The Federal Aviation Administration is giving airlines five days to inspect Boeing 757s equipped with “scimitar blended winglets” after discovering cracks in wing panels of several jets.
An airworthiness directive set to take effect tomorrow will require carriers inspect both 757-200s and 757-300s fitted with the winglets, or 156 US-registered aircraft.
“The FAA has received a report indicating a crack finding on a Boeing Model 757-200 airplane with scimitar blended winglets while undergoing a heavy maintenance check,” the order says. “The crack was located in the inspar outer-lower wing-skin area in the periphery of access panel 543BB.”
The FAA this month also received four additional reports of cracks in the same area, it notes.
The 543BB access panel is part of the winglet structure installed by Aviation Partners Boeing, a joint venture between Boeing and Aviation Partners.
“There is no existing mandatory inspection that would discover these cracks,” the FAA’s order says. “The potential for an undetected crack in the inspar outer-lower left and right wing-skin area, if not addressed, could result in reduced structural integrity or partial wing loss leading to loss of control of the airplane.”
The agency issued the order as an immediately effective rule, bypassing its typical process of first accepting comments.
“We support the FAA’s airworthiness directive, which makes mandatory the inspection guidance Boeing provided 757 operators with scimitar blended winglets,” Boeing says.
Aviation Partners Boeing had on 4 February issued operators with a service letter instructing them within 30 days to complete high-frequency eddy current inspections of panels on affected 757s.
The FAA’s order gives carriers only five days to complete those inspections, citing safety concerns. The inspections require about two hours of work.
“Due to the additional crack findings since the publication of the service information, and the lack of a mandatory inspection that would cause operators to find these cracks, the FAA has determined that a compliance time of five days is appropriate,” it says.
