Home Newsflashes Newsflash NPRM – Cirrus Brake Fires
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NPRM – Cirrus Brake Fires |
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Monday, 08 May 2006 |
Due to four brake fires and two aircraft losing directional control (Cirrus SR20 and SR22), Cirrus Aircraft issued Service Bulletins in December and January to address this issue. Owners were required to upgrade the brakes and modify fairings.
The FAA has gone one step further and issued a Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) requiring the replacement of brake calipers or piston O-ring seals. Brake caliper replacement if required is approximately $2,700. SUMMARY: The FAA proposes to adopt a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain Cirrus Design Corporation (CDC) Model SR20 and SR22 airplanes. This proposed AD would require you to check the maintenance records to determine whether the brake caliper piston O-ring seals were replaced at the last annual or 100-hour inspection. If the O-rings were not replaced, this proposed AD would require you to replace the O-ring seals with new seals or replace brake calipers. This proposed AD would also require you to modify the main landing gear wheel fairings to add temperature indicator sticker inspection holes, trim the wheel fairings to prevent them from holding fluids, install temperature indicator stickers on the brake calipers, and insert Revision A6 (with revised preflight walk-around and taxi procedures) into the Pilot's Operating Handbook (POH). This proposed AD results from several reports of airplanes experiencing brake fires and two airplanes losing directional control. We are issuing this proposed AD to detect, correct, and prevent overheating damage to the brake caliper piston O-ring seals, which could result in leakage of brake hydraulic fluid. Consequently, this could lead to the loss of braking with loss of airplane directional control or brake fire. Comments are invited and must be received by the FAA by July 10. |
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