SAIB ACE-98-12 —

No. ACE-98-12 November 24, 1997

Published by: FAA, AFS-610, P.O. Box 26460, Oklahoma City, OK 73125 This is issued for informational purposes only and any recommendation for corrective action is not mandatory.

The purpose of this Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin (SAIB) is to provide safety information to Alexander Schleicher Model ASW-17 sailplane owners on the following:

• Flight Control Cable Airworthiness Directive and Technical Note (Technical Note No. 3) • Increase Service Life/Maintenance Manual Revision (Technical Note No. 13)

Background The FAA is currently conducting an assessment of foreign airworthiness directives that have been issued by the German Luftfahrt-Bundesamt (LBA) on German type certificated sailplanes. The LBA has issued German airworthiness directives on the service difficulty issues listed above. The FAA is currently assessing the need to issue corresponding U.S. airworthiness directives on U.S. type certificated Model ASW-17 sailplanes. In the interim, the FAA is using this Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin to inform U.S. owners of this model sailplane of the service difficulties reported by the manufacturer. If an airworthiness directive is determined to be appropriate, a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking will be issued. The following is a brief description of the main areas of each issue.

Flight Control Cable Airworthiness Directive and Technical Note (Technical Note No. 3) The LBA has issued a general sailplane Airworthiness Directive (AD) 74-323, revision 2, requiring specific flight control cables diameters and connections. Alexander Schleicher has developed Technical Note No. 3 that specifies acceptable cable diameters for the Model ASW-17. The information in the Technical note is considered an exemption to the LBA AD. For your information, LBA AD 74-323, revision 2, is enclosed as well as Alexander Schleicher Technical Note No. 3. The FAA highly encourages you to ensure that your sailplane control cables meet the criteria listing in the German AD was well as Technical Note No. 3. If these modifications have not been accomplished, the manufacturer has estimated that it will take approximately three hours to accomplish. Alexander Schleicher has the parts available to accomplish this modification. The cost is approximately $50.00 U.S. dollars.

Increase Service Life/Maintenance Manual Revision (Technical Note No. 13) Alexander Schleicher has developed Technical Note No. 13 that increases the service life of the ASW-17 to 12,000 hours. For your information, LBA AD 93-124 is enclosed as well as Alexander Schleicher Technical Note No. 13, with the applicable maintenance manual revisions.

Additional Information The FAA has issued the following Airworthiness Directives (AD) on the Alexander Schleicher Model ASW-17. This information is provided to you for your information only.

2 ACE-98-12

• AD 76-07-11; To prevent water ballast from leaking into the fuselage area. • AD 88-11-05; Superseded by AD 95-09-12. • AD 95-09-12; To prevent failure of the wing spar caused by wood rot.

Further Information Contact: Alexander Schleicher GmbH & Co. Segelflugzeugbau, Postfach 60, D-36161 Poppenhausen, Germany; Telephone 49.6658.8920; Facsimile 49.6658.8940 or 49.6658.8923.

John Murray, Eastern Sailplanes, United States Alexander Schleicher Dealer, 398 Miami Street, Post Office Box 753, Waynesville, OH 45068; Telephone (513) 897-5667; Facsimile (513) 897-5909.

Mike Kiesov, Aerospace Engineer/Pilot, FAA, Small Airplane Directorate, 1201 Walnut, Kansas City, Missouri, 64106; telephone (816) 426-6934; Facsimile (816) 426-2169.