FAA orders cargo hook inspections on up to 1,134 Airbus helicopters

The FAA is ordering inspections of the cargo hook release on up to 1,134 U.S.-registered Airbus helicopters after a load dropped from a hook without any command from the pilot. The agency says the problem behind it, a release cable that appeared twisted and out of length tolerance, could lead to a load being lost in flight and injure people on the ground. The first inspections are due within 50 sling cycles or 30 days of the Nov. 12 effective date, whichever comes first.If you fly an AS350B2, AS350B3, AS355N, AS355NP or EC130B4 in any category, AD 2026-22-01 covers you. The FAA issued it as a final rule without a comment period, citing good cause under the Administrative Procedure Act, and it still takes comments until Dec. 11. It estimates the one-time inspection at one work-hour, or $85 a helicopter. Repairs cost more. Inspecting and adjusting a removed dropping control runs $170, and replacing it costs $1,285, of which $1,200 is parts. The FAA says it has no way of determining how many helicopters will need repairs. The rule also doesn’t say how often the repeat inspections come around. Those compliance times are in EASA AD 2026-0146, which the FAA adopts by reference and says will be in the docket. (For helicopters fitted with the ONBOARD 3500LB system, which EASA calls Group 1, that directive allows a cargo swing operation only if a free-play inspection was done within the previous 24 hours. The EASA text sets no inspection for other helicopters, and the FAA rule does not say whether it treats them differently, so owners should confirm with their maintenance provider or the FAA what applies to their aircraft.)The trigger was a lost collapsible bucket. The load released from the cargo hook during a water pickup without the pilot initiating a release. The investigation found the release activation cable twisted and outside its length tolerance, so the release mechanism couldn’t be properly adjusted. The FAA takes those findings from EASA’s July 24 directive.The AD requires a one-time inspection of the load dropping control on the cargo swing installation, done without removing it from the helicopter. Repeat inspections follow for free play in the manual release lever and for the correct functioning of the mechanical emergency release. Depending on what turns up, the dropping control comes off for inspection and adjustment or gets replaced.The 50-cycle limit counts sling cycles, which the rule defines as one landing, with or without stopping the rotor, or one external load-carrying operation. An external load-carrying operation occurs each time the helicopter picks up a load and drops it off. The FAA makes one important change to the European requirements, particularly for owner-pilots. EASA lets a suitably authorized pilot do the free-play check, while the FAA requires a person authorized under 14 CFR 43.3 and calls the task an inspection instead of a check. The agency calls the AD an interim action.Why it mattersThis is the second FAA directive in under a year to trace a lost load on these five models to a release cable. AD 2025-24-06, published in December 2025, followed a lost load caused by an incorrectly adjusted release cable on the emergency release control, and it asked for a one-time inspection. This one asks for repeat inspections and limits the free-play inspection to persons authorized under 14 CFR 43.3. For an affected operator, the cargo hook release inspection is now a standing line item in the maintenance plan. And because the first deadline counts sling cycles, the helicopters doing the most lifting come due soonest.Browse current Airbus helicopters for sale on GlobalAir.com.