The very first AD

SkyHog

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Everything Offends Me
Anyone know what the very first airworthiness directive was?
 
AIRWORTHINESS DIRECTIVE

Model Icarus-I

Date: -MMCII

COMPLIANCE:
Within ten flight hours:
1. Replace wax used to affix feathers with heat-tolerant wax per Greek Army standard SDCC-A
2. Add markings to altimeter to consist of a red line at 3,000 cubits.
3. Add placard to panel: "AIRCRAFT MUST NOT BE OPERATED IN A SOLAR HEATING SITUATION"

Ron Wanttaja
 
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AIRWORTHINESS DIRECTIVE

Model Icarus-I

Date: -MMCII

COMPLIANCE:
With ten flight hours:
1. Replace wax used to affix feathers with heat-tolerant wax per Greek Army standard SDCC-A
2. Add markings to altimeter to consist of a red line at 3,000 cubits.
3. Add placard to panel: "AIRCRAFT MUST NOT BE OPERATED IN A SOLAR HEATING SITUATION"

Ron Wanttaja
Right. What’s a cubit?

(Anybody get the reference?)
 
Yep, the GAA (Greek Av Auth) forced that AD though without even having a comment period! "Urgent AD" or some such, they said - we all know that AD was government over-reach and normal pilot caution is all that was necessary; his own father Daedalus warned him, "fly neither too low nor too high, so the sea's dampness would not clog your wings nor the sun's heat melt them."
 
No pictures ,can’t be verified,fake news.
 
Right. What’s a cubit?

(Anybody get the reference?)
The cubit is an ancient unit of length that had several definitions according to each of the various different cultures that used the unit. These definitions ranged between 444mm and 529.2mm. The unit was based on the forearm length from the tip of the middle finger to the bottom of the elbow.

Oh, excuuuuuuuuse me...You wanted the Cosby definition. Well here it is:

http://www.jr.co.il/humor/noah4.txt
 
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I thought ADs were only for standard certificate aircraft. I’m pretty sure Icarus was either E-AB or ELSA. Maybe a Service Bulletin...?
 
But the most important take away from the Icarus incident is that while the older Daedalus flew within the limitations of his aircraft, the younger Icarus thought he knew better and recklessly exceeded the design limits.

Of course, that wasn’t young Icarus’s first indication of not wanting to listen to his father/CFI. During his training Icarus kept asking Daedalus when he would solo and was dismissive of Daedalus‘s explanation that he wasn’t ready yet. Icarus even went so far as to accuse Daedalus of scamming him and using him to build up hours towards his future airline career.

Icarus grew even more impatient when the pair of wings he had been flying with needed to be reglued and he had to train with a different pair of wings which he complained slowed down his training.

Icarus always thought he knew best. In the end, he did not.
 
Cosby was so funny. His dentist routine always has me laughing hard.

It’s too bad he turned out to be so “rapey”.
 
Yeah, who knows? The only info I found was they started in 43, but that wasn't a very good source.
 
I guess your answer is that nobody really knows. The earliest one I can find on the web is AD 41-47-01, for DC3s. It requires rebalancing of control surfaces each time they are overhauled or repaired.

http://rgl.faa.gov/Regulatory_and_G...4D578F336669A80D8625683200724DED?OpenDocument

That is the oldest “current” one that the FAA shows online. Whether there were older ones that were superseded or cancelled, I don’t know. I do believe that 1941 was the first year for ADs and there were not many issued in the early years so that might indeed be the first.
 
Maybe something on how long these engines could be used daily..???

23954626283_f3be7ff5a0_d.jpg
 
Whether there were older ones that were superseded or cancelled, I don’t know.
If I recall, back in the early days of the CAA they had Airworthiness Maintenance Bulletins which I believe morphed into ADs. If anyone has a subscription to an AD service it would make a good question to their tech support guys.
 
If I recall, back in the early days of the CAA they had Airworthiness Maintenance Bulletins which I believe morphed into ADs. If anyone has a subscription to an AD service it would make a good question to their tech support guys.

Well the CAA became the FAA in 1958 which was 17 years after the 1941 AD so something was carried over from one to the other.
 
Well the CAA became the FAA in 1958 which was 17 years after the 1941 AD so something was carried over from one to the other.
Correct. But I remember meeting several tech geeks from Avantext or Adlog or something similar at a convention in the early 90s just as personal computers were getting cheap. I could be wrong but I recall they were having problems writing code to pull out historical ADs from the FAA data base or something. They added the 1st ADs came out around '38-'40 when the CAA was created as a separate entity. Before that I believe they were called Airworthiness Maintenance Bulletins. So your '41 AD would line up with that if I remember the conversation correctly.
 
Correct. But I remember meeting several tech geeks from Avantext or Adlog or something similar at a convention in the early 90s just as personal computers were getting cheap. I could be wrong but I recall they were having problems writing code to pull out historical ADs from the FAA data base or something. They added the 1st ADs came out around '38-'40 when the CAA was created as a separate entity. Before that I believe they were called Airworthiness Maintenance Bulletins. So your '41 AD would line up with that if I remember the conversation correctly.

You may be right. With all of the different iterations the FAA has gone through coupled with different computer systems and databases, it is probably hard to write code that meshes well. Still, it is a bit aggravating not to be able to nail down the answer to the OP question.
 
That is the oldest “current” one that the FAA shows online. Whether there were older ones that were superseded or cancelled, I don’t know. I do believe that 1941 was the first year for ADs and there were not many issued in the early years so that might indeed be the first.

The same website also shows cancelled and superceded ADs and none are older than '41. I suspect there are things older than '41 but they will require a trip to a dusty warehouse where one is as likely to find the Ark of the Covenent as the files you are looking for.
 
I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream.

I cuss, you cuss, we all cuss for asparagus.
 
Correct. But I remember meeting several tech geeks from Avantext or Adlog or something similar at a convention in the early 90s just as personal computers were getting cheap. I could be wrong but I recall they were having problems writing code to pull out historical ADs from the FAA data base or something. They added the 1st ADs came out around '38-'40 when the CAA was created as a separate entity. Before that I believe they were called Airworthiness Maintenance Bulletins. So your '41 AD would line up with that if I remember the conversation correctly.

Prior to 1941 they weren't ADs, the info was posted by letter and called "Service Notes" plus the CAA's records were gleaned for pertinent info when the CAA became the FAA.

When I bought my 37 Fairchild I got many of the Service notes with it.
 
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