AIRWORTHINESS DIRECTIVE
For the reasons set out in the background section, the CASA delegate whose signature appears below revokes Airworthiness Directive (AD) AD/A320/148 and issues the following AD under subregulation 39.1 (1) of CASR 1998. The AD requires that the action set out in the requirement section (being action that the delegate considers necessary to correct the unsafe condition) be taken in relation to the aircraft or aeronautical product mentioned in the applicability section: (a) in the circumstances mentioned in the requirement section; and (b) in accordance with the instructions set out in the requirement section; and (c) at the time mentioned in the compliance section.
Airbus Industrie A319, A320 and A321 Series Aeroplanes
AD/A320/148
Amdt 1
Pitot Probes 12/2003
Applicability: Model A319, A320 and A321 series aeroplanes, all serial numbers (S/N) fitted with Thales Avionics pitot probes part number (P/N) C16195AA with a S/N lower than 4760.
Note 1: Thales Avionics was previously known as "Sextant" or "Sextant Avionique".
Requirement: Unless already accomplished inspect and repair the pitot probes in Accordance with the instructions of Airbus Industrie Service Bulletin (SB) A320-34-1263 dated 26 November 2002 or Revision 1 dated 25 June 2003.
Pitot probes that have been previously repaired in accordance with the Thales Avionics SB C16195A-34-002 dated 17 October 2002 are compliant with this Directive and no further action is necessary.
Note 2: DGAC AD 2002-586(B) R1 refers.
Compliance: Remains unchanged as ‘Within 700 hours’ time in service after the effective date of the original issue of this Directive’.
This Amendment becomes effective on 27 November 2003.
Background: The Direction Générale de l’Aviation Civile of France has advised that an operator reported airspeed discrepancy events on an A320 aircraft, investigations revealed that the discrepancies were caused by a manufacturing defect at the drain holes. The manufacturing defect contributed to the accumulation of external pollution which, combined with severe weather conditions, obstructed the air intake of the pitot probes, leading to bad total pressure Pt detection and therefore erroneous CAS/MACH parameters delivered by the ADR.
Airbus Industrie A319, A320 and A321 Series Aeroplanes
AD/A320/148 Amdt 1 (continued)
The original issue of this Directive required cleaning (repair) of the pitot probes in accordance with Thales SB, this amendment introduces a reference to an Airbus Industrie SB as an alternate method of repair.
The original issue of this Directive became effective on 20 March 2003.
14 October 2003
The above AD is notified in the Commonwealth of Australia Gazette on 5 November 2003.