The bulletin
Text extracted from the PDF.
SPECIAL
AIRWORTHINESS
INFORMATION
BULLETIN Aircraft Certification Service Washington, DC U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Aviation Administration No. SW-02-16 February 19, 2002 We post SAIBs on the internet at "av-info.faa.gov" This is information only. Recommendations are not mandatory.
Introduction This Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin (SAIB) informs you, a registered owner or operator, of an aircraft with certain Weber Aircraft, Inc. Model 4000 seats installed, of the potential that seat spreader tubes may crack and fail possibly resulting in an injury to an occupant. These seats are approved to Technical Standard Order C-39b and generally installed on large, transport category airplanes. The FAA has received two reports of the tubes failing, one of which resulted in the re-routing of an aircraft in flight.
Background In 1996 and 1997, Weber released service information letter SIL 1285 (Revision New, 12/96 and Revision 1, 1/97) and service bulletin 849598-25-1335 (Initial Release, 7/23/1997) notifying customers of the potential for the spreader tube to crack and recommending that either the tube be replaced or a doubler be added. The service bulletin contains all the necessary information regarding the replacement or modification. The FAA has recently received a report of a similar incident in December 2001. In that seat, the spreader tube had not been modified or replaced.
Recommendation The FAA recommends that you replace the spreader tube in accordance with Weber service bulletin 849598-25-1335. Failure to do so could result in the spreader tube cracking possibly leading to injury of an occupant sitting in the seat. To obtain a copy of the service information, please contact Don Westbrook, Weber Aircraft, at (940) 668-4117.
For Further Information Contact Rob Romero, Aerospace Engineer, FAA Ft. Worth ACO, 2601 Meacham Blvd, ASW-150, Ft. Worth, TX 76193, telephone: (817) 222-5102, fax: (817) 222-5960, e-mail:
robert.a.romero@faa.gov