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[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 70 (Friday, April 11, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 20295-20297]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-08139]

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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Aviation Administration

Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee--Transport Airplane 
Performance and Handling Characteristics--Continuing a Task

AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), DOT.

ACTION: Notice of phase 2 task assignment for the Aviation Rulemaking 
Advisory Committee (ARAC).

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SUMMARY: The FAA assigned the Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee 
(ARAC) a new phase 2 task to provide recommendations regarding

[[Page 20296]]

new or updated standards in the highest priority topic areas for 
airplane performance and handling characteristics. This task addresses 
the Flight Test Harmonization Working Group's recent recommendations. 
This notice informs the public of phase 2 ARAC activity and does not 
solicit membership for the existing Flight Test Harmonization Working 
Group (FTHWG).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Joe Jacobsen, Airplane & Flight Crew 
Interface Branch, ANM-111, Transport Airplane Directorate, Federal 
Aviation Administration, 1601 Lind Avenue SW., Renton, Washington 
98057-3356; telephone 425-227-2011, facsimile 425-227-1149; email 
joe.jacobsen@faa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

ARAC Acceptance of Task

    As a result of the March 20, 2014, ARAC meeting, the FAA has 
assigned and ARAC has accepted this task and will use the existing 
FTHWG. The FTHWG will serve as staff to ARAC and provide advice and 
recommendations on the assigned task. ARAC will review and approve the 
recommendation report that will be sent to the FAA.

Background

    The FAA established ARAC to provide advice and recommendations to 
the FAA Administrator, through the Associate Administrator of Aviation 
Safety, on the FAA's rulemaking activities. ARAC's objectives are to 
improve the development of the FAA's regulations by providing 
information, advice, and recommendations related to aviation issues.
    The FTHWG will provide advice and recommendations to ARAC on new 
and updated standards for the highest priority topic areas for airplane 
performance and handling characteristics.
    In March 2013, the FAA tasked ARAC to provide advice and 
recommendations in prioritizing potential topic areas for the 
development of new or revised standards for airplane performance and 
handling characteristics in new transport category airplanes. The 
output of that task is now complete and is the basis for this new task. 
The highest priority topic areas were determined to be new or updated 
standards for fly-by-wire (FBW) flight controls, wet runway stopping 
performance, runway excursion hazard classification, stall speed in 
ground effect, steep approach, flight test methods used to determine 
maximum tailwind and crosswind capability, susceptibility to pilot-
induced oscillations/airplane-pilot coupling (PIO/APC), and guidance 
material for assessing handling qualities. This task will be to develop 
these high priority topic areas.

The Task

    The working group should develop recommended standards in the 
following topic areas. If there are disagreements within the working 
group, these should be documented, including the reasons for the 
disagreement and rationale from each party. The following subject areas 
should be worked upon within this task:
    1. Fly-by-wire Flight Controls. Regulatory requirements and 
associated guidance material for airworthiness certification of 
airplane designs using fly-by-wire technology to remove the need for 
longstanding, repetitively-used fly-by-wire special conditions. 
Specific areas include:
    a. Applicability/adaptation of Amendment 25-121 airplane 
performance and handling characteristics in icing conditions 
requirements,
    b. Lateral/directional/longitudinal stability,
    c. Out of trim requirements,
    d. Side stick controls, and
    e. Flight envelope protection.
    2. Takeoff and Landing Performance. Regulatory requirements and 
associated guidance material for airworthiness certification in the 
following areas listed below. (Note: This topic area excludes items 
addressed by the Takeoff and Landing Performance Assessment Aviation 
Rulemaking Committee.)
    a. Flight test methods used to determine maximum tailwind and 
crosswind capability. For crosswind testing, better define intended 
operational use of demonstrated maximum steady and gusting crosswind 
performance.
    b. Wet runway stopping performance. Recent landing overruns on wet 
runways have raised questions regarding current wet runway stopping 
performance requirements and methods. Analyses indicate that the 
braking coefficient of friction in each case was significantly lower 
than expected for a wet runway (i.e., lower than the level specified in 
FAA regulations). Consideration should also be given to the scheduling 
of landing performance on wet porous friction course and grooved runway 
surfaces. Recommendations may include the need for additional data 
gathering, analysis, and possible rulemaking.
    c. Steep approach landing performance. Current airplane 
certification standards are not harmonized among the U.S., Canadian, 
Brazilian, and European airworthiness authorities.
    d. Guidance material addressing the adverse effects on stall speed 
in ground effect.
    e. Runway excursion hazard classification. Current safety 
assessments are not harmonized among the U.S., Canadian, Brazilian, and 
European airworthiness authorities.
    3. Handling Characteristics. Guidance material for airworthiness 
certification in the following areas:
    a. Guidance material for assessing handling qualities. Current 
Advisory Circular 25-7, ``Flight Test Guide for Certification of 
Transport Category Airplanes,'' provides an FAA Handling Quality Rating 
Method that is intended to provide a systematic way of determining 
appropriate minimum handling qualities requirements and evaluating 
those handling qualities for-conditions affecting an airplane's flying 
qualities. The FAA handling quality rating system is not universally 
accepted within industry, nor is it accepted by EASA.
    b. Guidance for assessing susceptibility to pilot-induced 
oscillations/airplane-pilot coupling (PIO/APC). Guidance provided in 
Advisory Circular 25-7C for evaluating PIO/APC is also not well 
accepted by airplane manufacturers, is not harmonized with EASA, and 
has been superseded to some extent in recent certification programs. 
Modified guidance is needed to both simplify and standardize the 
methods for evaluating an airplane's susceptibility to PIO/APC.

Schedule

    The recommendation report must be submitted to the FAA for review 
and acceptance no later than 3 years from the publication date of this 
tasking. The FAA expects to publish additional ARAC taskings for 
follow-on phases to develop other topic areas which were lower in 
priority.

Working Group Activity

    The FTHWG must comply with the procedures adopted by ARAC. As part 
of the procedures, the working group must:
    1. Conduct a review and analysis of the assigned task and any other 
related materials or documents.
    2. Draft and submit a work plan for completion of the task, 
including the rationale supporting such a plan, for consideration by 
the Transport Airplane and Engine (TAE) Subcommittee.
    3. Provide a status report at each TAE Subcommittee meeting.

[[Page 20297]]

    4. Draft and submit the recommendation report based on the review 
and analysis of the assigned tasks.
    5. Present the recommendation report at the TAE Subcommittee 
meeting.

Participation in the Working Group

    The existing FTHGW is comprised of technical experts having an 
interest in the assigned task. A working group member need not be a 
representative or a member of the full committee. In accordance with 
the June 18, 2010, memorandum entitled ``Lobbyists on Agency Boards and 
Commissions,'' members are not federally registered lobbyists, who are 
subject to the registration and reporting requirements of the Lobbying 
Disclosure Act of 1995 (LDA) as amended, 2 U.S.C. 1603, 1604, and 1605, 
at the time of appointment or reappointment to an advisory committee, 
and has not served in such a role for three consecutive quarters prior 
to appointment. (For further information see the Office of Management 
and Budget final guidance on appointment of lobbyists to federal boards 
and commissions (76 FR 61756, October 5, 2011).
    All existing FTHWG members who wish to participate in this task 
must actively participate by attending all meetings, and providing 
written comments when requested to do so. Each member must devote the 
resources necessary to support the working group in meeting any 
assigned deadlines. Each member must keep their management chain, and 
those they may represent, advised of working group activities and 
decisions to ensure the proposed technical solutions do not conflict 
with their sponsoring organization's position when the subject is 
presented to ARAC for approval. Once the FTHWG has begun deliberations, 
members will not be added or substituted without the approval of the 
FAA and the Working Group Chair.
    The Secretary of Transportation determined the formation and use of 
ARAC is necessary and in the public interest in connection with the 
performance of duties imposed on the FAA by law.
    ARAC meetings are open to the public. However, meetings of the 
FTHWG are not open to the public, except to the extent individuals with 
an interest and expertise are selected to participate. The FAA will 
make no public announcement of FTHWG meetings.

    Issued in Washington, DC, on April 8, 2014.
Lirio Liu,
Designated Federal Officer, Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee.
[FR Doc. 2014-08139 Filed 4-10-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-13-P
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