Airworthiness Directives; Fairchild Aircraft, Inc. SA226 and SA227 Series Airplanes

This amendment supersedes Airworthiness Directive (AD) 96-21- 05, which currently requires the following on certain Fairchild Aircraft, Inc. (Fairchild) SA226 and SA227 series airplanes that do not have a certain elevator torque tube installed: drilling inspection access holes in the elevator torque tube arm, inspecting the elevator torque tube for corrosion, replacing any corroded elevator torque tube, and applying a corrosion preventive compound. AD 96-21-05 resulted from several reports of corrosion found in the elevator torque tube area on the affected airplanes. This AD retains the actions required by AD 96- 21-05, and adds certain Fairchild Model SA227-BC airplanes to the Applicability section of that AD. The actions specified by this AD are intended to prevent failure of the flight control system caused by a corroded elevator torque tube, which could result in loss of control of the airplane.