EASA AD No.: 2012-0193

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EASA AIRWORTHINESS DIRECTIVE

AD No.: 2012-0193

Date: 25 September 2012

Note: This Airworthiness Directive (AD) is issued by EASA, acting in accordance with Regulation 

(EC) No 216/2008 on behalf of the European Community, its Member States and of the European 

third countries that participate in the activities of EASA under Article 66 of that Regulation.

This AD is issued in accordance with EC 748/2012, Part 21.A.3B. In accordance with EC 2042/2003 Annex I, Part M.A.301, the 

continuing airworthiness of an aircraft shall be ensured by accomplishing any applicable ADs. Consequently, no person may operate an 

aircraft to which an AD applies, except in accordance with the requirements of that AD, unless otherwise specified by the Agency [EC 

2042/2003 Annex I, Part M.A.303] or agreed with the Authority of the State of Registry [EC 216/2008, Article 14(4) exemption].

Design Approval Holder’s Name:

ATR-GIE Avions de Transport Régional

Type/Model designation(s):

ATR 42 aeroplanes

TCDS Number: EASA.A.084

Foreign AD: Not applicable

Supersedure: None

ATA Airworthiness Limitation Items – Structural Significant Item Tasks –

Amendments

Manufacturer(s): ATR-GIE Avions de Transport Régional (formerly Aerospatiale – Aeritalia, 

Aerospatiale – Alenia, Aerospatiale ATR- Alenia, EADS ATR – Alenia).

Applicability: ATR 42-200, ATR 42-300, ATR 42-320, ATR 42-400 and ATR 42-500 models, all 

manufacturer serial numbers.

Reason: Floor beam at Frame 26: During maintenance checks, the floor beam at frame 

(FR) 26 was found cracked on several ATR 42 aeroplanes.

This condition, if not detected and corrected, could lead to reduce the structural 

integrity of the aeroplane. A new Structural Significant Items (SSI) task will be 

introduced in the next revision of the ATR42 Time Limits document in order to 

address this issue.

MRBR / MPD discrepancy on Wings item: A discrepancy has been noticed

between the Maintenance Review Board Report (MRBR) / Maintenance Planning 

Document (MPD) and the Time Limits document. ATR modifications 02805 and 

08039 were erroneously stated similar in the MRBR/MPD, inducing misleading 

applicability of the SSI tasks depending upon the document used and leading 

operators to miss several inspections, as evidenced during a recent review.

Following the structural investigation, new inspection thresholds have been 

calculated and will be introduced in the next revisions of the ATR Time Limits 

documents (Revision 8 and Revision 9, as applicable to the aeroplane models)

and MRBR/MPD documents.

For the reasons described above, this AD requires repetitive inspections of the 

FR26 floor beam, and of several areas of the wings, as defined in the ATR42 

Time Limits document and, depending on findings, the accomplishment of 
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applicable corrective action(s).

Effective Date: 09 October 2012

Required Action(s) 

and Compliance 

Time(s):

Required as indicated, unless accomplished previously:

For all ATR42 aeroplanes: Repetitive inspection of FR26 floor beam: 

(1) Within the compliance time defined in Table 1 of this AD, and thereafter at 

intervals not exceeding 12 000 flight cycles (FC), accomplish a detailed 

visual inspection of the floor beam at Frame 26, on both Left Hand (LH) 

and Right Hand (RH) sides, in accordance with the instructions of the 

applicable ATR42 Aircraft Maintenance Manual (AMM) Job Instruction 

Card 535100 DVI 10097.

Table 1 – Initial inspection

Compliance time

(whichever occurs later, A or B)

A Before the accumulation of 24 000 FC since the 

aeroplane first flight

B within 5 000 flight hours or 24 months, whichever 

occurs first after the effective date of this AD

(2) If, during any inspection as required by paragraph (1) of this AD, any crack is 

found, before next flight, accomplish the applicable corrective actions in 

accordance with approved ATR instructions.

For ATR 42 aeroplanes on which ATR modification 02805 has not been 

embodied in production:

(3) Before exceeding each threshold as defined in Table 2 of this AD, or within

6 months after the effective date of this AD, whichever occurs later, and 

thereafter at intervals not exceeding the value defined in Table 2 of this 

AD, accomplish each SSI Task as listed in Table 2 and, if any crack is 

found, before next flight, accomplish the applicable corrective actions in 

accordance with approved ATR instructions.

Table 2 – Initial and repetitive SSI tasks

SSI Task Nr. Threshold (FC accumulated 

since the aeroplane first flight)

Interval

(not to exceed)

572301 45 000 FC 7 300 FC

572305 46 000 FC 3 900 FC

572409 42 000 FC 9 000 FC

572410

572411

572412

572413

572414

572415

43 000 FC 10 000 FC

572416

572417

44 000 FC 7 300 FC
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Ref. Publications: MRBR ATR 42-200/-300/-320 Revision 13 dated November 2011,

MRBR ATR 42-400/-500 Revision 13 dated November 2011,

MRBR ATR 42-200/-300/-320, Appendix A, Time Limits document Revision 7 

dated March 2006,

MRBR ATR 42-400/-500, Appendix A, Time Limits document Revision 8 dated 

April 2012,

The use of later approved revisions of the above-listed documents is acceptable 

for compliance with the requirements of this AD.

ATR 42 AMM Job Instruction Card 535100 DVI 10097.

MPD ATR 42-200/-300/-320 Revision 26 dated March 2012.

MPD ATR 42-400/-500 Revision 12 dated March 2012.

Remarks: 1. If requested and appropriately substantiated, EASA can approve Alternative 

Methods of Compliance for this AD.

2. This AD was posted on 31 July 2012 as PAD 12-099 and republished as PAD 

12-099R1 on 03 August 2012 for consultation until 21 August 2012. The 

Comment Response Document can be found at http://ad.easa.europa.eu/.

3. Enquiries regarding this AD should be referred to the Safety Information 

Section, Executive Directorate, EASA. E-mail: ADs@easa.europa.eu.

4. For any question concerning the technical content of the requirements in this 

AD, please contact:

ATR – GIE Avions de Transport Régional

Continued Airworthiness Service

Tel.: + 33 (0) 5 62 21 62 21 - Fax:+ 33 (0) 5 62 21 67 18

E-mail: continued.airworthiness@atr.fr.