Summary
The FAA proposes to supersede an existing airworthiness directive (AD) for certain Airbus Model A320 series airplanes. That AD currently requires repetitive inspections to detect fatigue cracking in certain areas of the fuselage, and corrective action if necessary. That AD also provides for an optional terminating action for the repetitive inspections. This proposed AD would reduce the compliance threshold and repetitive intervals for the inspections required by the existing AD, and would reduce the allowable time for the optional terminating action. This proposed AD is prompted by a full-scale fatigue survey on the Model A320 fleet. We are proposing this AD to detect and correct fatigue cracking of the fuselage, which could result in reduced structural integrity of the airplane.