AD/HS 748/33 - Battery Earth Posts (Cth)

COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA (Civil Aviation Safety Regulations 1998), PART 39 - 105 CIVIL AVIATION SAFETY AUTHORITY SCHEDULE OF AIRWORTHINESS DIRECTIVES

AIRWORTHINESS DIRECTIVE

For the reasons set out in the background section, the CASA delegate whose signature appears below issues the following Airworthiness Directive (AD) under subregulation 39.1 (1) of CASR 1998. The AD requires that the action set out in the requirement section (being action that the delegate considers necessary to correct the unsafe condition) be taken in relation to the aircraft or aeronautical product mentioned in the applicability section: (a) in the circumstances mentioned in the requirement section; and (b) in accordance with the instructions set out in the requirement section; and (c) at the time mentioned in the compliance section.

British Aerospace (Hawker Siddeley) HS 748 Series Aeroplanes

AD/HS 748/33 Battery Earth Posts 9/2003

Applicability: HS748 Series aeroplanes with batteries installed in the nosecone.

Requirement: Relocate the two battery earth points in accordance with BAe Systems (Operations) Service Bulletin HS748-24-131, Revision 1, dated 16 June 2003, from their present positions on the nose landing gear pintle webs to a dedicated plate mounted on the nose landing gear side beams below the cockpit floor.

Note: CAA (UK) AD 006-01-2003 refers.

Compliance: Before 30 September 2003.

This Airworthiness Directive becomes effective on 4 September 2003.

Background: BAe Systems advised that in a recent HS748 accident the nose landing gear leg detached together with the nose landing gear pintle webs. The loss of the landing gear pintle webs together with battery earth posts, which are located on the nose landing gear pintle webs, resulted in the battery earth return cables being severed from their earth posts. This in turn resulted in the loss of critical services including fuel shut-off and nacelle fire extinguishing.