Airworthiness Directives; Rolls-Royce Deutschland Ltd & Co KG Engines

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION <SUBAGY>Federal Aviation Administration</SUBAGY> <CFR>14 CFR Part 39</CFR> <DEPDOC>[Docket No. FAA-2026-0742; Project Identifier MCAI-2025-01337-E]</DEPDOC> <RIN>RIN 2120-AA64</RIN> <SUBJECT>Airworthiness Directives; Rolls-Royce Deutschland Ltd & Co KG Engines</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) 2023-26-04, which applies to all Rolls-Royce Deutschland Ltd & Co KG (RRD) Model Trent 1000-AE3, Trent 1000-CE3, Trent 1000-D3, Trent 1000-G3, Trent 1000-H3, Trent 1000-J3, Trent 1000-K3, Trent 1000-L3, Trent 1000-M3, Trent 1000-N3, Trent 1000-P3, Trent 1000-Q3, and Trent 1000-R3 engines. AD 2023-26-04 requires initial and repetitive in-shop visual inspections of the intermediate-pressure stage 8 (IP8) and high-pressure stage 3 (HP3) air transfer tubes and front bearing housing IP8 air feed tubes for cracking, damage, or air leakage wear, and replacement, if necessary. Since the FAA issued AD 2023-26-04, the FAA has determined that a new set of initial and repetitive on-wing visual inspections of the IP8 and HP3 air transfer tubes for cracking, damage, or air leakage wear are necessary, and consequently the inspection interval for the repetitive in-shop visual inspections of front bearing housing IP8 air feed tubes may be increased. This proposed AD would continue to require initial and repetitive in-shop visual inspections of the IP8 and HP3 air transfer tubes and front bearing housing IP8 air feed tubes (with increased inspection interval) for cracking, damage, or air leakage wear, and replacement, if necessary. This proposed AD would also require initial and repetitive on-wing visual inspections of the IP8 and HP3 air transfer tubes for cracking, damage, or air leakage wear, and replacement, if necessary. 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 NPRM by March 23, 2026. </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-2026-0742; 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; 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 this material on the EASA website at <E T="03">ad.easa.europa.eu.</E> • You may view this material at the FAA, Airworthiness Products Section, Operational Safety Branch, 1200 District Avenue, Burlington, MA 01803. For information on the availability of this material at the FAA, call (817) 222-5110. <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> Alexis Whitaker, Aviation Safety Engineer, FAA, 2200 South 216th Street, Des Moines, WA 98198; phone: (516) 228-7309; email: <E T="03">alexis.j.whitaker@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 using a method listed under <E T="02">ADDRESSES</E> . Include “Docket No. FAA-2026-0742; Project Identifier MCAI-2025-01337-E” 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 the 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 Alexis Whitaker, Aviation Safety Engineer, FAA, 2200 South 216th Street, Des Moines, WA 98198. 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 2023-26-04, Amendment 39-22647 (89 FR 251, January 3, 2024) (AD 2023-26-04), for all RRD Model Trent 1000-AE3, Trent 1000-CE3, Trent 1000-D3, Trent 1000-G3, Trent 1000-H3, Trent 1000-J3, Trent 1000-K3, Trent 1000-L3, Trent 1000-M3, Trent 1000-N3, Trent 1000-P3, Trent 1000-Q3, and Trent 1000-R3 engines. AD 2023-26-04 was prompted by an MCAI originated by EASA, which is the Technical Agent for the Member States of the European Union. EASA issued EASA AD 2023-0087, dated April 26, 2023 (EASA AD 2023-0087) to correct an unsafe condition identified as a determination that certain intervals for visual inspection of the IP8 air transfer tubes, HP3 air transfer tubes, and front bearing housing IP8 air feed tubes need to be reduced. EASA AD 2023-0087 stated that the RRD engine time limits manual (TLM) provides instructions for visual inspection of the IP8 and HP3 air transfer tubes and front bearing housing IP8 air feed tubes for cracking, damage, or air leakage wear at intervals consistent with critical part life assessments. Also, certain inspection intervals mandated by the MCAI, and not previously included in the TLM, are shorter than the engine shop visit intervals. Thus, more frequent visual inspections of the IP8 and HP3 air transfer tubes and front bearing housing IP8 air feed tubes are necessary. The manufacturer issued service information that provides instructions for (in-shop) visual inspections of the IP8 and HP3 air transfer tubes and front bearing housing IP8 air feed tubes. AD 2023-26-04 requires initial and repetitive in-shop visual inspections of the IP8 and HP3 air transfer tubes and front bearing housing IP8 air feed tubes for cracking, damage, or air leakage wear, and replacement, if necessary. The FAA issued AD 2023-26-04 to prevent failure of the IP8 and HP3 air transfer tubes and front bearing housing IP8 air feed tubes. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Actions Since AD 2023-26-04 Was Issued</HD> Since the FAA issued AD 2023-26-04, EASA superseded EASA AD 2023-0087 and issued EASA AD 2025-0176, dated August 7, 2025 (EASA AD 2025-0176) (also referred to as the MCAI). The MCAI states that since EASA AD 2023-0087 was published, the manufacturer has issued service information to include initial and repetitive on-wing visual inspections of the IP8 and HP3 air transfer tubes, and an increase to the interval for the in-shop visual inspections of front bearing housing IP8 air feed tubes. You may examine the MCAI in the AD docket at <E T="03">regulations.gov</E> under Docket No. FAA-2026-0742. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Material Incorporated by Reference Under 1 CFR Part 51</HD> The FAA reviewed EASA AD 2025-0176, which specifies procedures for performing initial and repetitive on-wing and in-shop visual inspections of the IP8 and HP3 air transfer tubes and front bearing housing IP8 air feed tubes for cracking, damage, or air leakage wear, and replacement if necessary. 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> 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 is issuing this NPRM after determining that the unsafe condition described previously is likely to exist or develop on other products of the same type design. <HD SOURCE="H ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 21k characters. Full document text is stored and available for version comparison. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━