintenance said that there was a push rod as well as some worn bushings that were replaced in the trim system in the tail section. My Pilot in Command (PIC) and I discussed the possibility of further issues and what we may do or where we may go just in case it happened again. I was the flying pilot and upon leveling at our assigned altitude of 12;000 feet and accelerating through 280 to 290 knots the aircraft went into a very noticeable shaking and vibration. I immediately slowed the aircraft down to 200 knots and the vibration decreased. We were going to land at ZZZ2 which was not to far in front of us or ZZZ3 which was not too far behind us. My PIC tried to call the company to find out what they wanted us to do. After having some difficulty getting a hold of anyone at the company to assist us they asked us if we could take the aircraft to ZZZ3 which we were able to do. Enroute to ZZZ3 was discussed the possibility of having further vibrations or possible control issues once we lowered the flaps but that did not occur. We decided to ask ATC to have the crash fire crew standing by as a precaution. With this request ATC decided to [request priority handling] for us just as a precaution for them as well as us. We landed at ZZZ3 without incident and taxied clear of the runway.One of our biggest concerns was that we did not know what was wrong since we had thought that the issue had been fixed and we are now operating in the unknown. It would have been more helpful had we been able to get a hold of someone at The Company more quickly. It would seem that when a crew calls in with an emergency and talks to anyone on the phone that that person could just have the ability to just hit a 'big red button' to get someone of significance; maintenance; Duty Pilot; or the Chief Pilot to stop what they are doing and help the crew. It should not take that long to get some help during an emergency.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.