Wing and Aileron; De Havilland DH60, DH82A, and DH83 Wing Spars Produced by the Croydon Aircraft Company of New Zealand

1 FAA Aviation Safety SPECIAL AIRWORTHINESS INFORMATION BULLETIN SUBJ: Wing and Aileron; De Havilland DH60, DH82A, and DH83 Wing Spars Produced by the Croydon Aircraft Company of New Zealand SAIB: CE-17-21 Date: August 18, 2017 This is information only. Recommendations aren’t mandatory.

Introduction

This Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin is being issued to alert operators and owners of the following airplanes of an airworthiness concern:

• Harry E. Williams de Havilland Model DH 82A airplanes, all serial numbers; • Cliff Robertson de Havilland Model DH 82A airplanes, all serial numbers; • de Havilland Models DH60 and Moth Aircraft Corp (Moth) Models 60GM, 60GMW, and 60X airplanes, all serial numbers; and • de Havilland Model DH 83 airplanes, all serial numbers.

For the Moth Models 60GM, 60GMW, and 60X, and de Havilland Models DH 82A and DH 83 airplanes, the airworthiness concern is not an unsafe condition at this time that would warrant airworthiness directive (AD) action under Title 14 of the Code of Federal Aviation Regulations (14 CFR) part 39. The de Havilland Model DH60 airplanes are not type certificated in the United States, but may be operated on an airworthiness certificate that is other than a standard airworthiness certificate (e.g., experimental).

Background

The UK CAA has issued Information Notice IN-2017/032 identifying that some wings spars manufactured by the Croydon Aircraft Company in New Zealand to be used in a current restoration of a Model DH 82A airplane appeared not to comply with the original de Havilland drawings. The most notable features are differences in the spindled cross-section of the spars. It is known that these spars may have been used as replacements on aircraft identified in this SAIB. These spars may be undersized with reduced structural reserves.

Additionally, Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand issued the following airworthiness directives:

• DCA-DH60-111 Emergency AD for Croydon Manufactured Wing and Aileron Spars – Flight Limitation • DCA-DH82-129 Emergency AD for Croydon Manufactured Wing and Aileron Spars – Flight Limitation • DCA-DH83-105 Emergency AD for Croydon Manufactured Wing and Aileron Spars – Flight Limitation

2 These actions require (for New Zealand registered aircraft) the inspection of aircraft records to determine if affected spars are installed and prohibits aerobatics or other flights involving high load factors, and reporting whether these parts are installed.

Recommendations

The FAA recommends that owners and operators of the above named model airplanes comply with the provision of the applicable foreign airworthiness information. We recommend you report the information as specified with applicable foreign airwortiness information to the FAA using the information under “For Further Information Contact.”

A federal agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, nor shall a person be subject to a penalty for failure to comply with a collection of information subject to the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act unless that collection of information displays a current valid OMB Control Number. The OMB Control Number for this information collection is 2120- 0731. Public reporting for this collection of information is estimated to be approximately 5 minutes per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, completing and reviewing the collection of information. All responses to this collection of information are voluntary. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden to the FAA at: 800 Independence Ave. SW, Washington, DC 20591, Attn: Information Collection Clearance Officer, ASP-110.

The UK Information Notice may be found at:

http://publicapps.caa.co.uk/docs/33/InformationNoticeIN2017032.pdf

The New Zealand ADs may be found at:

https://www.caa.govt.nz/airworthiness-directives/emergency-airworthiness-directives/

For Further Information Contact

Albert J. Mercado, Aerospace Engineer, 901 Locust Street, Room 301, Kansas City, MO, 64106; phone: (816)329-4123; fax: (816) 329-4090; e-mail: [email protected].