EASA 2023-0190-E

This emergency AD supersedes emergency AD 2022-0251-E to amend check requirements. This is considered an interim action. The original emergency action stemmed from a report that during an inspection, a crack was found on the tailboom of an EC130 T2. During the preceding flight, the pilot experienced a humming sound and vibrations in the pedals. A subsequent balancing of the tail rotor drive shaft revealed a high vibration level. This condition, if not detected and corrected, could lead to failure of the tail rotor drive shaft and subsequent loss of yaw control of the helicopter. Consequently, EASA issued AD 2022-0251-E to require repetitive checks of the balancing of the tail rotor drive shaft by means of measurement of the vibration level. That AD also required the reporting of inspection results to Airbus Helicopters. Since that AD was issued, it was identified that one of the vibration measurement tools, mentioned in maintenance task B, was providing different results than expected and the threshold must be changed.