We've all heard about dreaded airworthiness directives - those pesky rules under Part 39 that are the product of law, not lore. In the past, we've heard from our thousands of users about ADs forgotten about for years, only to be found by a sly mechanic willing to look past "PCW" in an old log entry and verify proper compliance with their own eyes. Too often than not, many aircraft are flying around with certain ADs not complied with. In this talk we break down the top 20 "Usual Suspects" - those pesky ADs that are often misunderstood, omitted, forgotten about, or not complied with (for this or that reason) and why.

Before we begin, we've identified 6 main reasons why ADs are missed in the first place:

1. Equipment & Appliances: these are missed almost as a rule of thumb... often due to not having an equipment list as part of the initial checklist. Starters, ELTs, filters, etc fall under this category, but also engine appliances that get categorized as "appliances" and won't show up in engine AD lists (i.e., fuel injectors, carbs, magnetos, etc.)
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2. Confusing language: not all ADs are clear. convoluted language open to interpretation, ambiguity, or missing info does exist. Some ADs add unnecessary complexity with complicated formulas, or conflicting language between service docs and the AD (note: when seeing conflicting language with a SB, the AD takes precedence)
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3. Categorization anomalies: when the FAA categorizes an engine component as an appliance, or an airframe component as an appliance, or an engine component as an airframe, things can fall through the cracks. Some of these reasons have to do with how the engine was certificated, but there are also political reasons behind the scenes.
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4. Skipped or omitted variants: some ADs apply to families but a certain variant, PN, SN, or component is omitted (or forgotten?). This creates ambiguity and confusion from operators looking to stay compliant but are unsure if the AD applies to the missing variant. Other examples include broad language such as the "applies but not limited to...." and so forth.
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5. Misinterpretations: Some ADs are misinterpreted to be only "cosmetic" in nature and not much of a big deal. ADs must be complied with no matter how silly you think they may be.
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6. Myths: we've heard all the myths there are related to ADs over the years and they are all FALSE. Don't fall into bad habits cause you heard a guy down on the ramp tell you with 100% certainty that you don't have to comply with an AD because such and such... See our piece on these tall tales here.

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