In a withdrawal notice published today in the Federal Register, the FAA withdrew Notices of Proposed Rule Making 2000-CE-05-AD and 2000-CE-57-AD. These NPRM’s contained Airworthiness Directives that would have requied all owners of Cessna aircraft series 401 through 414A “to repetitively inspect the wing spar caps for fatigue cracks and repair or replace as necessary and to incorporate a spar strap modification on each wing spar on certain airplanes.” A previously issued Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin CE-04-48provided additional information regarding the proposed AD’s.
After receiving public input and holding two public meetings relating to the proposed AD’s, “the FAA has decided not to issue the AD’s as proposed” and has “determined that the best way to address the unsafe condition is for FAA, the public, and industry to develop alternative solutions to address the unsafe condition”. This does not mean that no AD’s will ever be issued. However, it does appear that the FAA listened to and reviewed the public input regarding the serious impact these AD’s would have had on twin-Cessna aircraft owners in terms of financial burden due to cost of inspections/repairs, aircraft down-time and diminution in aircraft value.
