Summary
The FAA is revising an earlier supplemental NPRM for an airworthiness directive (AD) that applies to certain Airbus Model A318, A319, A320, and A321 airplanes. The first supplemental NPRM would have superseded an existing AD that currently requires repetitive detailed inspections of the inboard flap trunnions for any wear marks and of the sliding panels for any cracking at the long edges, and corrective actions if necessary. These actions resulted from reports of wear damage to the inboard flap trunnions after incorporation of the terminating modification, and certain airplanes were inadvertently excluded from the applicability in the original NPRM. This new action revises the first supplemental NPRM by adding airplanes that were recently added to the type certificate data sheet. We are proposing this second supplemental NPRM to detect and correct wear of the inboard flap trunnions, which could lead to loss of flap surface control and consequently result in the flap detachingfrom the airplane. A detached flap could result in damage to the tail of the airplane.