Airworthiness Directives; Airbus Helicopters

<RULE> DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION <SUBAGY>Federal Aviation Administration</SUBAGY> <CFR>14 CFR Part 39</CFR> <DEPDOC>[Docket No. FAA-2025-0752; Project Identifier MCAI-2024-00340-R; Amendment 39-23124; AD 2025-17-14]</DEPDOC> <RIN>RIN 2120-AA64</RIN> <SUBJECT>Airworthiness Directives; Airbus Helicopters</SUBJECT> <HD SOURCE="HED">AGENCY:</HD> Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), DOT. <HD SOURCE="HED">ACTION:</HD> Final rule. <SUM> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUMMARY:</HD> The FAA is adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for all Airbus Helicopters Model EC 130 B4 and EC 130 T2 helicopters. This AD was prompted by a report of heavy damage on the fenestron due to the loss of the tail rotor (TR) blade, which broke at the TR hub tension-torsion bar (tension-torsion bar). This AD requires inspecting the tension-torsion bar and, depending on the inspection results, replacing the part with a serviceable part. This AD also prohibits performing maintenance using certain maintenance manuals. The FAA is issuing this AD to address the unsafe condition on these products. </SUM> <EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> This AD is effective October 7, 2025. The Director of the Federal Register approved the incorporation by reference of a certain publication listed in this AD as of October 7, 2025. </EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">ADDRESSES:</HD> <E T="03">AD Docket:</E> You may examine the AD docket at <E T="03">regulations.gov</E> under Docket No.FAA-2025-0752; 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 final rule, the mandatory continuing airworthiness information (MCAI), any comments received, and other information. The address for Docket Operations is 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">Material Incorporated by Reference:</E> • For European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) material identified in this AD, contact EASA, Konrad-Adenauer-Ufer 3, 50668 Cologne, Germany; phone: +49 221 8999 000; email: <E T="03">ADs@easa.europa.eu;</E> website: <E T="03">easa.europa.eu.</E> You may find the EASA material on the EASA website at <E T="03">ad.easa.europa.eu.</E> • You may view this material at the FAA, FAA, Office of the Regional Counsel, Southwest Region, 10101 Hillwood Parkway, Room 6N-321, Fort Worth, TX 76177. For information on the availability of this material at the FAA, call (817) 222 5110. It is also available at <E T="03">regulations.gov</E> under Docket No. FAA-2025-0752. <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> Tara Lucas, Aviation Safety Engineer, FAA, 1600 Stewart Avenue, Suite 410, Westbury, NY 11590; phone: (206) 231-3189; email: <E T="03">tara.lucas@faa.gov.</E> </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD1">Background</HD> The FAA issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to amend 14 CFR part 39 by adding an AD that would apply to all Airbus Helicopters Model EC 130 B4 and EC 130 T2 helicopters. The NPRM was published in the <E T="04">Federal Register</E> on May 9, 2025 (90 FR 19660). The NPRM was prompted by AD 2024-0113, dated June 13, 2024 (EASA AD 2024-0113) (also referred to as the MCAI), issued by EASA, which is the Technical Agent for the Member States of the European Union. The MCAI states that an occurrence was reported of heavy damage on the fenestron due to the loss of the TR blade, which broke at the tension-torsion bar and separated from the hub assembly. In the NPRM, the FAA proposed to require inspecting the tension-torsion bar and, depending on the inspection results, replacing the part with a serviceable part. The NPRM also proposed to prohibit performing maintenance using certain maintenance manuals. The FAA is issuing this AD to prevent failure of the tension-torsion bar, which could result in loss of the TR anti-torque function and consequent loss control of the helicopter. You may examine the MCAI in the AD docket at <E T="03">regulations.gov</E> under Docket No. FAA-2025-0752. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Discussion of Final Airworthiness Directive</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD1">Comments</HD> The FAA received no comments on the NPRM or on the determination of the costs. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Conclusion</HD> These products have been approved by the civil aviation authority of another country and are approved for operation in the United States. Pursuant to the FAA's bilateral agreement with this State of Design Authority, that authority has notified the FAA of the unsafe condition described in the MCAI referenced above. The FAA reviewed the relevant data, considered any comments received, and determined that air safety requires adopting this AD as proposed. Accordingly, the FAA is issuing this AD to address the unsafe condition on these products. Except for minor editorial changes, this AD is adopted as proposed in the NPRM. None of the changes will increase the economic burden on any operator. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Material Incorporated by Reference Under 1 CFR Part 51</HD> The FAA reviewed EASA AD 2024-0113, which specifies procedures for inspecting all lamellas that compose the tension-torsion bar and, if any discrepancy is detected, replacing the part with a serviceable part. The material referenced by EASA AD 2024-0113 defines discrepancies as cracks, nail-sensitive scratches, distorted lamellas, circular contact indications, and marks. EASA AD 2024-0113 also prohibits accomplishing maintenance using certain maintenance manuals dated prior to March 5, 2024. 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">Costs of Compliance</HD> The FAA estimates that this AD affects 108 helicopters of U.S. registry. Labor rates are estimated at $85 per hour. Based on these numbers, the FAA estimates the following costs to comply with this AD. Inspecting all 10 tension-torsion bars on each helicopter (to include removing any corrosion) will take 4 work-hours for an estimated cost of $340 per helicopter and $36,720 for the U.S. fleet. If required, replacing a tension-torsion bar will take 4 work-hours and parts will cost $1,144 for an estimated cost of $1,484 per replacement. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Authority for This Rulemaking</HD> Title 49 of the United States Code specifies the FAA's authority to issue rules on aviation safety. Subtitle I, section 106, describes the authority of the FAA Administrator. Subtitle VII: Aviation Programs, describes in more detail the scope of the Agency's authority. The FAA is issuing this rulemaking under the authority described in Subtitle VII, Part A, Subpart III, Section 44701: General requirements. Under that section, Congress charges the FAA with promoting safe flight of civil aircraft in air commerce by prescribing regulations for practices, methods, and procedures the Administrator finds necessary for safety in air commerce. This regulation is within the scope of that authority because it addresses an unsafe condition that is likely to exist or develop on products identified in this rulemaking action. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Regulatory Findings</HD> This AD will not have federalism implications under Executive Order 13132. This AD will not have a substantial direct effect on the States, on the relationship between the national government and the States, or on the distribution of power and responsibilities among the various levels of government. For the reasons discussed above, I certify that this AD: (1) Is not a “significant regulatory action” under Executive Order 12866, (2) Will not affect intrastate aviation in Alaska, and (3) Will not have a significant economic impact, positive or negative, on a substantial number of small entities under the criteria of the Regulatory Flexibility Act. <LSTSUB> <HD SOURCE="HED">List of Subjects in 14 CFR Part 39</HD> Air transportation, Aircraft, Aviation safety, Incorporation by reference, Safety. </LSTSUB> <HD SOURCE="HD1">The Amendment</HD> Accordingly, under the authority delegated to me by the Administrator, the FAA amends 14 CFR part 39 as follows: <HD SOURCE="HED">PART 39—AIRWORTHINESS DIRECTIVES</HD> <REGTEXT TITLE="14" PART="39"> 1. The authority citation for part 39 continues to read as follows: <HD SOURCE="HED">Authority: </HD> 49 U.S.C. 106(g), 40113, 44701. </REGTEXT> <SECTION> <SECTNO>§ 39.13</SECTNO> <SUBJECT>[Amended]</SUBJECT> </SECTION> <REGTEXT TITLE="14" PART="39"> 2. The FAA amends § 39.13 by adding the following new airworthiness directive: <EXTRACT> <FP SOURCE="FP-2"> <E T="04">2025-17-14 Airbus Helicopters:</E> Amendment 39-23124; Docket No. FAA-2025-0752; Project Identifier MCAI-2024-00340-R. </FP> <HD SOURCE="HD1">(a) Effective Date</HD> This airworthiness directive (AD) is effective October 7, 2025. <HD SOURCE="HD1">(b) Affected ADs</HD> None. <HD SOURCE="HD1">(c) Applicability</HD> This AD applies to Airbus Helicopters Model EC 130 B4 and EC 130 T2 helicopters, certificated in any category. <HD SOURCE="HD1">(d) Subject</HD> Joint Aircraft System Component (JASC) Code 6500, Tail Rotor Drive System. <HD SOURCE="HD1">(e) Unsafe Condition</HD> This AD was prompted by a report of heavy damage on the fenestron due to the loss of the tail rotor (TR) blade, which broke at the TR hub tension-torsion bar. The FAA is issuing this AD to prevent failure of the tension-torsion bar. The unsafe condition, if not addressed, could result in loss of the TR anti-torque function and consequent loss of control of the helicopter. <HD SOURCE="HD1">(f) Compliance</HD> Comply with this AD within the compliance times specified ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 15k characters. Full document text is stored and available for version comparison. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━