Aircraft
Certification Service Washington, DC U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Aviation Administration
AIR-20-14
September 1, 2020
This is information only. Recommendations
aren’t mandatory.
Introduction
This Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin is to alert owners,
operators, maintenance technicians, and inspectors of an airworthiness
concern on Pilatus Aircraft (Pilatus) Models PC-9, PC-9/A, PC-9/B, and
PC-9/F airplanes with all manufacturer’s serial numbers (MSN).
Specifically, the concern is that Pilatus has revised airworthiness
limitation section (ALS) to include new and more restrictive thresholds
or intervals for PC-9 airplanes. Specifically there is a new mandatory
repetitive inspection for the flap pivot arm assemblies.
These airplanes are not type certificated in the United States and,
therefore, the condition is not addressed by FAA Airworthiness
Directive (AD) action. However, these airplanes could be operating in
the United States with an experimental airworthiness certificate or
other means.
Background
The Swiss Federal Office of Civil Aviation (FOCA) has issued FOCA
Airworthiness Directive (AD) HB-2020-008 dated August 18, 2020 on
Pilatus Models PC-9, PC-9/A, PC-9/B, and PC-9/F airplanes to
incorporate Pilatus PC-9 Airplane Maintenance Manual (AMM) Chapter
05-00-00,
Document Number 01834 at issue 47, dated 30 June 2020, as applicable to
the affected airplane model, into the approved Aircraft Maintenance
Program (AMP).
The required actions and compliance times for the FOCA AD HB-2020-008 are as follows:
Maintenance Tasks and Replacement of Life Limited Parts:
From the effective date of
this AD, accomplishment of the following actions, as specified in the
applicable ALS, are applicable to aircraft configuration.
1.1 Replace each component before exceeding the applicable life limit, and
1.2 Within the thresholds and intervals (see Note 1 of the FOCA AD), accomplish all applicable maintenance tasks.
Note 1: For the purpose of
the FOCA AD, the thresholds and intervals (as defined in the ‘TIME
LIMITED INSPECTION REQUIREMENTS’ pages of the ALS) include specific
compliance times for certain tasks.
Corrective Action(s):
In case of finding
discrepancies (as defined in the ALS) during accomplishment of any task
as required by paragraph (1) of this AD, within the compliance time
specified in the ALS, accomplish the applicable corrective action(s) in
accordance with the applicable Pilatus maintenance documentation. If no
compliance time is identified in the ALS, accomplish the applicable
corrective action(s) before next flight. If a detected discrepancy is
not identified in the ALS, before next flight, contact Pilatus for
approved instructions and accomplishthose instructions accordingly.
AMP Revision:
Within 12 months after the effective date of this AD revise the approved AMP byincorporating
the limitations, tasks and associated thresholds and intervals
described in the ALS, as applicable to airplane model and depending on
airplane configuration.
Recommendations
For Pilatus Models PC-9, PC-9/A, PC-9/B, and PC-9/F airplanes, we
recommend incorporating Pilatus PC-9 Airplane Maintenance Manual (AMM),
Chapter 05-00-00, Document Number 01834 at issue 47, dated 30 June
2020, into your approved Aircraft Maintenance Program (AMP) and
adopting the revised and new thresholds and intervals and per the FOCA
AD HB-2020-008.
For Further Information Contact
Doug Rudolph, Aerospace Engineer Federal Aviation Administration,
General Aviation & Rotorcraft Section, International Validation
Branch, 901 Locust Street, Room 301, Kansas City, MO; phone: (816)
329-4059; fax: (816) 329-4090; e-mail: doug.rudolph@faa.gov.
For Related Service Information Contact
The applicable manufacturer’s documentation may be obtained directly from: