COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA (Civil Aviation Safety Regulations 1998), PART 39 - 105 CIVIL AVIATION SAFETY AUTHORITY
SCHEDULE OF AIRWORTHINESS DIRECTIVES
AIRWORTHINESS DIRECTIVE
For the reasons set out in the background section, the CASA delegate whose signature appears below issues the following Airworthiness Directive (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 A330 Series Aeroplanes
AD/A330/18 Forward Fuselage Frame 12A Stiffener 8/2003
Applicability: All Model A330 aircraft, except for aircraft with Airbus Modification 49694 incorporated in production or Airbus Service Bulletin (SB) A330-53-3130 incorporated in-service.
Requirement: 1. Perform a high frequency eddy current inspection of the stiffener fitting, left hand and right hand sides of frame 12A of the forward fuselage, in accordance with SB A330-53-3135.
If cracks are detected, accomplish the corrective actions described in the flow chart of SB A330-53-3135, which defines the required compliance time according to the length of detected cracks.
2. If no cracks are detected, repeat the Requirement 1 inspection.
Note: DGAC AD 2003-205(B) refers.
Compliance: 1. Before the accumulation of 13,000 flight cycles.
2. At intervals not to exceed 10,000 flight cycles.
This Airworthiness Directive becomes effective on 7 August 2003.
Background: During a scheduled inspection, cracks were detected in the frame 12A stiffener upper attachment fitting on the floor beam, left hand and right hand sides of the fuselage.
Investigation revealed that the cause of cracking was the high level of fatigue of the fitting due to longitudinal forces. The combined effect of cabin pressurisation and bending induced by thermal effects led to a longitudinal force in the floor beam.
David Villiers
Delegate of the Civil Aviation Safety Authority 17 June 2003
The above AD is notified in the Commonwealth of Australia Gazette on 16 July 2003.
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