The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is adopting a new safety-based airworthiness directive (AD) for “certain” Boeing 747-8F series airplanes “prompted by reports of cracking in stringers and splice fittings located at stringer splices at multiple body stations”.
Effective 6 August, the AD requires an inspection of each free flange of the stringers at the stringer splice for radius fillers at certain fastener locations, an inspection for cracking of the stringers and stringer splice fittings at certain stringer splice locations, and applicable on-condition actions.
“The FAA is issuing this AD to address the unsafe condition on these products,” stated the AD document, issued on 2 July.
The FAA previously issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to add the AD. The NPRM was published in the Federal Register in November last year.
Required inspections are estimated to cost US operators up to $344,080, per airplane, said the FAA. The repetitive inspections are estimated to cost $85 per inspection area, every 48 or 96 months, depending on findings.
At this stage, it is not clear which 747-8Fs the AD applies to.
The 747-8F was built from 2008 until Boeing ended the 747 line in 2023. The freighter first entered service in October 2011 with Cargolux and two of the last four 747-8F ever to be built are being operated by freight forwarder Kuehne+Nagel (K+N) and its subsidiary Apex Logistics through a charter partnership with lessor Atlas Air.
Data from fleet tracking website Planespotters indicates that current operators of the 747-8F include UPS with 30 of the model; and Atlas Air with 17, two of which are leased by K+N and Apex.
Cargolux and Cathay Cargo have 14 aircraft each, Nippon Cargo Airlines has eight and Silk Way West has five.
