Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 177 / Wednesday, September 12, 2018 / Rules and Regulations 46101 

5. Pelvis Criteria 

Any part of the load-bearing portion 

of the bottom of the ATD pelvis must 

not translate beyond the edges of the 

seat bottom seat-cushion supporting 

structure. 

6. Femur Criteria 

Axial rotation of the upper leg (about 

the z-axis of the femur per SAE 

Recommended Practice J211/1) must be 

limited to 35 degrees from the nominal 

seated position. Evaluation during 

rebound does not need to be considered. 

7. ATD and Test Conditions 

Longitudinal tests conducted to 

measure the injury criteria above must 

be performed with the FAA Hybrid III 

ATD, as described in SAE 1999–01– 

1609, ‘‘A Lumbar Spine Modification to 

the Hybrid III ATD for Aircraft Seat 

Tests.’’ The tests must be conducted 

with an undeformed floor, at the mostcritical yaw cases for injury, and with 

all lateral structural supports (e.g. 

armrests or walls) installed. 

Note: Boeing must demonstrate that the 

installation of seats via plinths or pallets 

meets all applicable requirements. 

Compliance with the guidance contained in 

policy memorandum PS–ANM–100–2000– 

00123, ‘‘Guidance for Demonstrating 

Compliance with Seat Dynamic Testing for 

Plinths and Pallets,’’ dated February 2, 2000, 

is acceptable to the FAA. 

8. Inflatable Airbag Restraint Systems 

Special Conditions 

If inflatable airbag restraint systems 

are installed, the airbag systems must 

meet the requirements in one of the 

airbag (inflatable restraint) special 

conditions applicable to the Boeing 

Model 787–8, 787–9 and 787–10 series 

airplanes. 

Issued in Des Moines, Washington, on 

September 5, 2018. 

Victor Wicklund, 

Manager, Transport Standards Branch, Policy 

and Innovation Division, Aircraft 

Certification Service. 

[FR Doc. 2018–19753 Filed 9–11–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–13–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Aviation Administration 

14 CFR Part 25 

[Docket No. FAA–2016–4136; Special 

Conditions No. 25–621A–SC] 

Special Conditions: The Boeing 

Company (Boeing), Model 777 Series 

Airplanes; Dynamic Test Requirements 

for Single Occupant Oblique Seats, 

With or Without Airbag Devices or 3- 

Point Restraints 

AGENCY: Federal Aviation 

Administration (FAA), DOT. 

ACTION: Amended final special 

conditions; request for comments. 

SUMMARY: These amended special 

conditions are issued for the Boeing 

Model 777 series airplanes. This 

amendment states that the Boeing 

Model 777 series airplanes oblique 

(side-facing) seats may be installed at an 

angle of 18 to 45 degrees to the airplane 

centerline and may include a 3-point or 

airbag restraint system, or both, for 

occupant restraint and injury protection. 

This airplane will have novel or 

unusual design features when compared 

to the state of technology envisioned in 

the airworthiness standards for 

transport category airplanes. These 

design features are oblique (side-facing) 

single-occupant passenger seats 

equipped with or without airbag devices 

or 3-point restraints. 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: This action is effective on The 

Boeing Company on September 12, 

2018. Send comments on or before 

October 29, 2018. 

ADDRESSES: Send comments identified 

by Docket No. FAA–2016–4136 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 website, 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). 

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 

Section, AIR–675, Transport Standards 

Branch, Policy and Innovation Division, 

Aircraft Certification Service, Federal 

Aviation Administration, 2200 South 

216th Street, Des Moines, Washington 

98198; telephone and fax 206–231– 

3214; email John.Shelden@faa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

substance of these special conditions 

has been published in the Federal 

Register for public comment in several 

prior instances with no substantive 

comments received. The FAA therefore 

finds it unnecessary to delay the 

effective date and 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 November 22, 2017, Boeing 

applied for an amendment to Type 


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46102 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 177 / Wednesday, September 12, 2018 / Rules and Regulations 

Certificate No. T00001SE for the 

installation of oblique (side-facing) 

passenger seats with or without airbag 

devices or 3-point restraints in the 

Boeing Model 777 series airplanes. The 

Boeing Model 777 series airplanes are 

twin-engine, transport category 

airplanes with a maximum certified 

passenger capacity of up to 550 and a 

maximum takeoff weight of 

approximately 775,000 lbs. 

Type Certification Basis 

Under the provisions of title 14, Code 

of Federal Regulations (14 CFR) 21.101, 

Boeing must show that the Model 777 

series airplanes 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. 

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 series 

airplanes because of novel or unusual 

design features, 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 type certificate 

for that model be amended later to 

include any other model that 

incorporates the same novel or unusual 

design feature, or should any other 

model already included on the same 

type certificate be modified 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 series 

airplanes 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 business-class seating 

configuration Boeing proposes is novel 

or 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. The proposed business-class 

seating configuration is also beyond the 

limits of current acceptable equivalentlevel-of-safety findings. These oblique 

(side-facing) seats may be installed at an 

angle of 18 to 45 degrees to the airplane 

centerline and may include a 3-point or 

airbag restraint system, or both, for 

occupant restraint and injury protection. 

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 

The FAA has been conducting and 

sponsoring research on appropriate 

injury criteria for oblique (side-facing) 

seat installations. However, the FAA 

research program is not complete and 

we may update these criteria as we 

obtain further research results. To 

reflect current research findings, the 

FAA issued policy statement PS–ANM– 

25–03–R1 to update injury criteria for 

fully side-facing seats, and policy 

statement PS–AIR–25–27, to define 

injury criteria for oblique (side-facing) 

seats. 

The proposed Boeing Model 777 

series airplanes business-class seat 

installation is novel such that the 

current Boeing Model 777 series 

airplanes certification basis does not 

adequately address protection of the 

occupant’s neck and spine for seat 

configurations that are positioned at an 

angle greater than 18 degrees from the 

airplane centerline. The FAA issued 

special conditions No. 25–569–SC for 

Model 777–300ER airplanes on 

September 25, 2014, and special 

conditions No. 25–621–SC for certain 

Model 777–300ER airplanes on August 

3rd, 2016. These special conditions 

contained injury criteria for oblique 

seats based on the best knowledge the 

FAA had at the time. These special 

conditions for oblique seat installations 

do not adequately address oblique seats, 

reflecting the current research results, 

with or without 3-point or airbag 

restraint systems. Therefore, Boeing’s 

proposed configuration will require 

amended special conditions. 

The installation of passenger seats at 

angles of 18 to 45 degrees to the airplane 

centerline are unique due to the seat/ 

occupant interface with the surrounding 

furniture that introduces occupant 

alignment/loading concerns with or 

without the installation of a 3-point or 

airbag restraint system, or both. Ongoing research has invalidated 

previously released special conditions 

for oblique (side-facing) seat 

installations. These updated special 

conditions further address potential 

injuries to the occupant’s neck and 

spine. As a result, these special 

conditions replace special conditions 

25–569–SC and 25–621–SC. 

FAA-sponsored research has found 

that an un-restrained flailing of the 

upper torso, even when the pelvis and 

torso are nearly aligned, can produce 

serious spinal and torso injuries. At 

lower impact severities, even with 

significant misalignment between the 

torso and pelvis, these injuries did not 

occur. Tests with an FAA H–III 

anthropomorphic test device (ATD) 

have identified a level of lumbar spinal 

tension corresponding to the no-injury 

impact severity. This level of tension is 

included as a limit in the special 

conditions. The spine tension limit 

selected is conservative with respect to 

other aviation injury criteria since it 

corresponds to a no-injury loading 

condition. 

As noted in the special conditions for 

each airbag restraint system, because an 

airbag restraint system is essentially a 

single use device, there is the potential 

that it could deploy under crash 

conditions that are not sufficiently 

severe as to require head injury 

protection from the airbag restraint 

system. Since an actual crash is 

frequently composed of a series of 

impacts before the airplane comes to 

rest, this could render the airbag 

restraint system useless if a larger 

impact follows the initial impact. This 

situation does not exist with energy 

absorbing pads or upper torso restraints, 

which tend to provide protection 

according to the severity of the impact. 

Therefore, the installation of the airbag 

restraint system should be such that the 

airbag restraint system will provide 

protection when it is required, and will 

not expend its protection when it is not 

needed. 

Because these airbag restraint systems 

may or may not activate during various 

crash conditions, the injury criteria 

listed in these special conditions and in 

§ 25.562 must be met in an event that is 

slightly below the activation level of the 

airbag restraint system. If an airbag 

restraint system is included with the 

oblique seats, the system must meet the 

requirements in one of the airbag 

(inflatable restraint) special conditions 

applicable to the Boeing Model 777 

series airplanes. 


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Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 177 / Wednesday, September 12, 2018 / Rules and Regulations 46103 

These amended special conditions 

will provide head injury criteria, neck 

injury criteria, spine injury criteria, and 

body-to-wall contact criteria. They 

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 series airplane. Should 

Boeing apply at a later date for a change 

to the type certificate to include another 

model incorporating 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. 

List of Subjects in 14 CFR Part 25 

Aircraft, Aviation safety, Reporting 

and recordkeeping requirements. 

Authority Citation 

The authority citation for these 

special conditions is as follows: 

Authority: 49 U.S.C. 106(f), 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 series airplanes. 

Side-Facing Seats Special Conditions 

In addition to the requirements of 

§ 25.562: 

1. Head Injury Criteria (HIC) 

Compliance with § 25.562(c)(5) is 

required, except that, if the ATD has no 

apparent contact with the seat/structure 

but has contact with an airbag, a HIC 

unlimited score in excess of 1,000 is 

acceptable, provided the HIC15 score for 

that contact (calculated in accordance 

with 49 CFR 571.208) is less than 700. 

2. Body-to-Wall/Furnishing Contact 

If a seat is installed aft of structure 

(e.g., interior wall or furnishings) that 

does not provide a homogenous contact 

surface for the expected range of 

occupants and yaw angles, then 

additional analysis and tests may be 

required to demonstrate that the injury 

criteria are met for the area which an 

occupant could contact. For example, 

different yaw angles could result in 

different airbag device performance, 

then additional analysis or separate tests 

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 

a 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 = 1,530 lbs for tension 

ii. Fzc = 1,385 lbs 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 lbs. in tension and 

899 lbs. in 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 lumbar spine tension (Fz) 

cannot exceed 1,200 lbs. 

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 20 g 

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 recommended 

practice J211/1, ‘‘Instrumentation for 

Impact Test–Part 1—Electronic 

Instrumentation.’’ 

c. The 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. Pelvis Criteria 

Any part of the load-bearing portion 

of the bottom of the ATD pelvis must 

not translate beyond the edges of the 

seat bottom seat-cushion supporting 

structure. 

6. Femur Criteria 

Axial rotation of the upper leg (about 

the z-axis of the femur per SAE 

Recommended Practice J211/1) must be 

limited to 35 degrees from the nominal 

seated position. Evaluation during 

rebound does not need to be considered. 

7. ATD and Test Conditions 

Longitudinal tests conducted to 

measure the injury criteria above must 

be performed with the FAA Hybrid III 

ATD, as described in SAE 1999–01– 

1609, ‘‘A Lumbar Spine Modification to 

the Hybrid III ATD for Aircraft Seat 

Tests.’’ The tests must be conducted 

with an undeformed floor, at the mostcritical yaw cases for injury, and with 

all lateral structural supports (e.g., 

armrests or walls) installed. 

Issued in Des Moines, Washington, on 

September 5, 2018. 

Victor Wicklund, 

Manager, Transport Standards Branch, Policy 

and Innovation Division, Aircraft 

Certification Service. 

[FR Doc. 2018–19752 Filed 9–11–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–13–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

Bureau of Industry and Security 

15 CFR Part 744 

[Docket No. 180718671–8671–01] 

RIN 0694–AH57 

Addition of Certain Entities to the 

Entity List, Revision of Entries on the 

Entity List and Removal of Certain 

Entities From the Entity List 

Correction 

In rule document 2018–18766 

beginning on page 44821 in the issue of 

Tuesday, September 4, 2018, make the 

following correction: 

1. On page 44824, in the third 

column, amendatory instruction number 

2e is corrected to read as follows: 

‘‘2. * * * 

e. Under Russia, 

i. By removing the entity ‘‘Joint Stock 

Company Mikron’’; 

ii. By adding in alphabetical order 

two entities ‘‘Joint Stock Company (JSC) 

NIIME’’ and ‘‘PJSC Mikron’’; 

2. On page 44825, in the table, under 

the country heading for Hong Kong, the 

Joinus Freight Systems entry should 

read as follows: 

* * * * * 


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