FAA Issues AD on Bell Rotorcraft

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has amended an Airworthiness Directive regarding Bell Helicopter Model 205A, 205A-1, 205B, 212, 412, 412CF, and 412EP helicopters. This amendment supersedes an existing AD that requires inspection of  tail rotor blade forward tip weight retention blocks and aft tip closures for adhesive bond voids, and removal from service any blades with an excessive void. That AD also requires modifying certain blades by installing shear pins and tip closure rivets. This amendment contains the same requirements but expands the applicability to include other part and serial-numbered blades. This AD also clarifies the requirement to re-identify the modified blade by adding "FM" after the part number and also requires dynamically balancing the tail rotor. The existing AD was prompted by five occurrences of missing tip blocks or tip closures resulting in minor to substantial damage. This amendment was prompted by the determination that the AD should apply to other affected part and serial-numbered blades. The actions specified by this AD are intended to prevent loss of a tip block or tip closure, loss of a blade and subsequent loss of control of the helicopter. The FAA estimates that this AD will affect 281 helicopters of U.S. registry. The required actions will take about three hours of work per helicopter. to inspect certain blades, install the shear pins and tip closure rivets, The FAA estimates the total cost impact of the AD on U.S. operators to be $77,275.