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

The FAA is superseding an existing airworthiness directive (AD), which applies to certain Airbus Model A300-600, A310-200, and A310-300 series airplanes. That AD currently requires inspecting for certain serial numbers on elevators, and doing a detailed inspection, visual inspection with a low-angle light, and tap-test inspection of the upper and lower surfaces of the external skins on certain identified elevators for any damage (i.e., debonding of the graphite fiber reinforced plastic/Tedlar film protection, bulges, debonding of the honeycomb core to the carbon fiber reinforced plastic, abnormal surface reflections, and torn-out plies), and doing corrective actions if necessary. This new AD also requires inspecting for damage of the identified elevators in accordance with a new repetitive inspection program, at new repetitive intervals; and would provide an optional terminating action for the repetitive inspections. This AD results from reports of damage caused by moisture/water inside the elevator. We are issuing this AD to detect and correct debonding of the skins on the elevators, which could cause reduced structural integrity of an elevator and reduced controllability of the airplane.