The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has announced that up to 574 Boeing 767 aircraft may require landing gear inspections as part of an Airworthiness Directive (AD).
The AD, issued on January 8, 2025, raised concerns over landing gear on US-registered 767-200s, 767-300s and 767-300 Freighters following an incident during maintenance.
According to the FAA, the AD was “prompted by a report of a main landing gear (MLG) collapse event following maintenance where a grinder was operating outside of its input parameters, resulting in possible heat damage to the outer cylinder of the MLG”.
The AD, which is effective from February 12, 2025, follows on from a Boeing Alert Requirements Bulletin issued in 2024, advising Boeing 767 operators of the issue and how to address it.
In the bulletin dated February 6, 2024, operators were told to carry out checks within 30 months to establish whether the left and right MLG Outer Cylinders have affected serial numbers.
All MLG Outer Cylinders found to be affected will need to be replaced within either 30, 46 or 130 months after the bulletin issue date, depending on the serial number.
The FAA said: “The FAA is issuing this AD to address any heat damage to the outer cylinder of the landing gear, which could result in the inability of a principal structural element to sustain limit load, gear collapse resulting in loss of control of the airplane, and potential for off-runway excursion.”
The AD confirms that the FAA concurs with the checks outlined in Boeing’s bulletin from February 2024.
1 comment
So the issue is so critical they have up to 30 months/2.5 years to inspect for it, and up to 130 months/10+ years to replace it.
Not sure why this is an AD, based on the apparent lack of criticality.
Sure seems to make Boeing look bad however.