Airworthiness Directives; Fairchild Aircraft, Inc. SA226 and SA227 Series Airplanes

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This document publishes in the Federal Register an amendment adopting Airworthiness Directive (AD) 98-19-15, which was sent previously to all known U.S. owners and operators of Fairchild Aircraft, Inc. (Fairchild) SA226 and SA227 series airplanes. The AD applies to those airplanes that are equipped with Barber-Colman pitch trim actuators, part number (P/N) 27-19008-001 or P/N 27-19008-002. This AD requires incorporating information into the Limitations Section of the airplane flight manual (AFM) that imposes a speed restriction and a minimum pilot requirement. The AD resulted from reports of two incidents of abrupt movement of the horizontal stabilizer to or near the full airplane nose-up position. These two incidents involved mechanical failure of these Barber-Colman pitch trim actuators. The actions specified by this AD are intended to lessen the severity of airplane pitch up caused by mechanical failure of the pitch trim actuator, which could result in a pitch upset and structural failure of the airplane.