Reacting to recurring incidents involving Cessna 560XL rudder jamming, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has issued an airworthiness directive (AD) requiring modifications to reduce the amount of water that can accumulate in the aft fuselage and freeze on the rudder control cables and pulleys.
Effective April 25, the AD, 2012-06-01, applies to about 475 Cessna 560XLs — the Citation Excel, XLS and XLS+ — registered in the United States. It requires, in part, the installation of water drain holes and air seals in the “tailcone stingers” — the aftmost portion of the fuselage, beneath the empennage — within 12 months or 800 flight hours, whichever comes first.
The directive is the latest in a series of actions dating back to April 2005, when Cessna began drilling drain holes in the bottom of the tailcone stingers on production airplanes and issued a service letter, SL560XL-53-05, recommending that owners of existing 560XLs do the same.
One of the first ind…
