Airworthiness Directives; Airbus Model A300, A300-600, A310, A330, and A340 Series Airplanes

This document publishes in the Federal Register an amendment adopting Airworthiness Directive (AD) T95-01-51 that was sent previously to all known U.S. owners and operators of Airbus Model A300, A300-600, A310, A330, and A340 series airplanes by individual telegrams. This AD requires an inspection of the sliding side windows in the cockpit to identify the part number of the windows. For airplanes on which a certain suspect window is installed, this AD requires either deactivation of the sliding window defogging system; or installation of thermo-sensitive indicators, daily inspections of those indicators, and deactivation of the defogging system, if necessary; or replacement of the window with a serviceable window. This amendment is prompted by reports of fracture of the sliding side window in the cockpit, due to thermal stress created by overheating of the wires of the heating element in a localized area. The actions specified by this AD are intended to prevent such fractures, which could lead to rupture of a cockpit sliding window and subsequent rapid decompression of the fuselage.