Airworthiness Directives; Learjet Model 45 Airplanes

The FAA is adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain Learjet Model 45 airplanes. This AD requires a review of airplane maintenance records to determine whether inspections identified by certain inspection reference numbers (IRNs) have been done. If any IRN has not been done, this AD requires doing an inspection of the inside of the wet wing fuel areas and the fuel pump screens for tape and adhesive tape residue, cleaning the low pressure fuel filter, determining whether tape or adhesive residue is present, doing an inspection of the filter for damage before installation, and applicable corrective actions if necessary. In addition, this AD requires sending the review and inspection results to the FAA. This AD results from reports of tape found in the wing fuel tanks. We are issuing this AD to prevent blocked fuel passages and fuel pump screens and the inability of the flightcrew to transfer fuel from one wing tank to the other tank due to tape in the wing fuel tanks, which could result in a fuel imbalance and consequent failure of an engine; and to prevent contaminated fuel pump screens, engine fuel controls, and fuel nozzles, due to tape adhesive dissolving in the fuel, which could result in potential erroneous readings of the fuel quantity indication system.