Service bulletins and Airworthiness directives
 

Can anybody recommend a source for looking up AD and SB for Airbus aircraft?

Airbus AD's and SB's
 

Tubby,
Bit suprised that an ATPL is asking this, but here goes.

Airworthiness Directives can only be issued by an Aviation Authority, and are issued by:

a) the Airworthiness Authority of the State of Design (e.g. EASA for Airbus airframes, EASA for Snecma engines, FAA for CF6's, Transport Canada for DHC 8 airframes and PT6's etc)

b) the Airworthiness Authority of the State of Registration (e.g. FAA for 'N' reg, EASA for EU reg, Transport Canada for CF and C reg)

Service Bulletins are issued by the Manufacturers of either the main assembly (e.g. Airbus for airframe), or of installed equipment (e.g. Rolls-Royce for engines, Honeywell for avionics, etc)

If an Authority (e.g. FAA, EASA) consider an issue to be of potential risk to the safety of the aircraft/crew/pax, then that Authority may raise an AD. The AD may incorporate a Manufacturers SB, but this is not always the case.

AD's may be reviewed for free from most Authority websites (e.g. www.faa.gov for the FAA AD's, http//.ad.easa.europa.eu for EASA AD's.

Service Bulletins are the Manufacturers Intellectual Property, and you generally have to pay for this to access the information.

If you are in an airline enviornment, go see your Technical Documentation department or Quality Control department and ask to see the relevant SB's you are thinking of. After all, your employer has paid for them.

Hope this helps.

camlobe

Camlobe,
Thank you for the info.What I am looking for is a list of the current SB and AD that affect my A300-605r.I am surprised that you think it odd an ATPL holder asks this.Generally as a pilot I am presented with an aircraft to fly and a techlog.
I have to make sure that the aircraft is safe and legal to fly and this is achieved through looking at the log.The fact that it had an A6 check for example is recorded in the log as is some of the work that took place.The fact that it had an AD or an SB looked at on the check disappears into the deeper records that a pilot never sees.As a pilot workforce we are largely divorced from the maintenance side apart from meeting an engineer or technician on the turn-round.My aircraft is aging and I personally would like to know more about which bits are not ageing gracefully!
Do any of the sites mentioned offer a search by aircraft type facility?

I would question why a pilot would want to see such an extensive list of problems with his aircraft when it is not in normal interest to see it and normally beyond comprehension without all the relevant maintenance manuals?
Technically too deep for pilots?

Yes the EASA one allows you to search AD's simply go here

EASA Airworthiness Directives Publishing Tool

The link above by Camlobe is wrong it is missing the : do a search top left for A300, you will then get a list of them all, you will need to do seperate searches for the Engines and any equipment etc.......... life couldn't be simple for us could it.

Why not just simply ask your tech services dept to give you their listings?

For the SB: expect a list with several hundred Items (incl. the revisions):}

Are you going to roll your wickle piwot sleevey weevey's up and fix all the bits that aren't ageing gracefully then?:p

Tubby,

I wouldn't pay too much attention to some of the clowns in the first row. From my perspective as a mechanic, I'd prefer that more pilots saw fit to delve deeper into the airplane systems and maintenance. From my perspective as a pilot, I'd prefer that morepilots saw fit to delve deeper into the airplane systems and maintenance.

The sources already provided you will work fine. However, as others have stated, it's hard to get much just from the raw AD's or SB's. Additionally, while AD's are mandatory, SB's aren't, and can represent everything from the mundant to the optional to the necessary that will eventually become an AD. Without the ability to compare it to a mx manual and to equipment that's installed on a specific aircraft, and verify the effectivity (applicability) of the AD or SB to the aircraft, airframe, component, appliance, or part, then just seeing the AD doesn't do you much good. First, you need to find out which ones apply, and that usually doesn't come from simply viewing the AD.

Thank you to all of those who have posted constructive commments.:ok:

TL, if you drop by the line engineers office im sure someone will be more than happy to log you onto the airbus site and you can obtain any AD SB you wish

In case of SB's not being mandatory, there was a case in the states were a overhaul shop failed to carry out a SB at overhaul and legal action was taken. AD's take the guessing out of it.

One must beware as with Agusta they couple what should be a TB with there SB's.

Have to agree with smudgethecat, ask and you will recieve. But don't dig too deep you will just cause yourself a lot of head ache and distress. In Australia Ad's MUST be carried out in the conditions set forth in the ad and i don't know of an engineer i work with or have worked with that would just pen one off, SB's on the other hand come down to the system of maintenance and purely if the company feels like carring them out, as set forth in the regs that a mandatory sb is "highly recomended by the manufacturer"

I feel that in this industry we work on trust and if you cant trust your maint org to get it right i suggest to you that you change companies or choose a different profession.

Looking up raw data on the internet wouldn't be terribly useful tubby. Far better to discuss the assessment and recommendations with the technical chaps who review them and make recommendations.

At my previous employer, Tech Services were in regular contact with the Fleet Technical Pilots and they often came over to discuss technical issues with us directly. We even had them or their deputies attend Reliability Meetings as observers. Reliability monitoring is an AMP requirement and most operators produce a Reliability Report. You might wish to track down the people who produce yours and ask to be put on the distribution list.

While it would be disruptive to have all the company pilots wandering into Tech Services willy-nilly, we generally welcome interest by aircrew in the engineering of their everyday office space. ;)



I recall a lot of years ago, a pilot coming into the hangar to see some work in action. As he strode into the totally stripped out flight deck he fell straight through the hole where the floor would usually be. "Bloody Hell! I didn't realise you stripped them down this far!" quoth he. :}

AD and SB statements.
 

Tubby,
To get an overview of an aircraft's status. You need to speak to your tech services dept. Ask for AD satements for Airframe, Engine and Equipment. These statements will only apply to a particular registration. This will tell you if the AD is complied with and when or if it open and when it is due or if it is a repeat inspection the last completed and next due.
This infomation is reviewed at the Certificate of Airworthiness renewal or ARC review by the national aviation authority or an approved company. At this time a sample check will be made of worksheets to check if they agree with the statements. No new C of A if they don't.
It's nice to know pilots are concerned, but I really think you are going in too deep. Rest assured your maintenance team are looking after your best interests.:)