Airworthiness Directives; Airbus SAS Airplanes

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION <SUBAGY>Federal Aviation Administration</SUBAGY> <CFR>14 CFR Part 39</CFR> <DEPDOC>[Docket No. FAA-2025-0758; Project Identifier MCAI-2024-00651-T]</DEPDOC> <RIN>RIN 2120-AA64</RIN> <SUBJECT>Airworthiness Directives; Airbus SAS Airplanes</SUBJECT> <HD SOURCE="HED">AGENCY:</HD> Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), DOT. <HD SOURCE="HED">ACTION:</HD> Notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM). <SUM> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUMMARY:</HD> The FAA proposes to supersede Airworthiness Directive (AD) 2022-15-05, which applies to certain Airbus SAS Model A318 series airplanes; Model A319-111, -112, -113, -114, -115, -131, -132, and -133 airplanes; Model A320-211, -212, -214, -216, -231, -232, and -233 airplanes; and Model A321-111, -112, -131, -211, -212, -213, -231, and -232 airplanes. AD 2022-15-05 requires repetitive high frequency eddy current (HFEC) inspections for cracks on the web horizontal flange and inner cap, and applicable corrective actions. Since the FAA issued AD 2022-15-05, additional cracks have been found at the door stop fitting number 1 holes at frame (FR) 68, after disassembly of the door stop fitting as part of the inspections required by AD 2022-15-05. This proposed AD would continue to require the actions in AD 2022-15-05, but with reduced compliances times for some inspections, and would require an additional inspection at door stop fitting number 1, as specified in a European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) AD, which is proposed for incorporation by reference. The FAA is proposing this AD to address the unsafe condition on these products. </SUM> <EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> The FAA must receive comments on this proposed AD by June 30, 2025. </EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">ADDRESSES:</HD> You may send comments, using the procedures found in 14 CFR 11.43 and 11.45, by any of the following methods: • <E T="03">Federal eRulemaking Portal:</E> Go to <E T="03">regulations.gov</E> . Follow the instructions for submitting comments. • <E T="03">Fax:</E> 202-493-2251. • <E T="03">Mail:</E> U.S. Department of Transportation, Docket Operations, M-30, West Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590. • <E T="03">Hand Delivery:</E> Deliver to Mail address above between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. <E T="03">AD Docket:</E> You may examine the AD docket at <E T="03">regulations.gov</E> under Docket No. FAA-2025-0758; or in person at Docket Operations between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. The AD docket contains this NPRM, the mandatory continuing airworthiness information (MCAI), any comments received, and other information. The street address for Docket Operations is listed above. <E T="03">Material Incorporated by Reference:</E> • For EASA material identified in this proposed AD, contact EASA, Konrad-Adenauer-Ufer 3, 50668 Cologne, Germany; telephone +49 221 8999 000; email <E T="03">ADs@easa.europa.eu;</E> website <E T="03">easa.europa.eu.</E> You may find this material on the EASA website at <E T="03">ad.easa.europa.eu.</E> It is also available at <E T="03">regulations.gov</E> under Docket No. FAA-2025-0758. • You may view this material at the FAA, Airworthiness Products Section, Operational Safety Branch, 2200 South 216th St., Des Moines, WA. For information on the availability of this material at the FAA, call 206-231-3195. <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> Nathan Weigand, Aviation Safety Engineer, FAA, 2200 South 216th St., Des Moines, WA 98198; phone: 206-231-3531; email: <E T="03">nathan.p.weigand@faa.gov.</E> </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD1">Comments Invited</HD> The FAA invites you to send any written relevant data, views, or arguments about this proposal. Send your comments to an address listed under the <E T="02">ADDRESSES</E> section. Include “Docket No. FAA-2025-0758; Project Identifier MCAI-2024-00651-T” at the beginning of your comments. The most helpful comments reference a specific portion of the proposal, explain the reason for any recommended change, and include supporting data. The FAA will consider all comments received by the closing date and may amend this proposal because of those comments. Except for Confidential Business Information (CBI) as described in the following paragraph, and other information as described in 14 CFR 11.35, the FAA will post all comments received, without change, to <E T="03">regulations.gov</E> , including any personal information you provide. The agency will also post a report summarizing each substantive verbal contact received about this NPRM. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Confidential Business Information</HD> CBI is commercial or financial information that is both customarily and actually treated as private by its owner. Under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) (5 U.S.C. 552), CBI is exempt from public disclosure. If your comments responsive to this NPRM contain commercial or financial information that is customarily treated as private, that you actually treat as private, and that is relevant or responsive to this NPRM, it is important that you clearly designate the submitted comments as CBI. Please mark each page of your submission containing CBI as “PROPIN.” The FAA will treat such marked submissions as confidential under the FOIA, and they will not be placed in the public docket of this NPRM. Submissions containing CBI should be sent to Nathan Weigand, Aviation Safety Engineer, FAA, 2200 South 216th St., Des Moines, WA 98198; phone: 206-231-3531; email: <E T="03">nathan.p.weigand@faa.gov.</E> Any commentary that the FAA receives which is not specifically designated as CBI will be placed in the public docket for this rulemaking. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Background</HD> The FAA issued AD 2022-15-05, Amendment 39-22125 (87 FR 45013, July 27, 2022) (AD 2022-15-05), for all Airbus SAS Model A318-111, A318-112, A318-121, A318-122, A319-111, A319-112, A319-113, A319-114, A319-115, A319-131, A319-132, A319-133, A320-211, A320-212, A320-214, A320-216, A320-231, A320-232, A320-233, A321-111, A321-112, A321-131, A321-211, A321-212, A321-213, A321-231, and A321-232 airplanes, except those airplanes with certain modifications installed that convert the airplane to a corporate jet. AD 2022-15-05 was prompted by MCAI originated by EASA, which is the Technical Agent for the Member States of the European Union. EASA issued AD 2022-0030, dated February 25, 2022 (EASA AD 2022-0030), to correct an unsafe condition identified as cracks on the web horizontal flange and inner cap on FR 68, left-hand (LH) and right-hand (RH) sides, at stringer (STGR) 22, which could result in reduced structural integrity of the fuselage. AD 2022-15-05 requires repetitive HFEC inspections for cracks on the web horizontal flange and inner cap and applicable corrective actions in accordance with EASA AD 2022-0030, which specifies using the original or later-approved revisions of Airbus Service Bulletin A320-53-1491. The FAA issued AD 2022-15-05 to address a report that during the inspection for the door stop fitting holes at FR 66 and FR 68 required by EASA AD 2016-0238, dated December 2, 2016; corrected January 4, 2017 (which prompted FAA AD 2018-03-12, Amendment 39-19185 (83 FR 5906, February 12, 2018)), cracks were found on the web horizontal flange and inner cap on FR 68, LH and RH sides, at STGR 22. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Actions Since AD 2022-15-05 Was Issued</HD> Since the FAA issued AD 2022-15-05, EASA superseded EASA AD 2022-0030, dated February 25, 2022, and issued EASA AD 2024-0210, dated October 29, 2024 (EASA AD 2024-0210) (also referred to as “the MCAI”), for all Airbus SAS Model A318-111, A318-112, A318-121, A318-122, A319-111, A319-112, A319-113, A319-114, A319-115, A319-131, A319-132, A319-133, A320-211, A320-212, A320-214, A320-215, A320-216, A320-231, A320-232, A320-233, A321-111, A321-112, A321-131, A321-211, A321-212, A321-213, A321-231, and A321-232 airplanes, except those airplanes with certain modifications installed that convert the airplane to a corporate jet. The MCAI states that after EASA AD 2022-0030 was issued, cracks have been found at the door stop fitting number 1 holes at FR 68, after the door stop fitting disassembly as part of the inspections in Airbus Service Bulletin A320-53-1491 Revision 1. Therefore, Airbus issued revision 2 of its service bulletin to include an additional inspection of the FR 68 door stop fitting number 1 holes with a larger inspection area, and an additional HFEC inspection on FR68 around the door stop fitting number 1 nuts. Some compliance times have been reduced and the procedures in the service bulletin have been updated. The FAA is proposing this AD to address cracks on the door stop 1, web horizontal flange and inner cap on FR 68, LH and RH sides, at STGR 22, which could result in reduced structural integrity of the fuselage. You may examine the MCAI in the AD docket at <E T="03">regulations.gov</E> under Docket No. FAA-2025-0758. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Material Incorporated by Reference Under 1 CFR Part 51</HD> EASA AD 2024-0210 specifies procedures for repetitive inspections of certain areas of the fuselage and taking corrective actions if there are cracks or discrepancies by following the manufacturer's service information. EASA AD 2024-0210 also specifies reporting all inspection findings to Airbus. Specifically, the inspections are high frequency eddy current inspections of the frame horizontal flange radii, inner cap fillet radius, the door stop 1 fasteners, and the frame inner cap corner at FR 68. The instructions for the inspections depend on whether a repair part has been installed. On-condition corrective actions include additional inspections for cracking, in ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 25k characters. 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