FAA Orders Bolt Checks on Fancy Airbus A350 Jets
Published Date: 4/29/2025
Proposed Rule
Summary
The FAA wants to make sure certain Airbus A350 airplanes stay safe by checking some bolts that might have problems. They’re asking for inspections and fixes if needed, based on European safety rules. Airlines and maintenance teams should act before June 13, 2025, to avoid any safety risks, but no big costs are expected right now.
Analyzed Economic Effects
3 provisions identified: 1 benefits, 2 costs, 0 mixed.
Mandatory inspections for certain A350 pylons
If you operate certain Airbus A350-941 or -1041 airplanes (those with serial numbers listed in Airbus Service Bulletin A350-54-P011, dated July 4, 2024), you must perform a special detailed inspection of the 2 pylon bolts at rib 9 (left and right) and do any required repairs per EASA AD 2024-0234. Corrective actions must be done on a timeline that ranges from before the next flight up to 3,000 flight cycles after the inspection. The FAA estimates this inspection takes 8 work-hours at $85/hour ($680 per airplane) and that 17 U.S.-registered airplanes are affected (total estimated cost to U.S. operators: $11,560).
Repair approval and before-flight repair rule
If any cracking is found during the required inspections, this FAA AD requires that the cracking be repaired before further flight using a repair method approved by the FAA Manager, AIR-520; or EASA; or Airbus SAS's EASA Design Organization Approval (DOA). If approved by the DOA, the approval must include the DOA-authorized signature.
FAA removes EASA reporting requirement
EASA AD 2024-0234 asks operators to submit certain information to the manufacturer, but this FAA proposed AD explicitly does not include that reporting requirement. That means operators do not have to send the EASA-specified report to the manufacturer under this FAA AD.
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