Airworthiness Directives; Bell Textron Canada Limited Helicopters
Key claim: Owners of certain Bell Model 222 helicopters must remove a tail-rotor pitch horn that can fail in flight and replace it with a serviceable part, and may not install the affected part on any helicopter.
Abstract
(Rule · Transportation Department, Federal Aviation Administration) The FAA is adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain Bell Textron Canada Limited Model 222 helicopters. The FAA previously sent this AD as an emergency AD to all known U.S. owners and operators of these helicopters. This AD was prompted by a report of in- flight fatigue failure of a tail rotor pitch horn. This AD requires removing the affected tail rotor pitch horn and associated tail rotor pitch links from service and installing a serviceable tail rotor pitch horn and associated tail rotor pitch links. This AD also prohibits installing an affected tail rotor pitch horn on any helicopter. The FAA is issuing this AD to address the unsafe condition on these products.
Why this matters
Tail-rotor pitch horn failure is a flight-critical hazard on helicopters, since loss of tail-rotor pitch control can cause loss of directional control. This AD removes a known-defective part from the Bell 222 fleet and blocks its reinstallation on any airframe, continuing the pattern of FAA rotorcraft ADs targeting single-point-of-failure tail-rotor components.