SAIB CE-04-78

SPECIAL

AIRWORTHINESS

INFORMATION

BULLETIN

Aircraft Certification Service Washington, DC

U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Aviation Administration

CE-04-78 August 17, 2004 www.faa.gov/certification/aircraft This is information only. Recommendations aren’t mandatory.

Introduction

This Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin provides you, owners and operators of New Piper Aircraft Model PA-34, Piper Seneca V, equipped with a Bendix King Avionics package, of a potential safety issue due to the location and readability of the navigation source annunciators. This is applicable to those airplanes that have the navigation source annunciators located on the lower left portion of the instrument panel.

Background

The FAA has determined that the navigation source annunciator display does not follow the recommendations contained in advisory circulars AC 20-130A and AC 20-138, which recommend locating these annunciators in the pilot’s primary field of view for IFR operations. The German Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accident Investigations determined that the location of these displays was a contributing factor to a fatal accident that occurred in Germany in January of 2001. They also recommended that these displays be moved into the pilot’s primary field of view. The FAA agrees that the location of the navigation source annunciators is not ideal; however, after conducting extensive evaluation of this model airplane, it was determined that an Airworthiness Directive to relocate the navigation source annunciators was not required. In addition, the FAA performed a risk assessment in accordance with the Small Airplane Directorate Airworthiness Concern Process Guide.

This risk assessment also supports issuance of a SAIB rather than an AD.

Recommendation

The pilot should confirm the proper selector switch/annunciator use and operation every time the pilot changes the HSI navigation source from VOR/LOC (NAV) to GPS and vice versa. The approach checklist should also be modified to include verification of the selected navigation source during final approach.

For Further Information Contact

Frank Bick, Human Factors Engineer, FAA, Small Airplane Directorate, 901 Locust, Room 301, Kansas City MO 64106; phone: 816-329-4119; fax: 816-329-4090; email: frank.bick@faa.gov