Airworthiness Directives; Aerospatiale Model ATR42-500 Series Airplanes

This amendment adopts a new airworthiness directive (AD), applicable to all Aerospatiale Model ATR42-500 series airplanes, that requires revising the Airworthiness Limitations Section of the Instructions for Continued Airworthiness to incorporate life limits for certain items and inspections to detect fatigue cracking in certain structures. This amendment is prompted by issuance of a new revision of the "Time Limits" section of the ATR42-400/500 Maintenance Planning Document, which specifies new inspections and compliance times for inspection and replacement actions. The actions specified by this AD are intended to ensure that fatigue cracking of certain structural elements is detected and corrected; such fatigue cracking could adversely affect the structural integrity of these airplanes.