SAIB CE-04-52

SPECIAL

AIRWORTHINESS

INFORMATION

BULLETIN

Aircraft Certification Service Washington, DC

U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Aviation Administration

CE-04-52 February 13, 2004 www.faa.gov/certification/aircraft This is information only. Recommendations aren’t mandatory.

Introduction

This Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin (SAIB) alerts you, owners and operators of Pilatus Aircraft Ltd. PC-12 and PC-12/45 airplanes, with any Manufacturer Serial Numbers (MSN), that the Federal Office for Civil Aviation (FOCA) of Switzerland has issued an Emergency Swiss Airworthiness Directive (AD) No. HB 2004-048, dated February 7, 2004. The Emergency AD requires, before further flight, the incorporation of OPERATIONAL LIMITATIONS revisions into Section 2 of the PILATUS PC-12 Pilot’s Operating Handbook (POH). The applicable temporary revisions are identified as Temporary Revision No.11 (Report No: 02211) or No. 40 (Report No:

01973-001) of the applicable Pilatus PC-12 POH.

Background

The FOCA issued Swiss Airworthiness Directive (AD) prompted by occurrences on a PC-12 airplane where an abrupt nose down pitch occurred following disconnection of the autopilot during an instrument landing system (ILS) approach. Investigations have shown that when the flaps are at 40°, and if the autopilot is disconnected, there is a possibility that an out of trim condition could occur and result in reduced controllability of the airplane.

As a temporary measure, the FOCA Airworthiness Directive (AD) requires revising the Limitations Section of the Pilot’s Operating Handbook (POH) to include an instruction to disengage the autopilot before selecting 40° of flaps.

Recommendation

We urgently recommend that you incorporate the POH Limitations Section temporary revisions as soon as possible. We also request that operators report any similar occurrences they may have experienced to the FAA at the below address.

For Further Information Contact

Doug Rudolph, FAA, Small Airplane Directorate, ACE 112, 901 Locust, Room 301, Kansas City, MO 64106; phone: (816) 329-4059; fax: (816) 329-4090; email: doug.rudolph@faa.gov

You can get copies of Pilatus POH revisions Pilatus Aircraft Ltd.: Customer Liaison Manager, CH- 6371 STANS, Switzerland; phone: 011 41 41 619 6319; fax 011 41 41 619 6224.