Federal Aviation Administration April 2, 2012 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This notice contains a summary of a petition seeking relief from specified requirements of 14 CFR. The purpose of this notice is to improve the public's awareness of, and participation in, this aspect of FAA's regulatory activities. Neither publication of this notice nor the inclusion or omission of information in the summary is intended to affect the legal status of the petition or its final disposition.

We propose to adopt a new airworthiness directive (AD) for all Saab AB, Saab Aerosystems Model 340A (SAAB/SF340A) and SAAB 340B Airplanes. This proposed AD was prompted by reports indicating that wear of the elevator pushrods have occurred on some airplanes after extended time in service. This proposed AD would require determining if a certain part number is installed, performing a detailed inspection for individual play between the elevator pushrod assembly and degradation of elevator pushrod assembly, and replacing the affected elevator pushrod assembly with a new elevator pushrod assembly if necessary. We are proposing this AD to prevent a free elevator from affecting the pitch control authority, which may result in reduced controllability of the airplane.