EASA AD No.: 2015-0120

TE.CAP.00110-004 © European Aviation Safety Agency. All rights reserved. 1/4 Proprietary document. Copies are not controlled. Co nfirm revision status through the EASA-Internet/Int ranet. 

## EASA AIRWORTHINESS DIRECTIVE

AD No.: 2015-0120

Date: 26 June 2015

Note: This Airworthiness Directive (AD) is issued b y EASA, acting in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 216/2008 on behalf of the European Community, it s Member States and of the European third countries that participate in the activities of EAS A under Article 66 of that Regulation.

This AD is issued in accordance with EU 748/2012, P art 21.A.3B. In accordance with EC 1321/2014 Annex I, Part M.A.301, the continuing airworthiness of an aircraft shall be ensured by ac complishing any applicable ADs. Consequently, no pe rson 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 1321/2014 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: AIRBUS Type/Model designation(s): A330 and A340 aeroplanes

TCDS Numbers: EASA A.004, EASA A.015

Foreign AD: Not applicable

Supersedure: This AD supersedes EASA AD 2013-0271 d ated 14 November 2013.



### ATA 57 Wings – Main Landing Gear Rib 6 Aft Bearing Lugs – Inspection / Replacement

Manufacturer(s): Airbus (formerly Airbus Industrie)

Applicability: Airbus A330-201, A330-202, A330-203, A330-223, A330-223F, A330-243, A330-243F, A330-301, A330-302, A330-303, A330-321, A330-322, A330-323, A330-341, A330-342 and A330-343 aeroplanes, all man ufacturer serial numbers (MSN). Airbus A340-211, A340-212, A340-213, A340-311, A340 -312, A340-313, A340-541, A340-542, A340-642 and A340-643 aeroplane s, all MSN.
Reason: During Main Landing Gear (MLG) lubrication, a crack was visually found in the MLG rib 6 aft bearing forward lug on one A330 in-se rvice aeroplane. The crack had extended through the entire thickness of the fo rward lug at approximately the 4 o’clock position (when looking forward). It has b een determined that a similar type of crack can develop on other aeroplane types that are listed in the Applicability paragraph. This condition, if not detected and corrected, coul d affect the structural integrity of the MLG attachment. To address this situation, Airbus issued inspection Service Bulletin (SB) A330-57-3096, SB A340-57-4104 and SB A340-57-5009 t o provide instructions for repetitive inspections of the gear rib lugs. Prompted by these findings, EASA issued Emergency A D 2006-0364-E to require repetitive detailed visual inspections of the Left Hand (LH) and Right Hand (RH) wing MLG rib 6 aft bearing lugs.EASA AD No.: 2015-0120

TE.CAP.00110-004 © European Aviation Safety Agency. All rights reserved. 2/4 Proprietary document. Copies are not controlled. Co nfirm revision status through the EASA-Internet/Int ranet. Later, EASA issued AD 2007-0247-E, which superseded AD 2006-0364-E, to: - expand the Applicability to all A330 and A340 aer oplanes, because the interference fit bushes cannot be considered as a t erminating action, owing to unknown root cause; and - add a second parameter quoted in flight hours (FH ) to the inspection interval in order to reflect the aeroplane utilisation in servi ce. EASA AD 2007-0247-E was revised to correct a typogr aphical error. Since the first crack finding and issuance of the i nspection SBs and related ADs, six further cracks were reported. Consequently, EASA issued AD 2013-0271, which retai ned the requirements of AD 2007-0247R1-E, which was superseded, and expande d the Applicability of the AD to the newly certified models A330-223F and A330-243F. That AD also reduced the inspection threshold(s) to reflect the updated risk assessment and in-service experience. Since this AD was issued, a new occurrence of crack finding was reported. Further analysis resulted in the need to reduce the threshold of the initial inspection. Prompted by this finding, Airbus issued SB A330-57- 3096 Revision 06 to introduce a more restrictive initial inspection thr eshold and a grace period for aeroplanes which have already passed the new thresh old. For the reasons described above, this AD partially retains the requirements of EASA AD 2013-0271, which is superseded, and introdu ces reduced initial inspection thresholds.

Effective Date: 10 July 2015

Required Action(s) and Compliance Time(s): Required as indicated, unless accomplished previous ly:
(1) Initially, within the threshold defined in Tabl e 1 of this AD, and, thereafter, at intervals not to exceed the values specified in Tab le 2 of this AD, accomplish a detailed visual inspection (DVI) of the LH and RH wing MLG rib 6 aft bearing lugs (forward and aft) to detect any cracks in accordance with the instructions of Airbus SB A330-57-3096 Revision 06 or SB A340-57-4104 Revision 04 or SB A340-57-5009 Revision 03, as appl icable to aeroplane type and model.
Table 1 – Initial inspection

A or B, whichever occurs later

A Within 24 months or 2 000 flight cycles (FC), whi chever occurs first since aeroplane first flight or since the las t MLG support rib replacement, as applicable

B Within 30 days after the effective date of this A DEASA AD No.: 2015-0120

TE.CAP.00110-004 © European Aviation Safety Agency. All rights reserved. 3/4 Proprietary document. Copies are not controlled. Co nfirm revision status through the EASA-Internet/Int ranet. Table 2 – Intervals

Aeroplane Models Interval (whichever occurs first)
FC FH A330-201, A330-202, A330-203, A330-223, A330-243 300 1 500

A330-223F, A330-243F 300 900 A330-301, A330-302, A330-303, A330-321, A330-322, A330-323, A330-341, A330-342, A330-343 300 900

A340-211, A340-212, A340-213 200 800 A340-311, A340-312, A340-313 (except Weight Variant (WV) 27) 200 800
A340-313 (only WV27) 200 400 A340-541, A340-542, A340-642, A340-643 100 500

(2) If, during any DVI as required by paragraph (1) of this AD, any crack is detected, before next flight, contact Airbus for re placement instructions and replace the cracked MLG support rib accordingly. (3) Inspections, accomplished on an aeroplane befor e the effective date of this AD in accordance with the instructions of Airbus SB A330-57-3096 at Revision 05 or an earlier revision, or Airbus AOT A 57L005-14 at Revision 01 or an earlier revision, or Airbus SB A340-57-4104 R evision 03 or an earlier revision, or Airbus SB A340-57-5009 Revision 02 or an earlier revision, as applicable to aeroplane type, are acceptable to com ply with the inspection requirements of paragraph (1) of this AD for that a eroplane. After the effective date of this AD, the inspection s required by paragraph (1) of this AD must be accomplished in accordance with the instructions of Airbus SB A330-57-3096 Revision 06 (or later approved revi sions) or SB A340-57-4104 Revision 04 (or later approved revisio ns) or SB A340-57-5009 Revision 03 (or later approved revisio ns), as applicable. (4) Replacement of a MLG support rib on an aeroplan e does not constitute terminating action for the repetitive inspections a s required by this AD for that aeroplane.

Ref. Publications: Airbus SB A330-57-3096 original issue dated 05 Dece mber 2006, or Revision 01 dated 18 April 2007, or Revision 02 dated 13 August 2007, or Revision 03 dated 24 October 2012, or Revision 04 dated 06 February 2 013, or Revision 05 dated 17 October 2013, or Revision 06 dated 29 May 2015. Airbus SB A340-57-4104 original issue dated 05 Dece mber 2006, or Revision 01 dated 13 August 2007, or Revision 02 dated 05 Septe mber 2007, or Revision 03 dated 24 October 2012, or Revision 04 dated 17 Octo ber 2013. Airbus SB A340-57-5009 original issue dated 05 Dece mber 2006, or Revision 01 dated 13 August 2007, or Revision 02 dated 24 Octob er 2012, or Revision 03 dated 17 October 2013. Airbus AOT A57L005-14 original issue dated 15 July 2014, or Revision 01 dated 28 August 2014. The use of later approved revisions of these docume nts is acceptable for compliance with the requirements of this AD.EASA AD No.: 2015-0120

TE.CAP.00110-004 © European Aviation Safety Agency. All rights reserved. 4/4 Proprietary document. Copies are not controlled. Co nfirm revision status through the EASA-Internet/Int ranet. Remarks: 1. If requested and appropriately substantiated, EA SA can approve Alternative Methods of Compliance for this AD. 2. Based on the required actions and the compliance time, EASA have decided to issue a Final AD with Request for Comments, post poning the public consultation process until after publication. 3. Enquiries regarding this AD should be referred t o the Safety Information Section, Certification Directorate, EASA. E-mail: ADs@easa.europa.eu. 4. For any question concerning the technical conten t of the requirements in this AD, please contact: Airbus – Airworthiness Office – EIAL; E-mail: airworthiness.A330-A340@airbus.com

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