Airworthiness Directives; Airbus Airplanes

We propose to supersede Airworthiness Directive (AD) 2016-12- 09, for certain Airbus Model A330-200, -200 Freighter, and -300 series airplanes; and Model A340-200 and -300 series airplanes. AD 2016-12-09 requires removing fasteners, doing a rototest inspection of fastener holes, installing new fasteners, oversizing the holes and doing rototest inspections for cracks if necessary, and repairing any cracking that was found. Since we issued AD 2016-12-09, an evaluation by the design approval holder (DAH) indicates that certain fastener holes are subject to widespread fatigue damage (WFD). This proposed AD would add airplanes to the effectivity, add repetitive inspections of the fastener holes at frame (FR) 40, and, for certain airplanes, require a modification, which terminates the inspections. We are proposing this AD to address the unsafe condition on these products.