Summary
The FAA proposes to supersede an existing airworthiness directive (AD) for Aviointeriors S.p.A. (formerly ALVEN), series 312 seats. That AD currently requires initial and repetitive inspections of the seat central crossmember for cracks, and if necessary, replacing the crossmember with a new crossmember. This proposed AD would require the same actions and would add other crossmember part numbers for inspection. In addition, this proposed AD would replace the original design crossmembers with reinforced design crossmembers as optional terminating actions to the repetitive inspections. This proposed AD results from reports of 88 cracked seat central crossmembers and 60 aisle side crossmembers, to date, and from the introduction of reinforced seat crossmembers by the manufacturer. We are proposing this AD to prevent the loss of the structural integrity of the seat due to cracks in seat crossmembers.