Airworthiness Directives; The Boeing Company Airplanes

We are superseding Airworthiness Directive (AD) 2006-20-11 for certain The Boeing Company Model 757-200, -200CB, and -200PF series airplanes. AD 2006-20-11 required initial and repetitive detailed or high frequency eddy current (HFEC) inspections for cracks around the rivets at the upper fastener row of the skin lap splice of the fuselage, and repair of any crack found. This new AD no longer allows the detailed inspections and instead requires repetitive external HFEC inspections for cracking of the skin lap splices of the fuselage, and repair if necessary. This AD was prompted by an evaluation done by the design approval holder (DAH) indicating that the fuselage skin lap splice is subject to widespread fatigue damage (WFD). We are issuing this AD to detect and correct fatigue cracking at certain skin lap splice locations of the fuselage, which could result in reduced structural integrity and rapid decompression of the airplane.