Commonwealth legislation

AD/PA-44/15 - Wing and Carry-Through Structure

RepealedCTH

This Act has been repealed and is no longer in force. It is retained for historical reference.

Jurisdiction

Commonwealth

Collection

legislative instrument

Plain English Summary

2/10 complexity

This mandatory Australian safety notice requires owners/operators of Piper PA-44 Seminole twins to permanently retire key structural components at specified flight-hour limits (model-specific limits for wings/center wing and a 29,200-hour limit for the remainder of the airframe).

It’s intended to prevent catastrophic failure from metal fatigue by imposing conservative “use-by” lifespans—the 29,200-hour cap is a temporary safety buffer while the manufacturer collects more life‑limit data.

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Current sections

Direct links to the current provisions in AD/PA-44/15 - Wing and Carry-Through Structure.

AD/PA-44/15 - Wing and Carry-Through Structure

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

SCHEDULE OF AIRWORTHINESS DIRECTIVES

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Piper PA-44 (Seminole) Series Aeroplanes

AD/PA-44/15 Wing and Carry-Through Structure 5/95

Applicability: All models.

Requirement: 1. Retire the wing and wing carry-through structure as follows:

PA-44-180; before 14 600 hours time in service, or within 200 hours time in service from 27 April 1995, whichever occurs last.

PA-44-180T; before 16 400 hours time in service, or within 200 hours time in service from 27 April 1995, whichever occurs last.

Retire the remainder of the aircraft structure before exceeding 29 200 hours time in service.

Compliance: Effective as of 27 April 1995.

Background: The manufacturer has placed a service life on the wing and associated structure. As an interim requirement, pending substantiation of a longer safe life, a life for the remainder of the aircraft structure, corresponding to twice the PA-44-180 wing life, has been promulgated.

Source text

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

1 AD/PA-44/15 - Wing and Carry-Through Structure