Airworthiness Directives; The Boeing Company Airplanes

We are superseding Airworthiness Directive (AD) 2009-14-02 for certain The Boeing Company Model 747-100, 747-100B, 747-100B SUD, 747- 200B, 747-200C, 747-200F, 747-300, 747-400, 747-400D, 747-400F, 747SR, and 747SP series airplanes. AD 2009-14-02 required repetitive inspections for wear damage and cracks of the fuselage skin in the interface area of the vertical stabilizer seal and fuselage skin, a detailed inspection for wear damage and cracks of the surface of any skin repair doubler in the area, and corrective actions if necessary. For airplanes on which the fuselage skin has been blended to remove wear damage, AD 2009-14-02 also required repetitive external detailed inspections or high frequency eddy current inspections for cracks of the blended area of the fuselage skin, and corrective actions if necessary. This new AD reduces the repetitive inspection interval, changes certain corrective actions, and expands the applicability. This AD was prompted by a report of wear through the fuselage skin that occurred sooner than the previous repetitive inspection interval. We are issuing this AD to detect and correct wear damage and cracks of the fuselage skin in the interface area of the vertical stabilizer seal and fuselage skin in sections 46 and 48, which could cause in-flight depressurization of the airplane.