Federal Aviation Administration November 1, 2024 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The FAA proposes to adopt a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain ATRGIE Avions de Transport R[eacute]gional Model ATR42 and ATR72 airplanes. This proposed AD was prompted by a report that a flight deck emergency escape hatch was difficult to open due to the hose ends being connected to the hatch with incorrect parts, which could affect drainage of the hatch. This proposed AD would require inspection of the flight deck emergency escape hatch drain hose for discrepancies and applicable corrective actions, and prohibit accomplishment of maintenance actions using the instructions of certain maintenance tasks, as specified in a European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) AD, which is proposed for incorporation by reference (IBR). The FAA is proposing this AD to address the unsafe condition on these products.

The FAA proposes to supersede Airworthiness Directive (AD) 2020-20-17 and AD 2021-15-05, which apply to all General Electric Company (GE) Model GE90-110B1 and GE90-115B engines. AD 2020-20-17 prohibits dispatch of an airplane if certain status messages are displayed on the engine indicating and crew alerting system (EICAS) and if certain conditions are present; and as terminating action, requires revision of the existing FAA-approved minimum equipment list (MEL) by incorporating the dispatch restrictions into the MEL. AD 2021-15-05 requires initial and repetitive replacement of the full authority digital engine control (FADEC) integrated circuit (MN4) microprocessor. Since the FAA issued AD 2020-20-17 and AD 2021-15-05, the manufacturer has developed a software revision for the electronic engine control (EEC) FADEC that further mitigates the unsafe condition. This proposed AD would retain all the actions of AD 2020-20-17 and AD 2021-15-05, and it would also require upgrading the EEC FADEC software to an EEC FADEC software version eligible for installation as a terminating action. The FAA is proposing this AD to address the unsafe condition on these products.