COPA has just received an alert describing a potential safety issue for:
Cirrus Design Corp. SR20, S/N 1134 through 1159,
Cirrus Design Corp. SR22, S/N 0003 through 0119
The document states (in part), “Possible under strength rivets were used on the control surface attach points. Failure of these rivets may constitute a safety of flight issue.”
You can view these documents directly via these links:
Initial Risk Assessment Evaluation Chart
Mandatory SB 20-55-06 for SR20
Mandatory SB 22-55-03 for SR22
Cirrus Design has confirmed that they have found a bag of rivets with a mix of ‘correct’ and ‘incorrect’ rivets. The bag was found in the course of their normal internal procedures.
At this point, Cirrus Design is able to identify which serial number aircraft may be affected and which are definitely not. However, they cannot confirm if any inappropriate rivets have made it into any aircraft, nor can the determine, with any reliability, which individual aircraft are affected. The rivets in question are used in brackets in the tail.
Cirrus Design’s own initial analysis shows that even the improper rivets will tolerate required load limits. However, CD is very concerned that some aircraft may not be built to their design limits. They have already issued Mandatory Service Bulletins (see links above)and expect the FAA to issue an Airworthiness Directive (AD) soon. It is expected that the documents will ‘require’ inspection within 10 hours flight time.
This information is entirely preliminary. As we become aware of any changes or revisions, we will update this message accordingly.
COPA