Summary
This action withdraws a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) that proposed a new airworthiness directive (AD), applicable to certain EMBRAER Model EMB-120 series airplanes. That action would have required repetitive calibration testing of potentiometers to detect noisy signals, replacement of only those with noisy signals, and reporting results of the calibration tests of the potentiometers and the readouts of the flight data recorder (FDR) to the airplane manufacturer. Since the issuance of the NPRM, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has determined that while a noisy or defective potentiometer may hamper the ability to access certain aircraft data in support of either an accident or incident investigation or just general maintenance activities, there is no direct effect on the aircraft's ability to be operated safely. Accordingly, the proposed rule is withdrawn.