AC No:39-7D Subject: Airworthiness Directives

[WLIU]

Well, A&P IA's have had to do AD searches for every 100hr and annual inspection since the beginning of time in FAA terms. So they think that you, as the maintainer of the airplane, are just having to do what a normal mechanic does.

What you can do, since you and I spend time on the internet, is go to the FAA web site and sign up for e-mail notice of AD's for the components in your aircraft. Its free. The bad news is that you will get AD's that you don't care about and spend time putting them in the trash bin. But just make a spreadsheet that lists AD's and note "Not Applicable - Part not installed" or something similar for the ones that you do not care about. Even if you have a normal certificated aircraft you legally really can ignore AD's that do not apply to your aircraft, but it might make you feel better to have a record that you know about the AD and intentionally ignored it.

If you modify a part and put it on an experimental airplane, you are no longer bound by the prohibition on preserving the data plate as you have made that part your own. So you can put a new data plate on it or stamp your data on the data plate. After all, you are the manufacturer of the airplane that you build and you make the data plate for that aircraft.

All of that said, some AD's are worth knowing about. Magnetos have a history of different kinds of failures for instance. There have been some AD's on components incorrectly repaired by commercial shops so as to bring down airplanes (bad crankshaft overhaul, etc). So getting AD's in your inbox can be a good thing.

Oh, and the FAA inspectors often treat advisory circulars as guidance to do their work these days. The start in their handbook section of the Flight Standards Information Management System (FSIMS) that is online, but then go in the AC's for stuff that is not completely covered by their internal work instruction. So its not really "just and Advisory Circular". Sorry. Go start reading the FSIMS 8900.1 stuff if you want to see where they start with parts and experimental aircraft.

Fly safe,

Wes
N78PS