13 October 2020
Thousands of Cessna single-engine aircraft are affected by an Airworthiness Directive (AD) issued by the US authority, the FAA.
The AD, number FAA-2018-0049, concerns the lower area of the forward cabin door post bulkhead, where cracking has been found on some aircraft.
It requires repetitively inspecting the lower area of the forward cabin doorposts at the strut attach fitting for cracks and repairing any cracks using a Cessna supplied service kit.
The AD comes into force on 12 Niovember 2020 and affects 14.653 aircraft on the US register and probably just as many again worldwide.
The aircraft affected:
172N, 172P, 172Q, 172RG, F172N, F172P, FR172K, R172K.
182E, 182F, 182G, 182H, 182J, 182K, 182L, 182M, 182N, 182P, 182Q, 182R, T182, F182P, F182Q, FR182, R182, TR182.
206, P206, P206A, P206B, P206C, P206D, P206E, TP206A, TP206B, TP206C, TP206D, TP206E, U206, U206A, U206B, U206C, U206D, U206E, U206F, U206G, TU206A, TU206B, TU206C, TU206D, TU206E, TU206F, TU206G.
207, 207A, T207, T207A, 210-5 (205), 210-5A (205A), 210B, 210C, 210D, 210E, 210F, T210F.
The FAA said that both the manufacturer’s guidance, which is published in the supplemental inspection documents (SIDs) for certain aircraft, and fleet history support the 36-month interval for inspecting this location.
Loading conditions outside of flight, such as ground loads, handling loads, and tie down loads, may also cause cracking at this location. Therefore, the FAA has determined an inspection interval of 36 calendar months or 1,000 hours TIS, whichever occurs first.
