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Airworthiness Directive 2008-18-04

recurring
Official AD 2008-18-04 · FR doc E8-19718 · 2008-09-08 · airframe

Airworthiness Directives; Bombardier Model DHC-8-400 Series Airplanes

What this AD requires

The FAA is superseding an existing airworthiness directive (AD), which applies to certain Bombardier Model DHC-8-400 series airplanes. That AD currently requires inspecting all barrel nuts to determine if the barrel nuts have a certain marking, inspecting affected bolts to determine if the bolts are pre-loaded correctly, and replacing all hardware if the pre-load is incorrect. For airplanes on which the pre-load is correct, the existing AD requires doing repetitive visual inspections for cracking of the barrel nuts and cradles and replacing all hardware for all cracked barrel nuts. The existing AD also requires replacing all hardware for certain affected barrel nuts that do not have cracking, which would end the repetitive inspections for those airplanes. The existing AD also provides an optional replacement for all affected barrel nuts. This new AD requires replacing all affected barrel nuts and applying a certain compound to the affected barrel nuts and bolts. This AD results from reports of cracking in the barrel nuts at the four primary front spar wing-to- fuselage attachment joints. We are issuing this AD to detect and correct cracking of the barrel nuts at the wing front spar wing-to- fuselage joints, which could result in reduced structural integrity of the wing-to-fuselage attachments and consequent detachment of the wing.

Repetitive inspection. Re-inspect every 100 hours. The next-due date/hours depend on this aircraft’s time in service — a records report computes it from the logbooks.

Which aircraft AD 2008-18-04 applies to

MakesBombardier
ModelsDHC-8-400, DHC-8-401, DHC-8-402, DHC-8
Serial-conditional — narrows to serials 4001–4001, 4003–4176.

Whether AD 2008-18-04 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 2008-18-04 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.