Airworthiness Directives; Air Tractor, Inc. Airplanes
Key claim: The FAA is requiring operators of Air Tractor AT-802 and AT-802A airplanes with Wipaire floats to keep doing crack inspections of the horizontal stabilizer spars and to inspect an additional area where more cracks were found.
Abstract
(Rule · Transportation Department, Federal Aviation Administration) The FAA is superseding Airworthiness Directive (AD) 2024-16- 06, which applied to all Air Tractor, Inc. (Air Tractor) Model AT-802 and AT-802A airplanes with Wipaire, Inc. Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) No. SA01795CH installed. AD 2024-16-06 required repetitively inspecting the left and right, forward and rear, horizontal stabilizer spars for cracks, replacing any horizontal stabilizer spar found cracked or damaged, installing bathtub fittings, and reporting inspection results to the FAA. Since the FAA issued AD 2024-16-06, additional cracks in the horizontal stabilizer spars were reported where the vertical fin structural support brace mounts to the horizontal stabilizer spar. This AD retains all the actions of AD 2024- 16-06 and adds inspections to another area. The FAA is issuing this AD to address the unsafe condition on these products.
Why this matters
Superseding ADs that expand inspection zones after new crack findings illustrate the iterative nature of FAA continued-airworthiness oversight, particularly for aftermarket STC configurations like Wipaire floats that alter structural loading on agricultural aircraft. For AT-802 operators in firefighting and ag-application roles, the added inspection burden has direct operational and safety implications.