Airworthiness Directives; The Boeing Company Airplanes

We are superseding Airworthiness Directive (AD) 2008-17-03 for certain The Boeing Company Model 737-100, -200, -200C, -300, -400, and -500 series airplanes. AD 2008-17-03 required repetitive inspections to detect fuselage frame cracking, and corrective action if necessary. AD 2008-17-03 also provided for optional terminating action (repair/ preventive change) for the repetitive inspections. This new AD adds airplanes to the applicability, but does not provide terminating action for the newly added airplanes. This AD was prompted by reports of cracks found at the cutout in the web of body station frame 303.9 inboard of stringer 16L, as well as a new report of cracking found on an airplane not identified in the applicability of AD 2008-17-03. We are issuing this AD to detect and correct fuselage frame cracking, which could prevent the left forward entry door from sealing correctly, and could cause in-flight decompression of the airplane.