Airworthiness Directives; The Boeing Company Airplanes

The FAA is superseding Airworthiness Directive (AD) 2013-18- 08, which applied to certain The Boeing Company Model 737-200, -200C, - 300, -400, and -500 series airplanes. AD 2013-18-08 required repetitive inspections for cracking of certain skin panels of the fuselage, and of the fuselage skin along certain chem-milled lines, and corrective actions if necessary. AD 2013-18-08 also included a terminating action for the repetitive inspections of certain areas. This AD retains those actions, expands the nondestructive inspection (NDI) area, and adds airplanes to the applicability. This AD was prompted by reports of additional cracking in certain horizontal and vertical chem-milled step locations outside of those identified in AD 2013-18-08. The FAA is issuing this AD to address the unsafe condition on these products.