Federal Aviation Administration January 26, 2022 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The FAA proposes to supersede Airworthiness Directive (AD) 2020-23-05, which applies to certain Airbus Helicopters Model EC225LP helicopters. AD 2020-23-05 requires inspecting the control rod attachment yokes (yokes) of certain main rotor (M/R) rotating swashplates (swashplates), establishing a life limit, a one-time inspection of stripped yokes, and applicable corrective actions. Since the FAA issued AD 2020-23-05, the FAA has determined that a revised compliance time is necessary for swashplates that have accumulated less than seven years since the date of manufacture and that clarification is necessary for the condition that concludes with a dye penetrant inspection of the yoke. This proposed AD would continue to require the actions in AD 2020-23-05, with a revised compliance time for a certain inspection. The FAA is proposing this AD to address the unsafe condition on these products.

These special conditions are issued for a supplemental type certificate to install rechargeable lithium batteries in the Emergency Exit Light (EEL) power supply on certain transport category airplanes. These airplanes, as modified by Peregrine, will have a novel or unusual design feature when compared to the state of technology envisioned in the airworthiness standards for transport category airplanes. This design feature is the installation of an EEL power supply that contains rechargeable lithium batteries. The applicable airworthiness regulations do not contain adequate or appropriate safety standards for this design feature. These special conditions contain the additional safety standards that the Administrator considers necessary to establish a level of safety equivalent to that established by the existing airworthiness standards.