Dixie Aerospace, LLC

See attached file(s) November 16, 2011 Subject: Emergency AD 2011-18-51R1 pertaining to Dixie Aerospace, LLC bearing 3108098-1WD To whom it may concern; On August 17,2011 the Federal Aviation Administration issued an Emergency AD, 2011-18-51, which requires the removal of Dixie Aerospace, LLC FAA-PMA approved bearing 3108098-1WD within 10 operating hours. This issue first arose in late February 2011 when one customer noticed on a few bearings that the rollers appeared to be pinched and the bearing had difficulty spinning upon installation. Our quality procedures put the remaining stock on hold until the root cause could be determined. Dixie Aerospace sent an engineer to several repair station facilities to witness the installation process. At this point in time, this condition was observed on only a few bearings, not all bearings. By the middle of March and in the interest of safety, Dixie Aerospace decided the bearings should be removed from service. Several of the bearings that were sold by Dixie Aerospace were sold indirectly to overseas customers. Dixie Aerospace made attempts by phone and email to locate the bearings and arrange for their removal. There were 24 PMA bearings sold and all but two have either been recovered or were in the process of being recovered before the Emergency AD was issued. The two bearings not recovered at the time of the Emergency AD had the serial numbers A10-1770 and A10-1796. These two bearings were installed on engines with serial numbers P3815C and P37367C. These two bearings have been in possession of an end user who was made aware of this issue prior to the issuance of the Emergency AD and they are in the process of facilitating the logistics to replace the two impacted parts. The failure rate that was mentioned in the AD was a single occurrence during ground operation. On April 20, 2011 in Rio Bronco, Brazil one aircraft engine failed to restart after shut down. The aircraft was on the ground at the time of shut down.