On Sept. 11, 2025, the FAA issued an Airworthiness Concern Sheet (ACS) for the Lancair Evolution following reports of a damaged elevator control horn. During an inspection, the aircraft’s elevator had excessive play, and the control horn was found to be visibly damaged with severe cracking and corrosion evident.
Owners and operators of the Lancair Evolution should carefully inspect the area around and inside of the elevators and report any issues that are found to the FAA. Because the aircraft is an Experimental/Amateur-Built (E/A-B) and not type certificated, this is not a mandatory inspection and reporting is not required.
In an email sent by the Fleet Safety Section, the FAA wants owners, operators, mechanics and any other concerned parties to submit detailed descriptions of any damage found, photographs of the damage, and recommended inspection techniques.
The FAA point of contact is Kristi Bradley, Aviation Safety Coordinator in Fort Worth, Texas. She may be reached at kristin.bradley@faa.gov.
If FAA Airworthiness Directives (ADs) are only issued to Certified aircraft, how is a serious problem like this mandated beyond an ACS? That airplane will not tolerate loss of any control, must less pitch.