This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER

contains notices to the public of the proposed

issuance of rules and regulations. The

purpose of these notices is to give interested

persons an opportunity to participate in the

rule making prior to the adoption of the final

rules.

Proposed Rules Federal Register

50527

Vol. 62, No. 187

Friday, September 26, 1997

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Aviation Administration

14 CFR Part 39

[Docket No. 97–CE–37–AD]

RIN 2120–AA64

Airworthiness Directives; American

Champion Aircraft Corporation Model

8GCBC Airplanes

AGENCY: Federal Aviation

Administration, DOT.

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking

(NPRM).

SUMMARY: This document proposes to

supersede Airworthiness Directive (AD)

87–18–09, which currently requires

inspecting (one-time) the sides of the

front and rear wood spars for

compression cracks on certain American

Champion Aircraft Corporation (ACAC)

Model 8GCBC airplanes, and repairing

or replacing any wood spar with

compression cracks. The proposed AD

would require installing inspection

holes on the top and bottom wing

surfaces, repetitively inspecting the

front and rear wood spars for damage,

repairing or replacing any damaged

wood spar, and installing inspection

covers. Damage is defined as cracks;

compression cracks; longitudinal cracks

through the bolt holes, spacer holes, or

nail holes; or loose or missing rib nails.

The proposed AD results from in-flight

wing structural failure on one of the

affected airplanes that was in

compliance with the one-time

inspection requirement of AD 87–18–09.

The actions specified by the proposed

AD are intended to prevent damage in

the wood spar wing from going

undetected, which could result in inflight structural failure of the wing with

consequent loss of control of the

airplane.

DATES: Comments must be received on

or before November 28, 1997.

ADDRESSES: Submit comments in

triplicate to the Federal Aviation

Administration (FAA), Central Region,

Office of the Assistant Chief Counsel,

Attention: Rules Docket No. 97–CE–37–

AD, Room 1558, 601 E. 12th Street,

Kansas City, Missouri 64106. Comments

may be inspected at this location

between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday and

Friday, holidays excepted.

Service information that applies to the

proposed AD may be obtained from

American Champion Aircraft

Corporation, P.O. Box 37, 32032

Washington Avenue, Highway D,

Rochester, Wisconsin 53167. This

information also may be examined at

the Rules Docket at the address above.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr.

William Rohder, Aerospace Engineer,

FAA, Chicago Aircraft Certification

Office, 2300 E. Devon Avenue, Des

Plaines, Illinois 60018; telephone (847)

294–7697; facsimile (847) 294–7834.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Comments Invited

Interested persons are invited to

participate in the making of the

proposed rule by submitting such

written data, views, or arguments as

they may desire. Communications

should identify the Rules Docket

number and be submitted in triplicate to

the address specified above. All

communications received on or before

the closing date for comments, specified

above, will be considered before taking

action on the proposed rule. The

proposals contained in this notice may

be changed in light of the comments

received.

Comments are specifically invited on

the overall regulatory, economic,

environmental, and energy aspects of

the proposed rule. All comments

submitted will be available, both before

and after the closing date for comments,

in the Rules Docket for examination by

interested persons. A report that

summarizes each FAA-public contact

concerned with the substance of this

proposal will be filed in the Rules

Docket.

Commenters wishing the FAA to

acknowledge receipt of their comments

submitted in response to this notice

must submit a self-addressed, stamped

postcard on which the following

statement is made: ‘‘Comments to

Docket No. 97–CE–37–AD.’’ The

postcard will be date stamped and

returned to the commenter.

Availability of NPRMs

Any person may obtain a copy of this

NPRM by submitting a request to the

FAA, Central Region, Office of the

Assistant Chief Counsel, Attention:

Rules Docket No. 97–CE–37–AD, Room

1558, 601 E. 12th Street, Kansas City,

Missouri 64106.

Discussion

AD 87–18–09, Amendment 39–5725,

currently requires inspecting (one-time)

the sides of the front and rear wood

spars for compression cracks on

American Champion Aircraft

Corporation (ACAC) Model 8GCBC

airplanes, repairing or replacing any

wood spar with compression cracks,

and re-inspecting immediately after any

incident involving wing damage. AD

87–18–09 was the result of three

accidents involving ACAC Model

8GCBC airplanes where compression

cracks in the wood spar caused in-flight

structural failure of the wing.

Wood compression cracks are failures

of wood fibers on a plane perpendicular

to the wood fiber longitudinal axis.

Repetitive high stress can initiate these

compression cracks on the top or bottom

surface of the wing spar adjacent to

doubler plate glue lines and rib nail

holes. These high stress conditions can

occur during crop dusting, banner and

glider tow operations, turbulence, and

rough field or float operations.

Compression cracks can also initiate if

the wing contacts the ground.

Compression cracks can initiate at either

the top or bottom surface of the spar

depending on the bending loads (either

upward or downward) at impact.

Actions Since Issuance of Previous Rule

In-flight structural failure of the wing

recently occurred on an ACAC Model

8GCBC airplane that was initially

inspected as required by AD 87–18–09.

A possible contributing factor of this

accident was an undetected

compression crack on the right wing

front spar.

Review of data acquired from

inspections of several ACAC Model

8GCBC airplanes indicate that wood

spar compression cracks can occur

without previous wing damage. The

data indicates that detection of a

compression crack on the sides of the

spar is unlikely, unless the crack is in

an advanced state of propagation. Based
50528 Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 187 / Friday, September 26, 1997 / Proposed Rules

on this data, the FAA believes that

repetitive inspections are necessary.

Relevant Service Information

The FAA has reviewed and approved

the technical contents of ACAC Service

Letter 406, dated March 28, 1994, and

ACAC Service Letter 417, dated August

14, 1997. ACAC Service Letter 406

includes procedures for conducting a

detailed visual inspection of both the

front and rear wood wing spars for

cracks; compression cracks; longitudinal

cracks through the bolt holes, spacer

holes, or nail holes; and loose or

missing rib nails (referred to as damage

hereon). ACAC Service Letter 417

includes procedures for installing

inspection holes and surface covers and

assuring that all applicable lower

surface drain holes are installed.

The FAA’s Determination

After examining the circumstances

and reviewing all available information

related to the incidents and accidents

described above, including the

referenced service information, the FAA

has determined that AD action should

be taken to prevent damage in the wood

spar from going undetected, which

could result in in-flight structural

failure of the wing with consequent loss

of control of the airplane.

Explanation of the Provisions of the

Proposed AD

Since an unsafe condition has been

identified that is likely to exist or

develop in other ACAC Model 8GCBC

airplanes of the same type design, the

FAA is proposing an AD to supersede

AD 87–18–09. The proposed AD would

require installing inspection holes on

the top and bottom wing surfaces,

repetitively inspecting the front and rear

wood spars for damage, repairing or

replacing any damaged wood spar, and

installing surface covers.

Accomplishment of the proposed

actions would be as follows:

—Installations: in accordance with

ACAC Service Letter 417, dated

August 14, 1997;

—Inspections: in accordance with

ACAC Service Letter 406, dated

March 28, 1994; and

—Spar Repair and Replacement, as

applicable: in accordance with

Advisory Circular (AC) 43–13,

Acceptable Methods, Techniques and

Practices; or other data that the FAA

has approved for spar repair and

replacement

Difference Between This Proposed AD

and ACAC Service Letter 406

ACAC Service Letter 406, dated

March 28, 1994, specifies the same

inspections as are proposed in this

notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM).

The differences between the service

letter and NPRM are:

—The service letter specifies the

proposed action within the next 30

days or 10 flight hours and at each

100 hour/annual inspection

thereafter. The FAA has determined

that a more realistic compliance and

enforceable compliance time would

be to require the proposed action

within 3 calendar months after the

effective date of the AD, and

thereafter at intervals not to exceed 12

calendar months or 500 hours time-inservice (TIS), whichever occurs first;

and

—The service letter applies to all ACAC

7 and 8 series airplanes, whereas the

NPRM applies only to ACAC Model

8GCBC airplanes. The FAA is

currently reviewing the service

history of all of the ACAC airplane

models specified in ACAC Service

Letter 406. Based on this review, the

FAA may initiate additional

rulemaking action in the future on the

airplane models other than the Model

8GCBC airplanes. This potential

action may propose the same actions

as the proposed AD with either the

same or different compliance times, or

may propose entirely different actions

altogether.

Compliance Time of the Proposed AD

The compliance time of the proposed

AD is presented in calendar time and

hours TIS. Although the unsafe

condition specified in the proposed AD

is a result of airplane operation,

operators of the affected airplanes

utilize their airplanes in different ways.

For example, an operator may utilize

his/her airplane 50 hours TIS in a year

while utilizing the aircraft in no or very

little crop dusting operations, banner

and glider tow operations, or rough field

or float operations. This airplane

operator would obviously experience

less of a chance of high crack

propagation than the airplane operator

that utilizes his/her airplane 300 hours

TIS in a year regularly in heavy crop

dusting operations, banner and glider

tow operations, or rough field or float

operations. However, this airplane

could have pre-existing and undetected

wood spar damage that occurred during

previous operations. In this situation,

the damage to the wood spar would

propagate at a level that depends on the

operational exposure of the airplane and

severity of the wood spar damage.

To assure that compression cracks do

not go undetected on the wood spars of

the affected airplanes, the FAA has

determined that an initial 3 calendar

month compliance time should be used.

Repetitive actions would be

accomplished every 12 calendar months

or 500 hours TIS, whichever occurs

first.

Cost Impact

The FAA estimates that 261 airplanes

in the U.S. registry would be affected by

the proposed AD, that it would take

approximately 6 workhours

(Installations: 5 workhours; Initial

Inspection: 1 workhour) per airplane to

accomplish the proposed action, and

that the average labor rate is

approximately $60 an hour. Parts cost

approximately $292 per airplane,

provided that each airplane would only

need 11 additional standard inspection

hole covers per wing (total of 22

additional standard covers per airplane).

If the airplane would require the

installation of more inspection covers

(i.e., a result of previous non-factory

wing recover work), the cost could be

slightly higher. Based on these figures,

the total cost impact of the proposed AD

on U.S. operators is estimated to be

$170,172 or $652 per airplane.

This cost figure is based on the

presumption that no affected airplane

owner/operator has accomplished the

installations or the initial inspection.

The FAA has no knowledge of any

owner/operator of the affected airplanes

that has already accomplished the

installations and initial inspection.

The cost figure also does not account

for repetitive inspections. The FAA has

no way of determining the number of

repetitive inspections each owner/

operator of the affected airplanes will

incur over the life of his/her airplane.

However, each proposed repetitive

inspection would cost substantially less

than the initial inspection because of

the cost of the initial proposed

inspection hole and cover installations.

The inspection covers allow easy access

for the inspection of the wood spars,

and the proposed compliance time

would enable the owners/operators of

the affected airplanes to accomplish the

repetitive inspections at regularly

scheduled annual inspections.

Regulatory Impact

The regulations proposed herein

would not have substantial direct effects

on the States, on the relationship

between the national government and

the States, or on the distribution of

power and responsibilities among the

various levels of government. Therefore,

in accordance with Executive Order

12612, it is determined that this

proposal would not have sufficient

federalism implications to warrant the

preparation of a Federalism Assessment.
Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 187 / Friday, September 26, 1997 / Proposed Rules 50529

For the reasons discussed above, I

certify that this action (1) is not a

‘‘significant regulatory action’’ under

Executive Order 12866; (2) is not a

‘‘significant rule’’ under DOT

Regulatory Policies and Procedures (44

FR 11034, February 26, 1979); and (3) if

promulgated, will not have a significant

economic impact, positive or negative,

on a substantial number of small entities

under the criteria of the Regulatory

Flexibility Act. A copy of the draft

regulatory evaluation prepared for this

action has been placed in the Rules

Docket. A copy of it may be obtained by

contacting the Rules Docket at the

location provided under the caption

ADDRESSES.

List of Subjects in 14 CFR Part 39

Air transportation, Aircraft, Aviation

safety, Safety.

The Proposed Amendment

Accordingly, pursuant to the

authority delegated to me by the

Administrator, the Federal Aviation

Administration proposes to amend 14

CFR part 39 of the Federal Aviation

Regulations as follows:

PART 39—AIRWORTHINESS

DIRECTIVES

1. The authority citation for part 39

continues to read as follows:

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

§ 39.13 [Amended]

2. Section 39.13 is amended by

removing Airworthiness Directive (AD)

87–18–09, Amendment 39–5725, and by

adding a new AD to read as follows:

American Champion Aircraft Company:

Docket No. 97–CE–37–AD; Supersedes

AD 87–18–09, Amendment 39–5725.

Applicability: Model 8GCBC airplanes, all

serial numbers, certificated in any category,

that are equipped with wood wing spars.

Note 1: This AD applies to each airplane

identified in the preceding applicability

provision, regardless of whether it has been

modified, altered, repaired, or reconfigured

in the area subject to the requirements of this

AD. For airplanes that have been modified,

altered, repaired, or reconfigured so that the

performance of the requirements of this AD

is affected, the owner/operator must request

approval for an alternative method of

compliance in accordance with paragraph (e)

of this AD. The request should include an

assessment of the effect of the modification,

alteration, or repair on the unsafe condition

addressed by this AD; and, if the unsafe

condition has not been eliminated, the

request should include specific proposed

actions to address it.

Compliance: Required as indicated in the

body of this AD, unless already

accomplished.

To prevent damage in the wood spar wing

from going undetected, which could result in

in-flight structural failure of the wing with

consequent loss of control of the airplane,

accomplish the following:

(a) Within the next 3 calendar months after

the effective date of this AD, accomplish the

following:

(1) Install inspection holes in the top and

bottom surface of each wing in accordance

with American Champion Aircraft

Corporation (ACAC) Service Letter 417, dated

August 14, 1997. Assure that all drainage

holes are installed as depicted in this service

letter, and install drainage holes as necessary.

(2) Inspected (detailed visual) both the

front and rear wood wing spars for cracks;

compression cracks; longitudinal cracks

through the bolt holes, spacer holes, or nail

holes; and loose or missing rib nails (referred

to as damage hereon). Accomplish these

inspections in accordance with ACAC

Service Letter 406, dated March 28, 1994.

(3) If any spar damage is found, prior to

further flight, accomplish the following:

(i) Repair or replace the wood wing spar in

accordance with Advisory Circular (AC) 43–

13, Acceptable Methods, Techniques and

Practices; or other data that is approved by

the FAA for wing spar repair or replacement.

(ii) If the wing is recovered, accomplish the

installations required by paragraph (a)(1) of

this AD, as applicable.

(4) Install inspection hole covers on the top

and bottom surface of the wing in accordance

with ACAC Service Letter 417, dated August

14, 1997.

(b) Within 12 calendar months or 500

hours TIS (whichever occurs first) after

accomplishing all actions required by

paragraph (a), all subparagraphs included, of

this AD, and thereafter at intervals not to

exceed 12 calendar months or 500 hours TIS,

whichever occurs first, accomplish the

inspection, repair, replacement, and

installation required by paragraphs (a)(2),

(a)(3) as applicable; including its

subparagraphs; and (a)(4) of this AD.

Note 2: The affected airplanes are not

certificated for acrobatic maneuvers. AD 87–

18–09 required a placard prohibiting

acrobatic maneuvers in addition to the

existing operational placard. The FAA

encourages owners/operators of the affected

airplanes to keep this placard installed on

their airplanes.

(c) If any of the affected airplanes are

involved in an incident involving wing

damage after the effective date of this AD,

prior to further flight, accomplish the

inspection, repair, replacement, and

installation required by paragraphs (a)(2),

(a)(3), as applicable; including its

subparagraphs; and (a)(4) of this AD.

(d) Special flight permits may be issued in

accordance with sections 21.197 and 21.199

of the Federal Aviation Regulations (14 CFR

21.197 and 21.199) to operate the airplane to

a location where the requirements of this AD

can be accomplished.

(e) An alternative method of compliance or

adjustment of the initial or repetitive

compliance time that provides an equivalent

level of safety may be approved by the

Manager, Chicago Aircraft Certification

Office (ACO), 2300 E. Devon Avenue, Des

Plaines, Illinois 60018.

(1) The request shall be forwarded through

an appropriate FAA Maintenance Inspector,

who may add comments and then send it to

the Manager, Chicago ACO.

(2) Alternative methods of compliance

approved in accordance with AD 87–18–09

(superseded by this action) are not

considered approved as alternative methods

of compliance for this AD.

Note 3: Information concerning the

existence of approved alternative methods of

compliance with this AD, if any, may be

obtained from the Chicago ACO.

(f) All persons affected by this directive

may obtain copies of the documents referred

to herein upon request to American

Champion Aircraft Corporation, P.O. Box 37,

32032 Washington Avenue, Highway D,

Rochester, Wisconsin 53167; or may examine

these documents at the FAA, Central Region,

Office of the Assistant Chief Counsel, Room

1558, 601 E. 12th Street, Kansas City,

Missouri 64106.

(g) This amendment supersedes AD 87–18–

09, Amendment 39–5725.

Issued in Kansas City, Missouri, on

September 22, 1997.

Henry A. Armstrong,

Acting Manager, Small Airplane Directorate,

Aircraft Certification Service.

[FR Doc. 97–25607 Filed 9–25–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4910–13–M

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Bureau of Economic Analysis

15 CFR Part 801

[Docket No. 970903222–7222–01]

RIN 0691–AA28

International Services Surveys: BE–93

Annual Survey of Royalties, License

Fees, and Other Receipts and

Payments for Intangible Rights

Between U.S. and Unaffiliated Foreign

Persons

AGENCY: Bureau of Economic Analysis,

Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking.

SUMMARY: This document sets forth

proposed rules to amend the reporting

requirements for the BE–93, Annual

Survey of Royalties, License Fees, and

Other Receipts and Payments Between

U.S. and Unaffiliated Foreign Persons.

The BE–93 survey is conducted by the

Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA),

U.S. Department of Commerce, under

the International Investment and Trade

in Services Survey Act. The data are

needed to support U.S. trade policy

initiatives, compile the U.S. balance of

payments and the national income and

product accounts, develop U.S.

international price indexes for services,

assess U.S. competitiveness in

international trade in services, and

improve the ability of U.S. businesses to