BLANIK L-13 AD Status

On Mar 22, 9:38*am, YODSoar wrote:
Hello all,

Is there any word on a possible Blanik fix that anyone has heard of
yet?
We were originally hoping to start flying in April but so far the new
'fix' AD that was supposed to come out in early March has not
materialized. As a L-13 is our club's only dual seater, this is a do-
or-fold type problem for us.

Cheers,
Mike - Cold Lake Soaring

As of march 21st

http://www.let.cz/files//File/standp..._march2011.pdf

"CURRENT SITUATION IN ACTIVITIES OF AIRCRAFT INDUSTRIES, A.S. AIMED TO
THE RENEWAL OF
AIRWORTHINESS OF L-13 AND L-13A GLIDERS

In connection with the crash of the L 13 glider S/N 175117 in Austria
on 12th June 2010, EASA issued
the Airworthiness Directive No. AD 2010-0185, which mandates grounding
the whole fleet of gliders
L 13 and L 13A.
In previous statement of Aircraft Industries, a. s. from 30th
September 2010, our company announced
taking steps to the gliders airworthiness renewal, consisting of
development in cooperation with
Research and Testing Aviation Institute in Prague the Eddy current
inspection of wing critical area
focused on detection of potential occurrence of fatigue damage. With
regards to our intention to
avoid the modification of wing critical area and due to the demand for
highest reliability of inspection
method and necessity its thorough verification on number of testing
samples, it was technically and
time-consuming very demanding development. At this moment the
inspection method is practically
developed and we will present the results to EASA to receive approval
for the use of inspection for the
purpose of releasing L 13 gliders into operation.
In parallel, an independent design company is developing design
modification consisting
of strengthening of the L 13 glider wing critical area. As soon as the
organization receives EASA STC
approval and we get consent to publish more detailed information we
will post them on our website
www.let.cz.

Kunovice, 21st March 2011"