Airworthiness Directives; Airbus SAS Airplanes

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION <SUBAGY>Federal Aviation Administration</SUBAGY> <CFR>14 CFR Part 39</CFR> <DEPDOC>[Docket No. FAA-2025-0912; Project Identifier MCAI-2024-00571-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 adopt a new airworthiness directive (AD) for all Airbus SAS Model A350-941 and A350-1041 airplanes. This proposed AD was prompted by reports of mechanical noises originating from the nose landing gear (NLG) shock absorber during ground maneuvers. This proposed AD would require repetitive inspections ( <E T="03">i.e.,</E> steering checks) of the NLG shock absorber and applicable on-condition actions and limit the installation of affected parts under certain conditions. The FAA is proposing this AD to address the unsafe condition on these products. </SUM> <DATES> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> The FAA must receive comments on this proposed AD by July 7, 2025. </DATES> <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-2025-0912; 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 European Union Aviation Safety Agency (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-2025-0912. • 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> Stefanie Roesli, Aviation Safety Engineer, FAA, 2200 South 216th St., Des Moines, WA 98198; phone: 206-231-3964; email: <E T="03">stefanie.n.roesli@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-2025-0912; Project Identifier MCAI-2024-00571-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 Stefanie Roesli, Aviation Safety Engineer, FAA, 2200 South 216th St., Des Moines, WA 98198; phone: 206-231-3964; email: <E T="03">stefanie.n.roesli@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> EASA, which is the Technical Agent for the Member States of the European Union, has issued EASA AD 2025-0093, dated April 24, 2025 (EASA AD 2025-0093) (also referred to as “the MCAI”), to correct an unsafe condition for all Airbus SAS Model A350-941 and A350-1041 airplanes. The MCAI reports instances of mechanical noises originating from the NLG shock absorber during ground maneuvers. Further analysis traced these noises to higher than expected friction between the lower bearing carrier (LBC) and the main fitting of the sliding tube. This friction may cause deformation of the LBC's anti-rotation tabs, leading to relative movement between the LBC and the main fitting. As a result, wear on the corrosion protection coating of the main fitting may occur due to subsequent movement of the retainer ring positioned between these components, which could lead to corrosion of the NLG main fitting. The FAA is issuing this AD to address higher than expected friction on the NLG shock absorber LBC, which could result in deformation of the LBC's anti-rotation tabs and consequent corrosion of the NLG main fitting. The unsafe condition, if not addressed, could lead to structural failure of the NLG, which may result in damage to the airplane and injury to occupants. You may examine the MCAI in the AD docket at <E T="03">regulations.gov</E> under Docket No. FAA-2025-0912. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Material Incorporated by Reference Under 1 CFR Part 51</HD> EASA AD 2025-0093 specifies procedures for repetitive inspections ( <E T="03">i.e.,</E> steering checks) for relative movement between the LBC and the main fitting and applicable on-condition actions. The on-condition actions include activating the secondary seal, inspecting and applying torque to the nose landing gear seal changeover valve, inspecting the ring groove for corrosion, and repairing any corrosion. EASA AD 2025-0093 also requires reporting the results of each check where a discrepancy was identified to the manufacturer and limits the installation of affected parts, for airplanes with an affected part installed, unless the steering check has been completed. For airplanes that do not have an affected part installed, EASA AD 2025-0093 prohibits installing an affected part. This material is reasonably available because the interested parties have access to it through their normal course of business or by the means identified in the <E T="02">ADDRESSES</E> section. <HD SOURCE="HD1">FAA's Determination</HD> This product has been approved by the aviation authority of another country and is approved for operation in the United States. Pursuant to the FAA's bilateral agreement with this State of Design Authority, it has notified the FAA of the unsafe condition described in the MCAI and material referenced above. The FAA is issuing this NPRM after determining that the unsafe condition described previously is likely to exist or develop in other products of the same type design. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Proposed AD Requirements in This NPRM</HD> This proposed AD would require accomplishing the actions specified in EASA AD 2025-0093 described previously, except for any differences identified as exceptions in the regulatory text of this proposed AD. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Explanation of Required Compliance Information</HD> In the FAA's ongoing efforts to improve the efficiency of the AD process, the FAA developed a process to use some civil aviation authority (CAA) ADs as the primary source of information for compliance with requirements for corresponding FAA ADs. The FAA has been coordinating this process with manufacturers and CAAs. As a result, the FAA proposes to incorporate EASA AD 2025-0093 by reference in the FAA final rule. This proposed AD would require compliance with EASA AD 2025-0093 in its entirety through that incorporation, except for any differences identified as exceptions in the regulatory text of this proposed AD. Material required by EASA AD 2025-0093 for compliance will be available at <E T="03">regulations.gov</E> under Docket No. FAA-2025-0912 after the FAA final rule is published. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Interim Action</HD> The FAA considers that this proposed AD would be an interim action. The manufacturer is analyzing the inspection results to assist in their ongoing investigation and help determine if further corrective actions are needed. If final action is later identified, the FAA might consider further rulemaking then. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Costs of Compliance</HD> The FAA estimates ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 21k characters. 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