Airworthiness Directives; Piper Aircraft, Inc. Airplanes

The FAA is superseding Airworthiness Directive (AD) 78-02-03, which applied to all Piper Aircraft, Inc. (Piper) Model PA-23-250 airplanes. AD 78-02-03 required repetitively inspecting the stabilator tip tube and weight assemblies for cracks, inspecting for missing rivets and screws, replacing the forward rib/horn assemblies, and reinforcing the mounting. Since AD 78-02-03 was issued, Piper developed a newly-designed stabilator, which is not subject to the unsafe condition, and revised its service information. This AD retains the actions of AD 78-02-03, but reduces the applicability and requires the actions in the revised service information. The FAA is issuing this AD to address the unsafe condition on these products.