FAA 737 Monitor Lanyards and 757-300 Frame Crack ADs
AD 2026-20-13 requires secondary retention lanyards for 737 NG cabin video monitors from 23 November. AD 2026-20-04 requires 757-300 upper-frame crack inspections from 5 November.
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Updated November 2, 2026
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Two Boeing narrowbody airworthiness directives adopted earlier this autumn become effective in November. They do not share a system. AD 2026-20-13 is a cabin-evacuation rule for passenger-service-unit video monitors on the 737 NG. AD 2026-20-04 is a fuselage-frame crack inspection for every 757-300. The 737 NG fuel-shutoff gasket directives published on 27 October address the same broad fleet as the monitor rule and a different system.
737 NG monitors that left the PSU rails
AD 2026-20-13, amendment 39-23486, Docket No. FAA-2025-0004, was published in the Federal Register on 19 October 2026 and is effective 23 November 2026. It applies to Boeing 737-600, 737-700, 737-700C, 737-800, 737-900 and 737-900ER airplanes that are equipped with passenger service unit (PSU) mounted video monitors. The MAX is outside this applicability.
The FAA says some of those monitors became detached from the PSU rails during a hard landing that did not exceed the emergency load requirements for the PSUs. The unsafe condition is a monitor that could become fully detached, or hang at an unsafe height, injure passengers, and impede passenger and crew egress in an evacuation. The subject is ATA 25, equipment and furnishings.
The required action is replacement of monitors that do not have secondary retention lanyards with monitors that do. Airplanes in Boeing Special Attention Requirements Bulletin 737-25-1851 RB, Revision 1, dated 15 July 2025, follow that bulletin for certain Burrana monitors. Airplanes in 737-25-1858 RB, Revision 1, of the same date, follow it for certain Panasonic monitors. That Panasonic bulletin also adds an inspection of the inboard PSU rail, and on-condition attachment of the lanyard torsion spring, for groups 1 and 2 that have a monitor at a cabin temperature sensor location and already accomplished the original issue. Airplanes not identified in either bulletin must replace monitors that lack secondary retention lanyards within 60 months after the effective date, using an approved method. Where the bulletins count compliance from their own issue dates, the AD uses 23 November 2026.
Aviation Partners Boeing said blended or split-scimitar winglets under STC ST00830SE do not affect the work. The FAA agreed and did not amend the rule. Panasonic asked the FAA to say its monitors were not the ones that detached, and to accept Panasonic Service Bulletin SB141908-44-001 for airplanes outside the Boeing effectivity. The FAA said it knows of no Panasonic monitor that detached in a hard landing below the PSU emergency-load requirement, left the wording at "some, not all," and did not adopt the Panasonic bulletin because the data were not sufficient. Those airplanes stay on the 60-month approved-method path.
The FAA estimates 459 airplanes of U.S. registry, at 2 work-hours per monitor, and says an airplane may have up to 30 monitors. The parts estimate is $2,734 per Burrana monitor, up to $5,401,440 on 62 airplanes, and $354 per Panasonic monitor, up to $5,376,240 on 342 airplanes. Airplanes outside both bulletins are estimated at up to $2,904 per monitor and up to $4,791,600 on 55 airplanes. Those are cost estimates, not a count of monitors found loose.
The October 737 fuel-gasket directives sit on overlapping NG models. They inspect sealant at the engine fuel shutoff valve access panel. AD 2026-20-13 does not open that panel. A maintenance programme that treats "the November 737 AD" as one task will miss either the cabin lanyards or the fuel-panel gasket.
757-300 frame splices
AD 2026-20-04, amendment 39-23477, Docket No. FAA-2026-2730, was published on 1 October 2026 and is effective 5 November 2026. It applies to all Boeing 757-300 series airplanes. It does not apply to the 757-200.
The FAA says crack-growth analysis showed that existing maintenance-planning-data and supplemental-structural-inspection-program tasks do not give enough opportunity to find cracks in the upper frames. The location is the uppermost fastener common to the fail-safe chord at the fuselage frame splices between stringers S-13 and S-14, from station 1380 to station 1620. Cracking there could lead to multiple upper-frame failures. If not addressed, the FAA says a principal structural element might be unable to sustain limit load, with loss of continued safe flight and landing.
Boeing Alert Requirements Bulletin 757-53A0122 RB, dated 26 September 2025, is the method. Operators do a general visual inspection or a maintenance-records check of the forward and aft sides of those upper frames for any existing repair, then repetitive detailed inspections for cracks around the uppermost fastener. Where a repair is already present, the AD requires alternative inspection and corrective-action instructions approved under the AMOC paragraph, not an informal Boeing contact. A crack likewise requires an approved repair. Compliance times in the bulletin that run from the bulletin date instead run from 5 November 2026.
United asked the FAA to correct a typo. Table 2 is the right-hand side, but some steps say S-13L and S-14L. Paragraph (h)(3) tells operators to read those references as S-13R and S-14R.
Aviation Partners Boeing said STC ST01518SE, the blended winglet, does not affect the work, and that Boeing holds delegation to approve data in the areas that STC changes. The FAA agreed. Paragraph (c)(2) states that installation of ST01518SE does not affect the ability to accomplish the AD, so a "change in product" AMOC under 14 CFR 39.17 is not required for those airplanes, whether they have the blended winglet or production wingtips.
The FAA estimates 37 airplanes of U.S. registry. The general visual inspection or records check is up to 70 work-hours, or up to $5,950 per airplane and up to $220,150 for U.S. operators. Each detailed-inspection cycle is estimated at 4 work-hours, or $340 per airplane and $12,580 per cycle for U.S. operators. The agency says it has no definitive data for the cost of alternative inspections and on-condition repairs.
Planning the two dates
The 757-300 rule is effective first, on 5 November. A records check matters because an existing repair moves the next step from the open bulletin inspection to an approved alternative. The S-13R / S-14R correction belongs on the task card before the right-hand side is opened. STC ST01518SE does not, by itself, require a change-in-product AMOC.
The 737 NG monitor rule is effective on 23 November. The first sort is whether PSU-mounted monitors are installed, by records or by looking. Burrana and Panasonic airplanes then follow different bulletins. Some Panasonic groups also inspect the inboard rail. Airplanes in neither bulletin have 60 months, not the bulletin interval.
