Embraer’s older E-Jets may experience structural wing fatigue, reported ANAC, the Brazilian civil aviation agency, which issued an airworthiness directive on Dec. 14 mandating new maintenance procedures on the E190 and E195 models.
The directive cites the ERJ 190-100 STD, ERJ 190-100 LR, ERJ 190-100 IGW, ERJ 190-100 SR, ERJ 190-200 STD, ERJ 190-200 LR and ERJ190-200 IGW models that are in operation and that will undergo more constant revisions in their wings.
Older E190s and E195s, with serial numbers from 19000001 to 19000077, will need to have the right and left wing lower skin panels reinforced if they have reached certain levels of flight hours and cycles.
Airplanes in service affected by the structural modification fly on carriers such as JetBlue, German Airways, Air France, Alliance and Aeromexico.
E175 will be affected in the US
The directive issued by ANAC is also being followed by the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration), the US civil aviation authority, which issued a similar document referring to the E170 and E175 jets.
It involves the ERJ 170-100 LR, -100 STD, -100 SE and -100 SU models; and models ERJ 170-200 LR, -200 SU, -200 STD and -200 LL and is a revision of another airworthiness directive issued in 2019, which warned of possible cracks that could “result in reduced structural integrity of the airplane and to prevent safety significant latent failures”.
The alert was issued by Horizon Air, an Embraer customer that operates the E175s on behalf of Alaska Airlines and asked the FAA to update the aircraft’s maintenance reports.
According to the agency, the modifications affect 662 aircraft registered in the US. The airworthiness directive will go into effect on January 23, 2023.
