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Rules and Regulations Federal Register

67621 

Vol. 80, No. 212 

Tuesday, November 3, 2015 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Aviation Administration 

14 CFR Part 25 

[Docket No. FAA–2015–2123; Special 

Conditions No. 25–604–SC] 

Special Conditions: TIMCO 

Aerosystems, Boeing Model 777– 

300ER Series Airplanes; Dynamic Test 

Requirements for Single-Occupant, 

Oblique (Side-Facing) Seats with 

Airbag Devices 

AGENCY: Federal Aviation 

Administration (FAA), DOT. 

ACTION: Final special conditions; request 

for comments. 

SUMMARY: These special conditions are 

issued for Boeing Model 777–300ER 

series airplanes. This airplane, as 

modified by TIMCO Aerosystems, will 

have novel or unusual design features 

associated with oblique-angled, singleoccupant seats equipped with airbag 

systems. The applicable airworthiness 

regulations do not contain adequate or 

appropriate safety standards for these 

design features. These special 

conditions contain the additional safety 

standards the Administrator considers 

necessary to establish a level of safety 

equivalent to that established by the 

existing airworthiness standards. 

DATES: The effective date of these 

special conditions is November 3, 2015. 

We must receive your comments by 

December 18, 2015. 

ADDRESSES: Send comments identified 

by docket number FAA–2015–2123 

using any of the following methods: 

Federal eRegulations Portal: Go to 

http://www.regulations.gov/ and follow 

the online instructions for sending your 

comments electronically. 

Mail: Send comments to Docket 

Operations, M–30, U.S. Department of 

Transportation (DOT), 1200 New Jersey 

Avenue SE., Room W12–140, West 

Building Ground Floor, Washington, DC 

20590–0001. 

Hand Delivery or Courier: Take 

comments to Docket Operations in 

Room W12–140 of the West Building 

Ground Floor at 1200 New Jersey 

Avenue SE., Washington, DC, between 9 

a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through 

Friday, except Federal holidays. 

Fax: Fax comments to Docket 

Operations at 202–493–2251. 

Privacy: The FAA will post all 

comments it receives, without change, 

to http://www.regulations.gov/, 

including any personal information the 

commenter provides. Using the search 

function of the docket Web site, anyone 

can find and read the electronic form of 

all comments received into any FAA 

docket, including the name of the 

individual sending the comment (or 

signing the comment for an association, 

business, labor union, etc.). DOT’s 

complete Privacy Act Statement can 

be found in the Federal Register 

published on April 11, 2000 (65 FR 

19477–19478), as well as at http://

DocketsInfo.dot.gov/. 

Docket: Background documents or 

comments received may be read at 

http://www.regulations.gov/ at any time. 

Follow the online instructions for 

accessing the docket or go to Docket 

Operations in Room W12–140 of the 

West Building Ground Floor at 1200 

New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, 

DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday 

through Friday, except Federal holidays. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: John 

Shelden, Airframe and Cabin Safety, 

ANM–115, Transport Airplane 

Directorate, Aircraft Certification 

Service, 1601 Lind Avenue SW., 

Renton, Washington 98057–3356; 

telephone 425–227–2785; facsimile 

425–227–1149. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The FAA 

has determined that notice of, and 

opportunity for, prior public comment 

on these special conditions are 

impracticable because these procedures 

would significantly delay issuance of 

the design approval and thus delivery of 

the affected airplane. 

In addition, the substance of these 

special conditions has been subject to 

the public-comment process in several 

prior instances with no substantive 

comments received. The FAA therefore 

finds that good cause exists for making 

these special conditions effective upon 

issuance. 

Comments Invited 

We invite interested people to take 

part in this rulemaking by sending 

written comments, data, or views. The 

most helpful comments reference a 

specific portion of the special 

conditions, explain the reason for any 

recommended change, and include 

supporting data. 

We will consider all comments we 

receive by the closing date for 

comments. We may change these special 

conditions based on the comments we 

receive. 

Background 

On August 20, 2014, through FAA 

project no. ST14746AT–T, certification 

plan no. 13T422R006, TIMCO 

Aerosystems applied for a supplemental 

type certificate to allow the installation 

of oblique passenger seats, positioned at 

30 degrees to the vertical plane of the 

airplane longitudinal centerline, and to 

include inflatable lap belts, in Boeing 

Model 777–300ER airplanes. The Boeing 

Model 777–300ER airplane is a widebody, swept-wing, conventional-tail, 

twin-engine, turbofan-powered 

transport airplane, with seating capacity 

for 550 passengers and 11 crew 

members. 

TIMCO Aerosystems proposes the 

installation of oblique (side-facing) B/E 

Aerospace Super Diamond Business 

Class (B/C) seats. These seats will 

include airbag devices for occupant 

restraint and injury protection. 

Type Certification Basis 

Under the provisions of § 21.101, 

TIMCO Aerosystems must show that the 

777–300ER, as changed, continues to 

meet the applicable provisions of the 

regulations listed in type certificate no. 

T00001SE, or the applicable regulations 

in effect on the date of application for 

the change, except for earlier 

amendments as agreed upon by the 

FAA. The regulations listed in the type 

certificate are commonly referred to as 

the ‘‘original type-certification basis.’’ 

The regulations listed in type certificate 

no. T00001SE are as follows: 

The type-certification basis for the 

Model 777–300ER airplane is 14 CFR 

part 25, effective February 1, 1965, as 

amended by Amendments 25–1 through 

25–98, including special conditions 25– 

295–SC and 25–187A–SC. In addition, 

the certification basis includes certain 

special conditions, exemptions, or later 

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67622 Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 212 / Tuesday, November 3, 2015 / Rules and Regulations 

amended sections of the applicable part 

that are not relevant to these proposed 

special conditions. 

If the Administrator finds that the 

applicable airworthiness regulations 

(i.e., 14 CFR part 25) do not contain 

adequate or appropriate safety standards 

for the Boeing Model 777–300ER 

airplane because of a novel or unusual 

design feature, special conditions are 

prescribed under the provisions of 

§ 21.16. 

Special conditions are initially 

applicable to the model for which they 

are issued. Should the applicant apply 

for a supplemental type certificate to 

modify any other model included on the 

same type certificate to incorporate the 

same novel or unusual design feature, 

these special conditions would also 

apply to the other model under § 21.101. 

In addition to the applicable 

airworthiness regulations and special 

conditions, the Boeing Model 777– 

300ER airplane must comply with the 

fuel-vent and exhaust-emission 

requirements of 14 CFR part 34, and the 

noise-certification requirements of 14 

CFR part 36. 

The FAA issues special conditions, as 

defined in 14 CFR 11.19, in accordance 

with § 11.38, and they become part of 

the type-certification basis under 

§ 21.101. 

Novel or Unusual Design Features 

The Boeing Model 777–300ER 

airplane will incorporate the following 

novel or unusual design features: 

Installation of B/E Aerospace Super 

Diamond Business Class (B/C) seats 

manufactured by B/E Aerospace in ‘‘J’’ 

class, to be installed at an angle of 30 

degrees to the airplane centerline. These 

seats will include airbag devices for 

occupant restraint and injury protection. 

The applicable airworthiness 

regulations do not contain adequate or 

appropriate safety standards for 

occupants of seats installed in the 

proposed configuration. 

The seating configuration TIMCO 

Aerosystems proposes is novel and 

unusual due to the seat installation at 30 

degrees to the airplane centerline, the 

airbag-system installation, and the seat/ 

occupant interface with the surrounding 

furniture that introduces occupant 

alignment and loading concerns. 

Ongoing research is progressing to 

establish acceptable occupant-injury 

limits. Until those limits become 

available, the FAA proposes a set of 

interim limits based on the current 

literature available, current National 

Highway Traffic Safety Administration 

(NHTSA) regulations, and preliminary 

test data from the research program. 

The existing regulations do not 

provide adequate or appropriate safety 

standards for occupants of obliqueangled seats with airbag systems. To 

provide a level of safety that is 

equivalent to that afforded occupants of 

forward- and aft-facing seats, additional 

airworthiness standards, in the form of 

special conditions, are necessary. These 

special conditions supplement part 25 

and, more specifically, supplement 

§§ 25.562 and 25.785. The requirements 

contained in these special conditions 

consist of both test conditions and 

injury pass/fail criteria. 

Discussion 

Amendment 25–15 to part 25, dated 

October 24, 1967, introduced the subject 

of side-facing seats, and a requirement 

that each occupant in a side-facing seat 

must be protected from head injury by 

a safety belt and a cushioned rest that 

will support the arms, shoulders, head, 

and spine. 

Subsequently, Amendment 25–20, 

dated April 23, 1969, clarified the 

definition of side-facing seats to require 

that each occupant of a seat, positioned 

at more than an 18-degree angle to the 

vertical plane of the airplane 

longitudinal centerline, must be 

protected from head injury by a safety 

belt and an energy-absorbing rest that 

will support the arms, shoulders, head, 

and spine; or by a safety belt and 

shoulder harness that will prevent the 

head from contacting any injurious 

object. The FAA concluded that an 18- 

degree angle would provide an adequate 

level of safety based on tests that were 

performed at that time, and thus 

adopted that standard. 

Part 25 was amended June 16, 1988, 

by Amendment 25–64, to revise the 

emergency-landing conditions that must 

be considered in the design of the 

airplane. Amendment 25–64 revised the 

static-load conditions in 14 CFR 25.561, 

and added the new § 25.562 that 

requires dynamic testing for all seats 

approved for occupancy during takeoff 

and landing. The intent of Amendment 

25–64 is to provide an improved level 

of safety for occupants on transportcategory airplanes. Because most seating 

is forward-facing on transport-category 

airplanes, the pass/fail criteria 

developed in Amendment 25–64 

focused primarily on these seats. As a 

result, the FAA issued Policy 

Memorandums ANM–03–115–30 and 

PS–ANM–100–2000–00123 to provide 

the additional guidance necessary to 

demonstrate the level of safety required 

by the regulations for side-facing seats, 

and their mounting plates and adapters. 

Special conditions 25–295–SC were 

issued on August 9, 2005, for the Boeing 

Model 777, with injury criteria for seats 

installed at an oblique angle; however, 

those injury criteria were developed for 

a seat configuration that provided body 

support for the occupant, and do not 

directly address the complex occupantloading conditions introduced by the 

oblique seat configuration that is the 

subject of these new special conditions. 

To reflect current research findings, 

the FAA developed a methodology to 

address all fully side-facing seats (i.e., 

seats positioned in the airplane with the 

occupant facing 90 degrees to the 

vertical plane of the airplane 

centerline), and has documented those 

requirements in a set of new special 

conditions. The FAA issued Policy 

Statement PS–ANM–25–03–R1 to define 

revised injury criteria associated with 

neck and leg injuries as they relate to 

fully side-facing seats, i.e., seats 

installed 90 degrees to the airplane 

centerline. That policy statement does 

not address oblique seat installations. 

Some of those criteria are applicable to 

oblique seats but others are not, because 

the motion of an occupant in an oblique 

seat is different from the motion of an 

occupant in a fully side-facing seat 

during emergency-landing conditions. 

Most recently, on September, 30, 

2015, the FAA issued special conditions 

25–594–SC and 25–596–SC, applicable 

to the Boeing 747–8 and 777–200, for 

oblique seats. These new special 

conditions are identical to both of those 

special conditions. No public comments 

were received for those special 

conditions. 

Applicability 

As discussed above, these special 

conditions are applicable to the Boeing 

Model 777–300ER airplane. Should 

TIMCO apply at a later date for a 

supplemental type certificate to modify 

any other model included on type 

certificate no. T00001SE, to incorporate 

the same novel or unusual design 

feature, these special conditions would 

apply to the other model as well. 

Conclusion 

This action affects only certain novel 

or unusual design features on one model 

of airplane. It is not a rule of general 

applicability, and affects only the 

applicant who applied to the FAA for 

approval of these features on the 

airplane. 

The substance of these special 

conditions has been subjected to the 

notice and comment period in several 

prior instances, and has been derived 

without substantive change from those 

previously issued. It is unlikely that 

prior public comment would result in a 

significant change from the substance 

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Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 212 / Tuesday, November 3, 2015 / Rules and Regulations 67623 

contained herein. Therefore, because a 

delay would significantly affect the 

certification of the airplane, the FAA 

has determined that prior public notice 

and comment are unnecessary and 

impracticable, and good cause exists for 

adopting these special conditions upon 

publication in the Federal Register. The 

FAA is requesting comments to allow 

interested persons to submit views that 

may not have been submitted in 

response to the prior opportunities for 

comment described above. 

List of Subjects in 14 CFR Part 25 

Aircraft, Aviation safety, Reporting 

and recordkeeping requirements. 

The authority citation for these 

special conditions is as follows: 

Authority: 49 U.S.C. 106(g), 40113, 44701, 

44702, 44704. 

The Special Conditions 

■ Accordingly, pursuant to the authority 

delegated to me by the Administrator, 

the following special conditions are 

issued as part of the type certification 

basis for the Boeing Model 777–300ER 

airplane as modified by TIMCO 

Aerosystems. 

Side-Facing Seats Special Conditions 

In addition to the requirements of 

§ 25.562: 

1. Head-Injury Criteria 

Compliance with § 25.562(c)(5) is 

required, except that, if the 

anthropomorphic test device (ATD) has 

no apparent contact with the seat/

structure but has contact with an airbag, 

a head-injury criterion (HIC) unlimited 

score in excess of 1000 is acceptable, 

provided the HIC15 score (calculated in 

accordance with 49 CFR 571.208) for 

that contact is less than 700. 

2. Body-to-Wall/Furnishing Contact 

If a seat is installed aft of structure 

(e.g., an interior wall or furnishing) that 

does not provide a homogenous contact 

surface for the expected range of 

occupants and yaw angles, then 

additional analysis and/or test(s) may be 

required to demonstrate that the injury 

criteria are met for the area that an 

occupant could contact. For example, if 

different yaw angles could result in 

different airbag performance, then 

additional analysis or separate test(s) 

may be necessary to evaluate 

performance. 

3. Neck Injury Criteria 

The seating system must protect the 

occupant from experiencing serious 

neck injury. The assessment of neck 

injury must be conducted with the 

airbag device activated, unless there is 

reason to also consider that the neckinjury potential would be higher for 

impacts below the airbag-device 

deployment threshold. 

a. The Nij (calculated in accordance 

with 49 CFR 571.208) must be below 

1.0, where Nij =Fz/Fzc + My/Myc, and Nij

critical values are: 

i. Fzc = 1530 lb for tension 

ii. Fzc = 1385 lb for compression 

iii. Myc = 229 lb-ft in flexion 

iv. Myc = 100 lb-ft in extension 

b. In addition, peak upper-neck Fz

must be below 937 lb of tension and 899 

lb of compression. 

c. Rotation of the head about its 

vertical axis, relative to the torso, is 

limited to 105 degrees in either 

direction from forward-facing. 

d. The neck must not impact any 

surface that would produce 

concentrated loading on the neck. 

4. Spine and Torso Injury Criteria 

a. The shoulders must remain aligned 

with the hips throughout the impact 

sequence, or support for the upper torso 

must be provided to prevent forward or 

lateral flailing beyond 45 degrees from 

the vertical during significant spinal 

loading. Alternatively, the lumbar spine 

tension (Fz) cannot exceed 1200 lb. 

b. Significant concentrated loading on 

the occupant’s spine, in the area 

between the pelvis and shoulders 

during impact, including rebound, is 

not acceptable. During this type of 

contact, the interval for any rearward 

(X-direction) acceleration exceeding 20g 

must be less than 3 milliseconds as 

measured by the thoracic 

instrumentation specified in 49 CFR 

part 572, subpart E, filtered in 

accordance with SAE International 

(SAE) J211–1. 

c. Occupant must not interact with 

the armrest or other seat components in 

any manner significantly different than 

would be expected for a forward-facing 

seat installation. 

5. Longitudinal test(s), conducted to 

measure the injury criteria above, must 

be performed with the FAA Hybrid III 

ATD, as described in SAE 1999–01– 

1609. The test(s) must be conducted 

with an undeformed floor, at the mostcritical yaw case(s) for injury, and with 

all lateral structural supports (armrests/ 

walls) installed. 

Note: TIMCO Aerosystems must 

demonstrate that the installation of seats via 

plinths or pallets meets all applicable 

requirements. Compliance with the guidance 

contained in FAA Policy Memorandum PS– 

ANM–100–2000–00123, dated February 2, 

2000, titled ‘‘Guidance for Demonstrating 

Compliance with Seat Dynamic Testing for 

Plinths and Pallets,’’ is acceptable to the 

FAA. 

Inflatable Lap Belt Special Conditions 

If inflatable lap belts are installed on 

single-place side-facing seats, the lap 

belts must meet Special Conditions no. 

25–187A–SC. 

Issued in Renton, Washington, on October 

28, 2015. 

Michael Kaszycki, 

Acting Manager, Transport Airplane 

Directorate, Aircraft Certification Service. 

[FR Doc. 2015–27936 Filed 11–2–15; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–13–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Aviation Administration 

14 CFR Part 25 

[Docket No. FAA–2015–3368; Special 

Conditions No. 25–603–SC] 

Special Conditions: Embraer Model 

EMB–545 and EMB–550 Airplanes; 

Occupant Protection For Side-Facing 

Seats Forward of Aft-Facing Seats 

AGENCY: Federal Aviation 

Administration (FAA), DOT. 

ACTION: Final special conditions; request 

for comments. 

SUMMARY: These special conditions are 

issued for Embraer Model EMB–545 and 

EMB–550 airplanes. These airplanes 

will have a novel or unusual design 

feature associated with a seat 

configuration of side-facing seats 

positioned forward of aft-facing seats, 

and with a structural armrest between 

the side-facing and aft-facing seats. The 

applicable airworthiness regulations do 

not contain adequate or appropriate 

safety standards for this design feature. 

These special conditions contain the 

additional safety standards that the 

Administrator considers necessary to 

establish a level of safety equivalent to 

that established by the existing 

airworthiness standards. 

DATES: The effective date of these 

special conditions is November 3, 2015. 

We must receive your comments by 

December 18, 2015. 

ADDRESSES: Send comments identified 

by docket number FAA–2015–3368 

using any of the following methods: 

• Federal eRegulations Portal: Go to 

http://www.regulations.gov/and follow 

the online instructions for sending your 

comments electronically. 

• Mail: Send comments to Docket 

Operations, M–30, U.S. Department of 

Transportation (DOT), 1200 New Jersey 

Avenue SE., Room W12–140, West 

Building Ground Floor, Washington, DC 

20590–0001. 

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