Airworthiness Directives; Airbus Airplanes
We are adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain Airbus Model A330-200, -200 Freighter and -300 series airplanes; and Model A340-200 and -300 series airplanes. This AD was prompted by reports of spurious terrain awareness warning system (TAWS) alerts during approach and takeoff for airplanes fitted with the terrain and traffic collision avoidance system with transponder (T3CAS) when the T3CAS is constantly powered "ON" for more than 149 hours. This AD requires repetitive on-ground power cycle of the T3CAS. We are issuing this AD to prevent spurious TAWS alerts (collision prediction and alerting (CPA)), or missing legitimate CPA, which could increase flight crew workload during critical landing or takeoff phases, and could possibly result in reduced control of the airplane.