SAIB 2026-15

FAA Aviation Safety

SPECIAL AIRWORTHINESS

INFORMATION BULLETIN SUBJ: Forward Pressure Bulkhead SAIB: 2026-15 Date: September 9, 2026 This is information only. Recommendations aren’t mandatory.

Introduction

This Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin (SAIB) informs owners and operators of cracking and missing rivets along the forward pressure bulkhead on Ontic Engineering and Manufacturing Inc. (Ontic) SA226 and SA227 series airplanes. The type certificates for these aircraft were formerly held by Swearingen, Fairchild Aircraft, and M7 Aerospace. Some of these models are commercially referred to as Merlin, Metro, and Metroliner aircraft.

At this time, the airworthiness concern is not an unsafe condition that would warrant airworthiness directive (AD) action under Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR) part 39.

Background

An operator reported cracks on an SA226-TC airplane at the forward face of the fuselage station (FS)

69.31 forward pressure bulkhead around two rivet holes. During development of the repair, it was revealed that the bulkhead web was also missing several rivets when compared to the production drawing. During production build of the airplane, it appears that several rivets were not installed and this has contributed to cracking at adjacent rivets. Inspected airplanes may only have the missing rivets while other airplanes may have developed cracks. While it is unknown how many aircraft are affected, this condition is likely to exist on SA226 and SA227 series airplanes based on similar design.

Recommendations

The FAA recommends that operators inspect their airplane for cracks and/or missing rivets, and take corrective actions as necessary, in accordance with the following service information, as applicable to the airplane:

• Ontic Service Bulletin 226-53-019.

• Ontic Service Bulletin 227-53-014.

• Ontic Service Letter CC7-SL-067.

For Further Information Contact

Lekebis Russell, Aviation Safety Engineer, 1701 Columbia Ave, College Park, GA 30337; phone:

(404) 474-5510; email: Lekebis.M.Russell@faa.gov.

For Related Service Information Contact

Ontic Engineering and Manufacturing, Inc., 1176 Telecom Dr, Creedmoor, NC 27522; phone: (919) 956-4200; email: metroliner@ontic.com; website: metromerlin.com.