EASA AD Watch: Trent 1000 HPT Blades and Three Rotorcraft Rules
EASA AD 2026-0203, effective 10 November, updates Trent 1000 high-pressure turbine blade inspections. Late-October rules also cover the AW189 tail rotor and EC225/AS332 rotor and stabilizer parts.
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Updated November 2, 2026
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EASA's interim safety-publications list for directives issued from 27 October 2026 includes a Boeing 787 engine rule and three rotorcraft directives dated 29 and 30 October. The engine action is the one with the nearest compliance date for many widebody operators. The helicopter actions are narrower, and two of them do not cover every type named in the publication tool's family label.
This note stays with the EASA texts. It does not reopen the separate Trent 700 and Trent 800 oil-pump de-pairing directives. Those engines and that failure mode are outside AD 2026-0203.
Trent 1000 HPT blades, AD 2026-0203
EASA AD 2026-0203 was issued on 27 October 2026 and is effective 10 November 2026. It applies to Rolls-Royce Deutschland Trent 1000-AE3, CE3, D3, G3, H3, J3, K3, L3, M3, N3, P3, Q3 and R3 engines with engine serial numbers before 11603. EASA says these engines are known to be installed on, but not limited to, Boeing 787 aeroplanes. The AD supersedes EASA AD 2025-0206R1.
The affected part is high-pressure turbine blade part number KH64485. EASA says that blade can deteriorate past an acceptable condition even inside the inspections already published in the engine manual. Undetected cracking could, on EASA's account, fail a blade, shut an engine down in flight, and reduce control of the aeroplane. The AD requires the updated on-wing instructions in Rolls-Royce Alert NMSB TRENT 1000 72-AK316 Revision 7. It is not the oil-pump de-pairing action that applies to the Trent 700 and Trent 800.
Operators borescope the leading-edge Area A and the convex Area C4 of every affected blade before the threshold in the AD, and then at intervals not exceeding 50 flight cycles. The threshold still uses 6 October 2025, the effective date of the superseded AD: engines that had fewer than 500 flight cycles then are due before 550, and engines at or above 500 were due within 50 flight cycles of that date. The AD also caps the gap since the last inspection under the bulletin through Revision 6 at 50 flight cycles. After an in-flight shutdown that is not a deliberate acceptance-test shutdown and restart, the other engine's affected blades are borescoped within 10 flight cycles.
Crack size still decides whether the engine stays on wing. A leading-edge crack contained between cooling-hole rows 2 and 3, and not running fully between those rows or through a hole, stays on a 50-flight-cycle repeat. A crack that spans those rows without passing through the holes requires a full set of serviceable blades within 35 flight cycles. Other leading-edge cracks follow the AD's length table: 3.0 mm or less within 35 flight cycles, more than 3.0 mm up to 4.0 mm within 10, and more than 4.0 mm before next flight. On the convex surface, an indication of 3 mm or less is re-inspected within 10 flight cycles. Longer than 3 mm, the engine comes off before next flight and the blade set is replaced before release. Serviceable blades are the later part numbers named in the AD, including KH83037 and the spare assemblies that add cooling.
AW189 tail-rotor damper bracket
EASA AD 2026-0204, issued 29 October 2026 and effective 12 November 2026, applies to Leonardo AW189 helicopters, all serial numbers. The affected part is tail-rotor damper bracket part number 8G6420A00831. Inspectors are looking for cracks or corrosion under Leonardo Alert Service Bulletin 189-435.
Group 1 helicopters, those whose affected part has already accumulated 12 months or more since first flight on the effective date, must be inspected within 150 flight hours or 3 months, whichever comes first, and then at intervals of 150 flight hours or 6 months. A crack means the part is replaced before next flight. Corrosion without a crack means the operator contacts Leonardo for approved instructions and follows the compliance time in those instructions. A cracked part must be reported within 30 days. There is no terminating action. Installation is limited to a serviceable bracket, which includes an unaffected part number or an affected part that is still inside the time and flight-hour window since new or since a clean inspection.
EC225 swashplate yokes, and a narrower applicability than the family label
EASA AD 2026-0206, issued 30 October 2026 and effective 13 November 2026, supersedes EASA AD 2024-0205. The interim publications table places it under the SA 330 / AS 332 / EC 225 family heading. The AD itself applies to EC 225 LP helicopters, all serial numbers. It does not, in the applicability paragraph, name the SA 330 or the AS 332.
The affected parts are main-rotor rotating swashplates part number 332A31-3074-00 or 332A31-3074-01. EASA says the control-rod attachment yokes can crack from environmental assisted cracking, and that an undetected crack could fail a yoke and lead to loss of control.
From the effective date, a part with less than 8.5 years since manufacture is replaced before 10 years. A part with 8.5 years or more is replaced within 1.5 years after the effective date, and not later than 13 years since manufacture. Detailed inspections repeat at 110 flight hours or 2 months, whichever comes first. The initial-inspection threshold is still measured from the 5 November 2024 effective date of the superseded AD. Cracks are reported to Airbus Helicopters. There is no terminating action. Stripping a yoke under the older bulletin revisions remains prohibited.
AS 332 and EC 225 horizontal stabilizer
EASA AD 2026-0015R1, issued 30 October 2026, revises the emergency AD of 22 January 2026. Revision 1 is effective 6 November 2026. The original issue was effective 26 January 2026. Applicability is the AS 332 C, C1, L, L1 and L2, and the EC 225 LP, all serial numbers. The publications-tool row again uses the broader SA 330 / AS 332 / EC 225 label. The revised AD's applicability paragraph does not list the SA 330.
EASA says a horizontal stabilizer separated in flight from a 725 AP, a military EC 225 LP, and that the civil EC 225 LP and AS 332 may be affected by design similarity. An undetected discrepancy could lead to loss of control. EASA still calls the AD an interim action.
Helicopters with an affected metallic stabilizer installed keep the original initial inspection: within 20 flight hours or 30 days after 26 January 2026, including the nut torque on the tube assembly and the diameter measurements in the emergency bulletin. A visual check without removing the stabilizer then repeats every 50 flight hours. Any discrepancy specified in the bulletin means contacting Airbus Helicopters before next flight. Revision 1 adds remanufactured parts, on which the rib 5 flange has been replaced and which have not flown since. An affected part may be installed if it is new, remanufactured as defined, or passes the removal inspection at installation. The 50-flight-hour repeat still applies.
How to use the week
The four directives do not share a parts pool. The Trent action is a borescope and blade-set problem on a defined engine-serial population, with crack length deciding whether the engine stays on wing. The AW189 action is a tail-rotor bracket inspection with a hard remove-before-flight rule for cracks. The two Airbus Helicopters rules should be tasked from the AD applicability paragraphs, not from the family name in the publications table: EC 225 LP for the swashplate life limit, and the listed AS 332 models plus the EC 225 LP for the stabilizer torque and measurement checks.
