Flight Compartment

1 FAA Aviation Safety SPECIAL AIRWORTHINESS INFORMATION BULLETIN SUBJ: Flight Compartment SAIB: CE-13-40 Date: July 12, 2013 This is information only. Recommendations aren’t mandatory.

Introduction

This Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin (SAIB) advises you of an airworthiness concern regarding the possible omission of the two reinforcement trusses in the folding front seat bottom in American Champion Aircraft Corporation (ACAC) Models:

All Model 7EC, serial numbers 1000-2006 through1032-2011 All Model 7ECA, serial numbers 1355-95 through 1408-2011 All Model 7GCAA, serial numbers 400-97 through 520-2010 All Model 7GCBC, serial numbers 1200-94 through 1466-2012 All Model 8KCAB, serial numbers 643-90 through 1114-2012 All Model 8GCBC, serial numbers 361-92 through 548-2012

All older 7AC, 7ACA, S7AC, 7BCM, 7CCM, S7CCM, 7DC, S7DC, 7EC, S7EC, 7ECA, 7FC, 7GC, 7GCA, 7GCAA, 7GCB, 7GCBA, 7GCBC, 7HC, 7JC, 7KC, 7KCAB, 8KCAB, and 8GCBC with Folding Front Seats that have complied with AD 89-18-06 via replacement seat frame 7-1513 (adjustable) or 4-1454 (fixed) before the date of this letter.

At this time, this airworthiness concern is not considered an unsafe condition that would warrant an airworthiness directive action under Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR part 39).

Background

This SAIB resulted from an incident where a new American Champion Model 8KCAB (Decathlon) experienced a failed seat back while conducting aerobatic maneuvers. The pilot was able to recover control of the airplane and land safely. Subsequent inspection of the airplane revealed that the seat tubing had failed in the same location on both sides of the seat. Further investigation found that two reinforcement trusses had not been welded into the seat frame during manufacturing. American Champion isolated the seat to a batch of 10 seats that were the most recent batch manufactured. Inspections by American Champion and the Minneapolis Manufacturing Inspection District Office have not found any seats from previous batches with the trusses missing. The FAA does not currently have any indication that there are any seats in use missing the trusses. However, the purpose of this SAIB is to alert owners and operators to the issue and substantiate that all applicable fielded airplanes have the trusses installed.

2 Recommendations

We recommend that all ACAC model airplanes, specified in the introduction above, complete the one time inspection procedure specified in American Champion service letter number 437. If a reinforcement truss is found to be missing please provide the airplane model, serial number, and registration number to Wesley Rouse using the contact information below.

Under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has approved the information collection contained in this SAIB, and assigned OMB Control Number 2120-0731.

For Further Information Contact

Wesley Rouse, Aerospace Engineer, FAA Chicago Aircraft Certification, 2300 E. Devon, Des Plaines, IL 60018; phone: (847) 294-8113; email: [email protected].

For Related Service Information Contact

To obtain copies of American Champion service letter number 437, contact American Champion Aircraft Corporation, P.O. Box 37, 32032 Washington Ave. – Hwy. D, Rochester, WI 53167; or visit their website at www.amerchampionaircraft.com, select “Technical” and scroll down to the service letter number you wish to view or print.