Airworthiness Directives; The Boeing Company Airplanes
Key claim: Boeing 787 operators must replace leading-edge outboard slat geared rotary actuators with lockout actuators and add a new certification maintenance requirement, which ends the earlier repetitive checks, and some airplanes are dropped from the rule.
Abstract
(Rule · Transportation Department, Federal Aviation Administration) The FAA is superseding Airworthiness Directive (AD) 2019-20- 07, which applied to The Boeing Company Model 787-8, 787-9, and 787-10 airplanes. AD 2019-20-07 required repetitive operational checks of the leading edge (LE) outboard (OB) slats and applicable on-condition actions. AD 2019-20-07 also required revising the airplane flight manual (AFM) to prohibit flap retraction under icing conditions after landing and revising the existing maintenance or inspection program, as applicable, to incorporate a new operation check. This AD was prompted by the manufacturer developing further actions to address the unsafe condition. This AD continues to require all requirements of AD 2019-20- 07. This AD would also require replacing the LE outboard geared rotary actuator (GRA) with a LE outboard lockout actuator (LEOLA) at leading edge OB slat locations and revising the existing maintenance or inspection program, as applicable, to incorporate a new certification maintenance requirement (CMR), which terminates the retained requirements of AD 2019-20-07. This AD also removes airplanes from the applicability. The FAA is issuing this AD to address the unsafe condition on these products.
Why this matters
This AD shifts the 787 outboard slat fix from recurring inspections to a one-time hardware swap plus a certification maintenance requirement, reducing ongoing operator burden while locking in the structural remedy. It is a routine but concrete example of how the FAA retires repetitive-check regimes once a terminating modification is approved, and of how applicability narrows as fleet data matures.