Transport Canada has finally issued an Airworthiness Directive (AD number CF-2020-10) concerning the issue of the right-side cargo doors being impeded from use as emergency egress for third row occupants when flaps are deployed by 20° or greater.

The AD calls for no more than five occupants be carried aboard most Cessna 206 models when in operation. It also calls for the removal of one of the two centre-row seats from the three-row aircraft if either of the two aft-row seats is occupied.

An additional corrective action specified in the AD is for the requirement of rear seat passengers to demonstrate, on the day of flight, that they can open the right-side cargo doors when the flaps are deployed by 20° or greater, independently of any assistance.

Most Cessna 206 models are affected. Cessna 206H and T206H, the airplane company’s latest models, are unaffected by most of the AD requirements since their Canadian type certificate included limitations that are addressed by this AD.

This AD addresses an Aviation Safety Advisory (A18W0129-D1-A1) issued by the Transportation Safety Board last year in response to a fatal accident involving a Cessna U206G that occurred on Little Doctor Lake in the Northwest Territories in August of 2018.

The effective date of the AD is April 23, 2020.

Additional AD compliance requirements, exemptions and compliance deadlines are included in the full document, appended below.

Image sources: TSB