SERVICE BULLETIN NO. 1266

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SERVICE BULLETIN Piper Aircraft, Inc. 2926 Piper Drive Vero Beach, Florida, U.S.A. 32960 Date: December 16, 2014 (S) (M) NO. 1266 ATA: 1130 (OVER) PIPER CONSIDERS COMPLIANCE MANDATORY Service Bulletin (SB) 1266 supersedes and voids SB 456A, dated May 28, 1975. SB 456A had superseded SB 366, dated May 31, 1973; SB 371, dated November 7, 1972; SB 377, dated February 21, 1973; SB 378, dated May 22, 1973; SB 388, dated June 27, 1973. All affected airplanes must comply with SB 1266, regardless of any history of compliance with prior service bulletins. SUBjECT: FUEL WARNING PLACARD AND POH INSPECTION MODELS AFFECTED: SERIAL NUMBERS AFFECTED: PA-23-250 (Six Place) Aztec “B” 27-2322 through 27-2504, FUEL INJECTED ONLY PA-23-250 (Six Place) and PA-E23-250 (Six Place) Aztec “C,” “D” and “E” 27-2505 through 27-4866, 27-7304917 through 27-7405476 PA-24-250 Comanche 24-2563, 24-2844 through 24-3641, 24-3643 through 24-3687, FUEL INJECTED ONLY PA-24-260 Comanche 24-3642, 24-4000 through 24-4299, 24-4300 through 24-4782, 24-4784 through 24-4803, FUEL INJECTED ONLY PA-24-260 Comanche “C” 24-4783, 24-4804 through 24-5047 PA-24-400 Comanche 26-1 through 26-148 PA-30 Twin Comanche 30-1 through 30-2000 PA-31 and PA-31-300 Navajo 31-2 to 31-861, 31-7300901 through 31-7300923, 31-7300925, 31-7300927, 31-7300929, 31-7300931 PA-31P Navajo 31P-1 through 31P-80, 31P-7300110 through 31P-7300115 PA-39 Twin Comanche C/R 39-1 through 39-155 1 SERVICE BULLETIN NO. 1266 PAGE 2 of 9 REASON: Many of the superseded SBs required installation of a kit, and these kits are no longer available. This SB was created to provide all information necessary for compliance with the superseded SBs. During uncoordinated maneuvers, the affected aircraft may experience a loss of engine power due to fuel starvation. This SB mandates installation of a warning placard to alert operators of this condition. NOTE: Affected airplanes were delivered from the factory with an FAA- approved document that contains information (operating limitations, operating procedures, performance information, etc.) necessary to operate the airplane at the level of safety established by the airplane’s certification basis. This document may be identified as “Airplane Flight Manual” or “Pilot’s Operating Handbook” (POH). Some Airplane Flight Manuals were published as part of (i.e., Section 3) a “Pilot’s Operating Manual.” They may be found as standalone documents or within the “Pilot’s Operating Manual.” For the purposes of this service publication, “POH” shall refer to any of these documents. COMPLIANCE TIME: Compliance is to coincide with the next regularly scheduled maintenance event, but not to exceed the next 50 hours time in service. If necessary due to lead time of parts required for compliance with this service bulletin, operators are allowed up to 50 hours of additional operation time. APPROVAL: The engineering aspects of this service document have been shown to comply with the applicable Federal Aviation Regulations and are FAA approved. PURPOSE: This service bulletin provides instructions to verify the following, for affected airplanes, and corrective steps for compliance, when necessary: • The correct fuel warning placard is properly installed on the instrument panel • The correct text of that fuel warning placard is in the Limitations section of the POH SAFETY INTENT: Uncoordinated maneuvers, including side slips of 30 seconds or more and fast taxi turns can cause fuel in the affected aircraft to temporarily flow away from the location of the fuel tank pick-up line(s), if the fuel tank(s) in use are not filled to an adequate level. Under these conditions, fuel flow to the engine may be momentarily disrupted, resulting in loss of engine power. This service bulletin provides a means of verifying that fuel warning placards and POH content accurately warn of the risk of power loss in such circumstances. CONFIGURATION DESCRIPTION: This SB provides instructions, when necessary, to install the correct fuel warning placard on the instrument panel, and to acquire revised POH pages with the correct text of the fuel warning placard in the Limitations section. SERVICE BULLETIN NO. 1266 PAGE 3 of 9 INSTRUCTIONS: NOTE: Some steps in these instructions are identified as “required for compliance” (RC). If this service bulletin is mandated by an airworthiness directive (AD), the steps identified as RC must be done to comply with the AD. Steps not identified as RC are recommended and may be deviated from, done as a part of other actions, or done with accepted methods different from those given in SB, if the RC steps can be done and the airplane can be put back in a serviceable condition. 1. RC – Using Table 1 and Figures 1 through 4, identify the fuel warning placard, if installed, on the airplane. Compare the text on the installed placard with the corresponding text in Table 2. NOTE: Prior versions of fuel warning placards may have text that is very similar to text in Table 2. Examine the text of the currently installed fuel warning placard and confirm that it exactly matches the corresponding text in Table 2, word for word. • If the text on the installed fuel warning placard exactly matches the corresponding text in Table 2, there is no need to replace the placard. Proceed to Step 2. • If no fuel warning placard is installed, or if the text on the installed fuel warning placard does not exactly match the corresponding text in Table 2, then a replacement placard must be installed. Order and install the applicable fuel warning placard shown in Table 1 and Figures 1 through 4. NOTE: The instrument panel configuration of some airplanes may differ from the factory configuration. In such cases, the appropriate fuel warning placard may be installed in a different location from that shown in Figures 1 through 4, with the following restrictions: • The fuel warning placard shall not obscure existing instruments, controls or markings.