Improper bushing removal could collapse the main landing gear on 29 Airbus jets

The Federal Aviation Administration says an improper technique used to remove a bushing during assembly left tool-mark damage in the landing-gear structure of at least 29 U.S.-registered Airbus A320-family jets, damage the agency warns could eventually cause the main landing gear to collapse. Airworthiness Directive 2026-18-03 took effect Sept. 18, ordering repeated inspections of a specific structural rib rather than an outright fix, because the damage was caught during a production quality audit rather than any in-flight failure. The FAA is still taking public comments on the rule through Oct. 19, even though it has already been binding for more than a week.

A Quality Escape Found in the Assembly Line

The FAA traces the defect to what it calls a “quality escape” identified “in the production assembly line on the MLG support rib 5 lugs,” the result of “tool mark damage in the bore of the forward and aft lugs due to an improper bush removal technique used by the supplier at the assembly stage.” In plain terms, a supplier removing a bushing — a metal sleeve that protects a bolt hole from wear — gouged the surrounding structure with a tool, leaving marks that were never supposed to be there when the part left the factory.

The gouging matters because of what it sits on. The FAA’s own finding describes rib 5 as “a safe-life principal structural element,” meaning it is designed to carry loads for a fixed service life on the assumption that it starts out defect-free. Tool marks introduce fatigue damage the part’s original design never accounted for, and the agency warns that damage “could result in structural failure and subsequent collapse of the MLG” if it is allowed to grow undetected.

The rule reaches deep into the A320 family’s model list — A318-112; A319-115, -132 and -133; A320-214, -216, -232, -233, -251N and -271N; and A321-211, -213, -231, -251NX, -253NX, -271N and -271NX — though only 29 of those jets carry a U.S. registration and fall under this specific FAA order.

Repeated Inspections to Catch Fatigue Before Collapse

Because the defect was caught before any aircraft failed, the FAA’s fix is inspection rather than immediate replacement. Operators must perform an initial detailed visual inspection of the rib 5 lugs by the later of a model-specific age threshold or 500 flight cycles — roughly 1,000 flight hours — after the Sept. 18 effective date, then repeat that inspection at intervals no longer than 500 cycles or 1,000 hours for as long as the airplane keeps flying.

Any cracking, corrosion, out-of-tolerance dimensions or nicks found during those checks trigger a mandatory consultation with Airbus before the jet flies again. Operators can also opt for a one-time special detailed inspection of the lug bore holes as a terminating action, closing out the repetitive-inspection requirement for good instead of repeating it every few hundred cycles for the rest of the airplane’s life.

The routine inspections are inexpensive — about $255 per aircraft, or $7,395 across the 29-jet U.S. fleet — but the optional terminating inspection, including parts, can run as high as $59,625 per airplane. Which path an airline chooses is essentially a bet on how many more years it plans to keep that particular jet flying.

A Final Rule Adopted Without Advance Comment

Unlike a typical FAA rulemaking, this one skipped the normal notice-and-comment period entirely. The agency invoked “good cause” under federal rulemaking law to adopt the directive “without providing an opportunity for public comment prior to adoption,” reasoning that a structural defect tied to potential landing-gear collapse could not wait for a standard rulemaking timeline. Comments remain open through Oct. 19, but they cannot undo the fact that the rule has already been in force since Sept. 18.

The order incorporates, in its entirety, a parallel directive from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency, EASA AD 2026-0142, since Airbus operates under EASA’s primary regulatory oversight as a European manufacturer. Brian Knaup, acting deputy director of the FAA’s Integrated Certificate Management Division within the Aircraft Certification Service, signed the U.S. version under docket number FAA-2026-8793. The FAA’s authority to act at all rests on 14 CFR Part 39, the federal rule that lets the agency compel fixes on any aircraft, engine or propeller once it confirms an unsafe condition, a process it also lays out on its own page explaining how airworthiness directives work.

29 U.S. Jets in a Worldwide Fleet Fix

Because the defect traces to one supplier’s assembly-stage error rather than a design flaw in the A320 itself, the FAA’s order is narrower than it might sound: it reaches only the airplanes built with the mishandled bushings, not every A320-family jet in U.S. service. One detailed breakdown of the rule put the total required-work cost across the U.S. fleet at $7,395, a modest bill next to the outcome the FAA is trying to prevent on a jet that flies passengers every day.

For now, none of the 29 jets has been pulled from service. The rule simply requires their operators to keep checking the same five lugs on a fixed schedule until either a terminating inspection clears the aircraft for good or Airbus and the FAA decide the fleet needs something more.

This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.

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