Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 51 / Wednesday, March 16, 2016 / Rules and Regulations 13969 

PART 11—GENERAL RULEMAKING 

PROCEDURES 

■ 1. The authority citation for part 11 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 49 U.S.C. 106(f), 106(g), 40101, 

40103, 40105, 40109, 40113, 44110, 44502, 

44701–44702, 44711, and 46102. 

■ 2. In § 11.201 amend the table in 

paragraph (b) by revising the entries for 

Part 121 and Part 135 to read as follows: 

§ 11.201 Office of Management and Budget 

(OMB) control numbers assigned under the 

Paperwork Reduction Act. 

* * * * * 

(b) * * * 

14 CFR part or section identified 

and described Current OMB control No. 

*******

Part 121 ........................................... 2120–0008, 2120–0028, 2120–0535, 2120–0571, 2120–0600, 2120–0606, 2120–0614, 2120–0616, 2120– 

0631, 2120–0651, 2120–0653, 2120–0691, 2120–0702, 2120–0739, 2120–0760, 2120–0766. 

* * * * * * * 

Part 135 ........................................... 2120–0003, 2120–0028, 2120–0039, 2120–0535, 2120–0571, 2120–0600, 2120–0606, 2120–0614, 2120– 

0616, 2120–0620, 2120–0631, 2120–0653, 2120–0766. 

* * * * * * * 

Issued in Washington, DC under the 

authority provided by 49 U.S.C. 106(f) and 

44701(a) on March 8, 2016. 

Lirio Liu, 

Director, Office of Rulemaking. 

[FR Doc. 2016–05862 Filed 3–15–16; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–13–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Aviation Administration 

14 CFR Part 25 

[Docket No. FAA–2015–8298; Special 

Conditions No. 25–611–SC] 

Special Conditions: JAMCO America, 

Inc., Boeing Model 777–300ER, 

Dynamic Test Requirements for SingleOccupant Oblique (Side-Facing) Seats 

With Inflatable Restraints 

AGENCY: Federal Aviation 

Administration (FAA), DOT. 

ACTION: Final special condition; request 

for comments. 

SUMMARY: These special conditions are 

issued for the Boeing Model 777–300ER 

airplane. This airplane, as modified by 

JAMCO America, Inc. (JAMCO), will 

have a novel or unusual design feature 

associated with side-facing, oblique 

seats equipped with inflatable restraints. 

The applicable airworthiness 

regulations do not contain adequate or 

appropriate safety standards for 

occupants of seats installed at an angle 

of greater than 18 degrees, but 

substantially less than 90 degrees, to the 

centerline of the airplane, nor for airbag 

devices. 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: This action is effective on March 

16, 2016. We must receive your 

comments by May 2, 2016. 

ADDRESSES: Send comments identified 

by docket number FAA–2015–8298 

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 

425–227–1320. 

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. 

The FAA therefore finds that good 

cause exists for making these special 

conditions effective upon publication in 

the Federal Register. 

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 April 15, 2015, through FAA 

project no. JAST1977–0, JAMCO 

applied for a supplemental type 

certificate to allow the installation of 

oblique passenger seats, installed at a 

43-inch pitch and at an angle of 30 

degrees to the vertical plane of the 

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13970 Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 51 / Wednesday, March 16, 2016 / Rules and Regulations 

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. 

JAMCO proposes the installation of 

oblique (side-facing) B/E Aerospace 

Super Diamond business-class seats. 

These seats will include airbag devices 

for occupant restraint and injury 

protection. 

Type Certification Basis 

Under the provisions of 14 CFR 

21.101, JAMCO America, Inc., must 

show that the Model 777–300ER 

airplane, as changed, continues to meet 

the applicable provisions of the 

regulations incorporated by reference in 

type certificate no. T00001SE or the 

applicable regulations in effect on the 

date of application for the change. 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: 

Sections 25.562 and 25.785; and 

special conditions no. 25–295–SC for 

single-occupant, side-facing seats. 

In addition, the certification basis 

includes certain special conditions, 

exemptions, or later amended sections 

of the applicable part that are not 

relevant to these 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, as modified by JAMCO will 

incorporate the following novel or 

unusual design features: 

Installation of B/E Aerospace Super 

Diamond business-class seats 

manufactured by B/E Aerospace, 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 JAMCO 

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 that is 

positioned at more than an 18-degree 

angle to the vertical plane containing 

the airplane centerline must be 

protected from head injury by a safety 

belt and an energy-absorbing rest that 

supports the arms, shoulders, head, and 

spine; or by a safety belt and shoulder 

harness that prevents the head from 

contacting injurious objects. The FAA 

concluded that a maximum 18-degree 

angle would provide an adequate level 

of safety based on tests that were 

performed at the time, and thus adopted 

that standard. 

Amendment 25–64, dated June 16, 

1988, revised the emergency-landing 

conditions that must be considered in 

the design of the airplane. It revised the 

static-load conditions in § 25.561 and 

added a new § 25.562, requiring 

dynamic testing for all seats approved 

for occupancy during takeoff and 

landing. The intent was to provide an 

improved level of safety for occupants 

on transport-category airplanes. Because 

most seating on transport-category 

airplanes is forward-facing, the pass/fail 

criteria developed in Amendment 25–64 

focused primarily on forward-facing 

seats. Therefore, the testing specified in 

the rule did not provide a complete 

measure of occupant injury in seats that 

are not forward-facing; although 

§ 25.785 does require occupants of all 

seats that are occupied during taxi, 

takeoff, and landing not suffer serious 

injury as a result of the inertia forces 

specified in §§ 25.561 and 25.562. 

To address recent research findings 

and accommodate commercial demand, 

the FAA developed a methodology to 

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

seats oriented in the airplane with the 

occupant facing 90 degrees to the 

direction of airplane travel) and has 

documented those requirements in a set 

of proposed new special conditions. The 

FAA issued policy statement PS–ANM– 

25–03–R1 on November 12, 2012, titled, 

‘‘Technical Criteria for Approving SideFacing Seats,’’ which conveys the injury 

criteria to be used in the special 

conditions. 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. 

For shallower installation angles, the 

FAA has granted equivalent level of 

safety (ELOS) findings for oblique seat 

installations on the premise that an 

occupant’s kinematics in an oblique seat 

during a forward impact would result in 

the body aligning with the impact 

direction. We predicted that the 

occupant response would be similar to 

an occupant of a forward-facing seat, 

and would produce a level of safety 

equivalent to that of a forward-facing 

seat. These ELOS findings were subject 

to many conditions that reflected the 

injury-evaluation criteria and mitigation 

strategies available at the time of 

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Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 51 / Wednesday, March 16, 2016 / Rules and Regulations 13971 

issuance of the ELOS. However, review 

of dynamic test results for many of these 

oblique seat installations raised 

concerns that the premise was not 

correct. Potential injury mechanisms 

exist that are unique to oblique seats 

and are not mitigated by the ELOS selfalignment approach even if the 

occupant appears to respond similarly 

to a forward-facing seat. 

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. 

Applicability 

As discussed above, these special 

conditions are applicable to the Boeing 

Model 777–300ER airplane. These 

special conditions can be applied to 

oblique seats installed at an angle 

greater than 18 degrees but less than 46 

degrees to the vertical plane containing 

the airplane centerline. 

Should JAMCO 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 that model as well. 

Conclusion 

This action affects only certain novel 

or unusual design features on one model 

series of airplanes. 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 

contained herein. Therefore, because a 

delay would significantly affect the 

certification of the airplane, which is 

imminent, 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 

JAMCO. 

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: JAMCO 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 March 

10, 2016. 

Michael Kaszycki, 

Acting Manager, Transport Airplane 

Directorate, Aircraft Certification Service. 

[FR Doc. 2016–05995 Filed 3–15–16; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–13–P 

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