FAA have published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on the replacement of main rotor blades on both R22 & R44 not using current specification main rotor blades.
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2013...2013-04217.pdf
Proposed time of compliance is 5 years but we all recall the process on the R44 Bladder Tanks which started with compliance by 31 December 2014 which then came back to 31 December 2013 and back again to 30 April 2013. We have yet to discover what will happen to R44s after end of April.
R44 Bladder Tanks are not yet an AD but they could easily become such. Even if this does not happen R44 owners and schools hiring them out will place themselves at increased risk in the event of a serious accident. Lawyers may claim that the owner/school were negligent in ignoring a safety recommendation made by Robinson having been given adequate time to do so.
Fuel tanks, blades, whatever next?