Airworthiness Directives - Publishing & Distribution Rules

Document formatting :

• Canadian directives: {AD_NUMBER}-{LANG}.{HTM|PDF} (Note : Country code for Canada, is already the prefix of the AD document name)

• Foreign directives: {COUNTRY-CODE}{AD_NUMBER}.{HTM|PDF}

Certain characters occasionally found in foreign AD numbers cannot be used in naming a web document. As an official document number, the AD number is stored verbatim, but the following substitutions are used in creating the htm/pdf filename :

Export folder

\\ncrws488\tcwwwtest\Aviation\applications\AWD-CN\documents

External web folder

https://wwwapps.tc.gc.ca/Saf-Sec-Sur/2/AWD-CN/documents/

\\tcinfomaster\tcapps\Saf-Sec-Sur\2\AwD-CN\documents

Internal web folder

https://tcapps.tc.gc.ca/Saf-Sec-Sur/2/AwD-CN/documents/

Document Archive folders

\\ncrws488\tcwwwtest\Aviation\applications\AWD-CN\working

\ncrfs345\GROUPS\AARD\AARD Public\CAWIS-REPORTS\Ad_archive\working

TROUBLESHOOTING

A full list of the contents of AD web can be had by the following method :

1. open a (dos) command line

2. enter (or paste in) the following and hit enter
   DIR   "\\tcinfomaster\tcapps\Saf-Sec-Sur\2\AwD-CN\documents\*.*" > C:\ADINVENTORY.TXT

3. the text file created at C:\ADINVENTORY.TXT will contains the names and qualifications of every document found on AD web. NOTE : there are a large number of garbage files on the external web from 25+ years of activity.

Any specific AD File can be found on a physical lookup

(append the document name onto the URL

https://wwwapps.tc.gc.ca/Saf-Sec-Sur/2/AWD-CN/documents/xxxxxx.xxx ) ,

Note : ALL AD documents are either PDF -or- HTM

If this AD does not appear when searching AD web

• Ensure all files for export are available at : \\ncrws488\tcwwwtest\Aviation\applications\AWD-CN\documents

• Verify in CAWIS, the status of the "make live to web" flag, and the appropriate “document available” flags

  

• Ensure the file name is in the proper format.

• Ensure that the export script is running (script intervals : 20 mins)

The AD file has not exported ?  

• Go to the document archive at : \\ncrfs345\GROUPS\AARD\AARD Public\CAWIS-REPORTS\Ad_archive\working to reaquire the document, if necessary

• Sort the list descending by modified date

• Copy desired files back over to the export folder

• Ensure the file name(s) are in in the proper format

• Wait 20 minutes for export

• Reverify the export with a physical lookup

Distribution rules

A TC published AD involving Canadian TCH products should be distributed to

1. all owners/operators of the affected products found on the current Canadian register (5008 module)

2. all International Civil Aviation Authorities/ICAO members (SIGS module)

3. all other special interest groups requesting updates on that product (SIGS module)

4. all TC regional office reference centers

A TC published AD involving Non-Canadian TCH products should be distributed to

1. all owners/operators of the affected products found on the current Canadian register (5008 module)

2. only the Civil Aviation Authority that is the TCH holding country of that product (SIGS module)

3. if possibly, the manufacturer contact for that product (SIGS module)

4. all TC regional office reference centers

A Foreign published AD involving Canadian TCH products, if adopted by TC, should be distributed to

1. all owners/operators of the affected products found on the current Canadian register (5008 module)

2. all TC regional office reference centers

A Foreign published AD involving Canadian TCH products, should be distributed to

1. all owners/operators of the affected products found on the current Canadian register (5008 module)

2. all TC regional office reference centers

All other requestors (mostly foreign airlines) are directed to subscribe to E-news (subscribe)

Notes:

Type certificate Holders (TCH)

1. Not ALL Canadian published ADs pertain to Canadian TCH products, only

2. Canadian products are found on Foreign issued ADs and these are sometimes adopted by TC (though, normal practice is that TC/CAW reviews the AD, and then issues a Canadian AD afterward)

Emergency AD’s

These are to be distributed immediately upon publication or receipt by TC. An AD of this nature usually requires immediate corrective action by the owners of this product

MDM outages

1. Record lock can occur. (can take up to 2 hours before reset)

2. Exchange server password changes ? (controlled by the shared services group)

3. possibly an export script outage ? The MDM code looks for a copy of the document on the Internal web server ( https://tcapps.tc.gc.ca/Saf-Sec-Sur/2/AwD-CN/documents/ )

The publications group has the option to gather and BCC a full distribution in event of an emergency, if/when the MDM is offline.

Document formats

Beginning in 1996, all Canadian ADs and applicable foreign ADs were scanned to HTM format. HTM publication continued until 2015.

PDF publication began in 2004 in conjunction with HTM, and is not the only format exported to AD web, except in cases where the inspectors are posting old ADs on newly acquired products, and HTM is the only format available. PDF’s were ultimately produced for all TC ADs back to 1933.

Sale Reported / Invalid Address operators

Identified on the Y93 table by Sale_reported = “Y” - or - Active_flag = “I” . Either of these conditions render the operator uncontactable by CAWIS and these operators are exempted from both AD and AAIR distribution until such time as legitimate contact data is re-established in CCARCS.

Amateur Built / Ultralight aircraft

These are aircraft with flight authority F,H or I. They are not required to comply with ADs and are not included in distributions (exception: if the aircraft is using some kind of type-approved engine or propeller, they will appear on the distribution list )

Owner Maintenance aircraft

Flight Authority = “C” . These are usually older aircraft that have become uneconomical to maintain. All models for these aircraft are suffixed with an “X” and thus, do not appear in AD distributions. The onus is on the operator to look up ADs for their A/E/P models on the public web search facility and inspect/maintain their own aircraft.

Cancelled Airworthiness Directives

When an AD is cancelled it needs to :

1. have the cancelled indicator ticked on the AD modify page

2. untick all “document available” links

3. The word cancelled is to appear at the beginning of the subject -or- cancelled by in the event that it has been replaced by a new AD.

4. If cancelled by a new AD, the Country Code/Ad number needs to be filled into the appropriate AD fields, and included in the AD subject where it is hyperlinked when displayed on AD web

5. Ideally, cancelled ADs should be deleted from the External/Internal web folder(s), but CAWIS users cannot access either. So the practice was created to overwrite old documents using “dummy” docs having the same name ( sample DUMMY AD ) as outlined in TFS ITEM #13712. The user’s concern here was that cancelled and/or superseded versions of old ADs were still available to the public through Google search, despite no longer being available using AD web.