AOPA is urging owners of all Cessna model 120 and 140 airplanes, and maintenance technicians, to review a special airworthiness information bulletin (SAIB) that raises airworthiness concerns about aluminum seat belt mounting brackets installed in the aircraft.
Textron Aviation addressed the matter with Service Bulletin SEB-25-03, issued on Feb. 17.
In the SAIB, issued April 15, the FAA cited an accident that occurred on July 5, 2014, in Parma, New York, in which the pilot’s seat belt mounting bracket (part number 0425132) failed after the airplane overturned following departure from the runway.
“Although cause of the failed bracket has not been determined and the investigation is ongoing, it was noted that the original Cessna seat belt installation had been replaced with a four-point Aero Fabricators harness per Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) SA1429GL in 2003,” the FAA said. “The failed bracket was made of aluminum. However, Cessna now only provides steel brackets as a replacement part for the aluminum brackets.”
The FAA recommends that owners, operators, and maintenance personnel of affected airplanes replace aluminum brackets with steel brackets following Cessna Service Bulletin SEB-25-03.
The airworthiness concern is not currently considered an unsafe condition that would warrant the issuance of an airworthiness directive, the FAA said.
