Commonwealth legislation

AD/CESSNA 340/32 - Wing and Airframe

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Commonwealth

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legislative instrument

Plain English Summary

6/10 complexity

This airworthiness directive requires owners/operators of all Cessna 340/340A aeroplanes to remove specified wing spar components and, later, the remaining airframe from service at set life limits. It sets component retirement at 22,300 flight hours or 20,300 flights and full-airframe retirement at 44,600 hours or 40,600 flights, with flights estimated by dividing hours by 0.8 if unknown. It rests on wing fatigue tests; operators bear the cost of tracking hours/flights, retiring parts/airframes, or funding a fatigue substantiation if seeking life-extension.

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AD/CESSNA 340/32 - Wing and Airframe

COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA (Civil Aviation Regulations 1998), PART 39 - 105 CIVIL AVIATION SAFETY AUTHORITY

SCHEDULE OF AIRWORTHINESS DIRECTIVES

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Cessna 340 Series Aeroplanes

AD/CESSNA 340/32 Wing and Airframe 10/95

Applicability: All Cessna Model 340 and 340A Series aircraft.

Requirement: 1. Retire the wing main spar lower cap and wing upper and lower attachment fittings from service.

Note: The centre section spar caps and attachment fittings are not affected by this Requirement.

Retire the remainder of the airframe from service.

Compliance: 1. Retire components, in accordance with Requirement 1, before exceeding 22 300 hours time in service or 20 300 flights, whichever occurs first.

Retire airframe, in accordance with Requirement 2, before exceeding 44 600 hours time in service or 40 600 flights, whichever occurs first.

Note 1: For aircraft with an unknown number of flights an estimate shall be made by dividing the number of hours flown by an average flight time of 0.8 hours.

Note 2: The available fatigue data covers wing main spars only. The durability of other parts of the airframe has not been evaluated, and is therefore unknown. Based on experience, the Authority is prepared to credit unevaluated structure with a retirement life equal to double the life for the wing spar (Requirement 2). An extension beyond this may be available, but any application must be supported by a fatigue substantiation covering all the remaining primary structure. This should include empennage, wing centre section, wing rear spar, control surfaces, fuselage, etc. The substantiation may take the form of a safe life assessment, or a sufficiently rigorous revised inspection schedule to ensure that any fatigue cracking which could occur in service will be detected before the aircraft is endangered.

Background: Results of full scale fatigue testing of the wing, flight load data analysis and fleet usage have been used to establish the fatigue life for the Cessna 340 Series wing spar and attachment fittings. The remainder of the airframe is allowed two spar lives without further substantiation.

Source text

Sourced from the Federal Register of Legislation (legislation.gov.au), CC BY 4.0.

1 AD/CESSNA 340/32 - Wing and Airframe