Cessna T210L Annual: Airworthiness Directives and Service Bulletins
Most of the ADs on an older airframe should have been complied with by the time you do your annual. From time to time additional ADs are added. For example, in 2013 all Piper aircraft were required to comply with AD 2013-02-13 that required disassembly and inspection of the stabilator control cable. And sometimes there are Service Bulletins by the manufacturer of the plane or parts that do not require compliance, but should be discussed with your IA.
For example, Piper issued a Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin SAIB: CE-14-23 to alert owners and mechanics that in a recent crash a “collapsed carburetor air inlet hose restricted airflow to the engine and caused the engine power loss.” The reason that the inlet hose collapsed is that it had been replaced with scat tubing and did not have the stronger hose that was called for in the parts manual. The hoses look about the same and unless you are specifically looking for it, it can be overlooked. In my case, it had been overlooked for at least 8 annuals. In this case, compliance with the SAIB isn’t “mandatory” like an AD, but a plane without the correct hoses is not airworthy, so the end result is the same.
Many Service Bulletins claim to be mandatory, but for Part 91 operators they are optional. For example, SERVICE BULLETIN No. TP-14 Rev. 3 claims that replacement of Parker Hannifin vacuum pumps is mandatory. It is not. Only the FAA can mandate replacement of parts and then only by issuing an AD.
Recurring ADs
Most older aircraft have ADs that are required to be performed at every annual or based on hours in service. Less common are ones based on calendar time. You can get tripped up if you don’t keep track of them.
The Exhaust Manifold Heat Exchanger AD 71-09-07 R1 requires that the shroud around the cabin heat exchanger be inspected for leaks at 50 hour intervals. It also requires that an industrial vacuum cleaner be attached to the tailpipe opening and a soap solution be used to check for leaks.
The Seat Track Wear and Pin Engagement AD 11-10-09 requires inspection of the seat rails at every annual to prevent slippage of the seats or the seat roller departing from the seat rail. Everyone who flies already knows to make sure the seat pins are locked into the rails and this makes sure that the rails are wide enough to hold the seats.
Cessna addressed this issue by offering free secondary seat stops, which we had installed. We still need to have the rails and rollers inspected every 100 hours.
Since we’ve owned the 210 there has only been one additional AD. Wing Lower Main Spar Caps AD 12-10-04. The wording is a bit confusing, but we don’t need to comply with it until we reach 5,000 hours on the airframe.
Every time the oil is changed, we need to comply with the Oil Filter Adapter Assembly Nut AD 96-12-22. This action requires inspecting the oil filter and adapter assembly for oil leakage and proper installation of the adapter retaining nut and fretting of associated threads.
There is one AD that I comply with on just about every flight and log every so often. I generally do a mag check before shutting down since I’d rather know that I have a foul plug when I just got back rather than when I want to go somewhere. The Bendix Switches AD 76-02-07 adds one more step. It requires that with the engine at normal idle, rotate the switch key or lever through the “OFF” detent to the extreme limit of its travel in the “OFF” direction. If the engine stops firing, this indicates an airworthy switch.
The reason I, as the pilot, can sign off on this AD is because it specifically state as much in the AD itself, “The checks required by this AD may be performed by the pilot.”
Inspection of the oil filter assembly is also specifically allowed to be done and logged by the pilot.
You can search for current ADs at the FAA website. You may have noticed a pattern to the labelling. They start with the year and month. The next two digits aren’t the date but are sequence numbers. If they have been revised the revision number of the current AD follows.
Keeping track of which ADs apply to your aircraft can be difficult if you do it manually. The IAs that I use all subscribe to Tdata. You enter the serial numbers for the aircraft and all of the parts, engine, magnetos, radios, etc. and it tells you which ADs are applicable. The first time you use the system, you need to go through the books to see which ADs have been complied with, which ones don’t apply, and which ones are recurring. After that, it’s pretty easy to keep up.