Is AD 2015-17-12 a recurring Airworthiness Directive?

Yes — AD 2015-17-12 requires a repetitive inspection. Next-due depends on the aircraft's time in service.

Which aircraft does AD 2015-17-12 apply to?

AD 2015-17-12 applies to Cessna Aircraft Company — models 500, 501, 550, 551, S550, 560, 650. Serial/part conditions may narrow it to specific aircraft.

Airworthiness Directive 2015-17-12

recurring

Official AD 2015-17-12 · FR doc 2015-20692 · 2015-08-25 · airframe

Airworthiness Directives; Cessna Aircraft Company Airplanes

What this AD requires

We are adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain Cessna Aircraft Company Model 500, 501, 550, 551, S550, 560, and 650 airplanes. This AD was prompted by reports of smoke and/or fire in the tailcone caused by sparking due to excessive wear of the brushes in the air conditioning (A/C) motor. This AD requires inspections to determine if certain A/C compressor motors are installed and to determine the accumulated hours on certain A/C compressor motor assemblies; and repetitive replacement of the brushes in the A/C compressor motor assembly, or, as an option to the brush replacement, deactivation of the A/C system and placard installation; and return of replaced brushes to Cessna. We are issuing this AD to prevent the brushes in the A/C motor from wearing down beyond their limits, which could result in the rivet in the brush contacting the commutator, causing sparks and consequent fire and/or smoke in the tailcone with no means to detect or extinguish the fire and/or smoke.

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 2015-17-12 applies to

MakesCessna Aircraft Company

Models500, 501, 550, 551, S550, 560, 650

Serial-conditional — narrows to serials 0001–0689, 0002–0733, 0801–1136, 0001–0160, 0001–0707, 0751–0815, 0200–0241, 7001–7119.

Part-conditional — SA3849SW, SA7580SW, SA7753SW, SA8918SW.

Applies only to airplanes with an air conditioning system installed via Cessna supplemental type certificate SA3849SW, SA7580SW, SA7753SW, or SA8918SW.

Whether AD 2015-17-12 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 2015-17-12 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.