Is AD 2012-10-03 a recurring Airworthiness Directive?

Yes — AD 2012-10-03 requires a repetitive inspection. Next-due depends on the aircraft's time in service.

Which aircraft does AD 2012-10-03 apply to?

AD 2012-10-03 applies to Boeing — models 747-100, 747-100B, 747-200B, 747-200C, 747-200F, 747-300, 747SR, 747SP. Serial/part conditions may narrow it to specific aircraft.

Airworthiness Directive 2012-10-03

recurring

Official AD 2012-10-03 · FR doc 2012-11869 · 2012-05-21 · airframe

Airworthiness Directives; The Boeing Company Airplanes

What this AD requires

We are superseding an existing airworthiness directive (AD) for certain The Boeing Company Model 747 series airplanes. That AD currently requires repetitive inspections for cracks of the fuselage skin lap splice between body station (BS) 400 and BS 520 at stringers S-6L and S-6R, and repair if necessary. This new AD shortens the interval for the repetitive inspections, requires modification for certain airplanes, and requires certain post-modification inspections for other airplanes. This AD was prompted by reports of multiple adjacent cracks on an airplane, and a recent fleet-wide evaluation of widespread fatigue damage of skin lap joints, which indicated the need for revised procedures and reduced compliance times. We are issuing this AD to detect and correct cracking of the fuselage skin lap splice between BS 400 and BS 520 at stringers S-6L and S-6R, which could result in sudden loss of cabin pressurization and the inability of the fuselage to withstand fail-safe loads.

Repetitive inspection. Re-inspect. The next-due date/hours depend on this aircraft’s time in service — a records report computes it from the logbooks.

Which aircraft AD 2012-10-03 applies to

MakesBoeing

Models747-100, 747-100B, 747-200B, 747-200C, 747-200F, 747-300, 747SR, 747SP, 747

Applies only to airplanes identified in Boeing Service Bulletin 747-53A2303, Revision 2, dated October 1, 2009.

Whether AD 2012-10-03 actually applies to your aircraft (by serial and installed parts) and whether it’s already complied with comes from that aircraft’s records.

How AD compliance is recorded

A valid compliance record (14 CFR 43.9) states:

Method of compliance — The specific action taken (inspected, replaced, modified) and to what revision.

Date — When the work was done.

Aircraft time — Total time in service / tach at compliance — how recurring next-due is computed.

Signature & certificate — The A&P/IA who returned it to service, with certificate number.

Is AD 2012-10-03 complied with on your aircraft?

Tailplate reads a tail number’s logbooks and matches every applicable AD — including this one — to its compliance evidence, with recurring next-due dates computed.

Look up a tail number →Read the full directive (Federal Register)

Applicability is derived from the FAA directive corpus and is advisory, not a legal airworthiness determination. Compliance is established only from an aircraft’s actual records.