Airworthiness Directive
2003-265/2

Luftfahrt-Bundesamt
Airworthiness Directive Section Hermann-Blenk-Str. 26 38108 Braunschweig GERMANY

This Airworthiness Directive supersedes the Airworthiness Directives 2001-265 of 16 September 2003

Schempp-Hirth
Affected: Kind of aeronautical product: Manufacturer: Type: Models affected: Serial numbers affected: German Type Certificate No.:

Effective Date: 02 October 2003
Powered Sailplane Schempp-Hirth Flugzeugbau GmbH, Kirchheim/Teck, GERMANY Discus bT Discus bT S/Nos.: 77, 106, 146, 151 through 154, 156, 158, 161 and 162 863

Subject: Failure of wing due to manufacturing defects.
Reason: During a flight in turbulent weather conditions a sailplane Discus CS entered an uncontrolled very steep flight attitude followed by a rough recovering action with an in-flight break-up of the outer wing part (3.6 m from tip). At the broken section a failure in the bonding of the spar cap and the spar web could be identified. For safety reasons all sailplanes and powered sailplanes with these wings have been grounded with the Luftfahrt-Bundesamt Airworthiness Directive 2003-265 as temporary measure. The actions specified by this Airworthiness Directive are intended to prevent wing failure which can result in loss of control of the powered sailplane.
Action: Within the scope of this Airworthiness Directive, the following actions are required:
1. The bonding between the upper spar cap and the spar web are to be checked according to the instructions in the appendix of the mentioned Technical Note.
2. Defects in the spar cap and spar web bonding are to be repaired according to the instructions in the appendix of this Technical Note.
3. After completion of the check or respective repair – if the ailerons were removed - the ailerons are to be reinstalled and the aileron deflections are to be checked.
4. For information only the report of an executed repair should be sent to the manufacturer.
All necessary actions must be performed on the basis of the mentioned manufacturer Technical Note.
Compliance: All necessary actions must be performed before the next flight.
Technical publication of the manufacturer: SCHEMPP-HIRTH Technical Note No. 360-21 and 863-9 dated September 25, 2003. This Technical Note becomes herewith part of this AD and can be obtained by the manufacturer under the mentioned address.
SCHEMPP-HIRTH Flugzeugbau GmbH Straße: 73230 Kirchheim/Teck GERMANY Phone +49-7021-7298-0 Facsimile +49-7021-7298-199

Enquiries regarding this Airworthiness Directive should be referred to Mr. Martin Borsum, Airworthiness Directive Section, at the above address, faxno. 0049 531/2355-720. Please note, that in case of any difficulty, reference should be made to the German issue!
LTA´s / AD´s and Technical Notes are published on the internet at http://www.lba.de
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