AD compliance tracking for owner-pilots — what you actually do.

Not regulatory or operational guidance. Always read the AD directly from the issuing authority’s published source before acting on it. Engine and propeller manufacturers’ Service Bulletins also bind in the EASA system; consult the AMP and a certifying engineer for compliance method.

ADs — Airworthiness Directives — are the most regulatorially loaded item on an owner-pilot’s plate. Miss a recurring AD by two flight hours and you have flown an unairworthy aircraft. The catalog is large, the applicability rules are precise, and the ones that matter for your tail change over time.

This guide is the practical workflow.

What an AD is (EASA AD vs FAA AD)

An Airworthiness Directive is a mandatory action issued by an airworthiness authority in response to an unsafe condition. It is not optional. Compliance is required by the date or threshold the AD specifies; non-compliance grounds the aircraft until corrective action is taken.

EASA ADs are issued by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency. They apply to aircraft, engines, propellers, and components on the European register, and to non-EU aircraft for which EASA has type-design authority through bilateral agreement.

FAA ADs are issued by the US Federal Aviation Administration. They apply to N-registered aircraft and, where harmonised, to foreign-registered aircraft of US type design.

For an EU-registered piston single, your primary AD source is EASA. For an N-registered piston single, FAA. For an EU-registered aircraft of US type design (a Cessna or Beech or Cirrus on an EU register), both apply: EASA may adopt the FAA AD via an EASA AD, or the FAA AD applies directly through the bilateral.

Where ADs are published (EASA AD-Tool, FAA DRS)

EASA AD-Tool (ad.easa.europa.eu). Searchable by aircraft / engine / propeller type designator, by AD number, and by serial range. The current AD for the type is the source of truth; revisions supersede prior issues.

FAA Dynamic Regulatory System (DRS) (drs.faa.gov). The successor to the older FAA DRS, holding ADs alongside other regulatory documents. Searchable similarly.

For type clubs and engine ADs, the manufacturer’s Service Bulletins (SBs) are the upstream signal that often becomes an AD later; reading them keeps you ahead of the curve. Lycoming, Continental, Hartzell, and McCauley publish SBs through their own portals.

Applicability filters by tail and serial

ADs do not apply to every aircraft of a type. The applicability section of an AD typically narrows by:

Aircraft model (e.g., PA-28-181 specifically, not all PA-28s).
Serial range (e.g., “serial numbers 28-7790001 through 28-8290002”).
Date of manufacture (less common, but used when the issue is install-batch-related).
Equipment installed (an AD on a specific Bendix magneto applies only to aircraft with that magneto).
Modifications applied (an AD that’s superseded by a service bulletin already complied with may not apply if the SB is in your records).

For a typical owner, this means each AD has to be cross-referenced against your specific aircraft. The work is repetitive and rule-based, which is exactly what software is for.

Airworth Hangar ships a 727-document service-document catalog with an applicability engine that performs this matching automatically against the aircraft you’ve configured. The engine knows serial range, model, date, and equipment. The matching is monthly-updated via a Cowork catalog workflow.

Recurring vs one-time ADs

ADs come in two basic shapes:

One-time ADs. A specific corrective action, performed once, then complete. Example: replace a part with a redesigned version. Once done and recorded, the AD is closed for that airframe.

Recurring ADs. A periodic inspection or task at a specified interval. Example: inspect the wing-spar attachment fittings every 100 hours; replace the fuel selector seal every 3 years. The compliance status is “complied at X hours, next due at Y hours.”

For Hangar’s workflow, recurring ADs feed the same triggers as the AMP — hour-based, calendar-based, or landing-based. The dashboard surfaces them in the same categorised list as everything else (overdue, critical, upcoming, OK). Landing-based AD compliance tracking is on the roadmap; hour-based and calendar-based are shipped today.

AD compliance recordkeeping

For each applicable AD, the record needs to show:

AD number and revision complied with.
Method of compliance (the action taken, with reference to the AD’s compliance instructions).
Date and aircraft hours at the time of compliance.
Certifying signature of the person who performed and / or released the work.
Reference to follow-on actions if the AD has recurring elements.

For pilot-owner-eligible AD compliance (rare but exists), the pilot-owner signs. For the rest, the certifying staff signs. The record lives in the aircraft logbook; a copy lives in the Hangar document vault tagged to the AD.

At ARC review, the inspector wants to see the AD compliance status against the current published AD list for the type. Mismatches are findings.

Common ADs on Lycoming and Continental piston engines

Without naming specific current AD numbers (which change), the categories of recurring AD work on the typical owner-pilot piston engine include:

Cylinder inspections — for known crack-prone cylinder designs, recurring inspection at hour intervals.
Crankshaft inspections — for serial-range-affected crankshafts, sometimes with a defined service life.
Magneto-related actions — particularly for Bendix magnetos with known issues.
Fuel system checks — fuel selector valves, fuel hoses, fuel pumps with serial-range applicability.
Oil cooler and oil hose inspections — periodic, often calendar-based.

The current AD list for your engine make/model is on the EASA AD-Tool and on the FAA DRS. Hangar’s catalog covers the most common piston-engine ADs out of the box; the monthly catalog update brings in new ones as they’re issued.

Using Hangar to automate this loop

The Hangar AD workflow, end to end:

Configure the aircraft with template (e.g., SR22 G6) plus serial number, equipment installed, framework (EASA / FAA / per-aircraft override).
Catalog applies automatically — the 727-document catalog runs against your aircraft and surfaces the ADs that match by serial range, model, date, and equipment.
Compliance status can be entered for each — most-recent compliance date, hours, method, signature.
Dashboard categorises — overdue, critical (within next 10 hours), upcoming (within next 50 hours), OK.
New ADs surface in the Today feed via the monthly Cowork catalog update; opt-in digest email summarises the month’s catalog changes.
Print or export an AD applicability report for ARC review, formatted for an inspector to scan.

The monthly catalog update is a real, dated workflow — not a marketing claim. The 727-document figure is the current catalog as of the Stage 0.g audit; it grows.

For the surrounding regulatory context, see Part-ML compliance for owner-pilots, and for the ARC angle that depends on AD status, the ARC renewal checklist. For an alternative product comparison, Hangar vs Coflyt.