Airworthiness Directives; The Boeing Company Airplanes

We are adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain The Boeing Company Model 737-700 and -700C series airplanes. This AD was prompted by reports of early fatigue cracks at chem-mill areas on the crown skin panels. This AD requires repetitive inspections for cracking of the fuselage skin at certain locations at chem-mill areas, and repair if necessary. We are issuing this AD to detect and correct fatigue cracking of the skin panel at the specified chem-mill step locations, which could result in rapid decompression of the airplane.