AD Process Streamlined On Foreign Notifications
The FAA says its streamlining the process of turning around airworthiness directives from other countries on aircraft that are flying in the U.S. Last week, the agency issued two ADs on TBM 700 aircraft that relate to problems found in France one and two years ago, respectively. France issued an AD in 2005 regarding loose rivets in the tail assembly and, a year earlier, French authorities ordered inspections of a tail attachment fitting after corrosion was found on an aircraft in service. Chances are that the work on U.S.-registered aircraft has already been done because manufacturer EADS Socata issued mandatory service bulletins for both problems, but the catch-up AD from the FAA formalizes the actions prescribed by those MSBs.
The FAA says its streamlining the process of turning around airworthiness directives from other countries on aircraft that are flying in the U.S. Last week, the agency issued two ADs on TBM 700 aircraft that relate to problems found in France one and two years ago, respectively. France issued an AD in 2005 regarding loose rivets in the tail assembly and, a year earlier, French authorities ordered inspections of a tail attachment fitting after corrosion was found on an aircraft in service. Chances are that the work on U.S.-registered aircraft has already been done because manufacturer EADS Socata issued mandatory service bulletins for both problems, but the catch-up AD from the FAA formalizes the actions prescribed by those MSBs. The ADs contain a preamble paragraph that says the FAA is implementing a system to streamline the processing of Mandatory Continuing Airworthiness Information (MCAI) received from other countries into rules that mean something in the U.S. The streamlined process will allow us to adopt MCAI safety requirements in a more efficient manner and will reduce safety risks to the public, the AD says.
