Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 149 / Wednesday, August 3, 2016 / Rules and Regulations 51093 

Issued in Renton, Washington, on July 27, 

2016. 

Victor Wicklund, 

Acting Manager, Transport Airplane 

Directorate, Aircraft Certification Service. 

[FR Doc. 2016–18447 Filed 8–2–16; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–13–P‘ 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Aviation Administration 

14 CFR Part 25 

[Docket No. FAA–2016–4116; Special 

Conditions No. 25–627–SC] 

Special Conditions: FedEx Express 

Corporation, Boeing Model 767–300F; 

Enhanced Flight Vision System 

AGENCY: Federal Aviation 

Administration (FAA), DOT. 

ACTION: Final special conditions; request 

for comments. 

SUMMARY: These special conditions are 

issued for the Boeing Model 767–300F 

airplane. This airplane, as modified by 

the FedEx Express Corporation (FedEx), 

will have a novel or unusual design 

feature associated with an advanced, 

enhanced flight vision system (EFVS). 

The EFVS consists of a head-up display 

(HUD) system modified to display 

forward-looking infrared (FLIR) 

imagery. 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 FedEx 

on August 3, 2016. We must receive 

your comments by September 19, 2016. 

ADDRESSES: Send comments identified 

by docket number FAA–2016–4116 

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 8 

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: Dale 

Dunford, FAA, Transport Standards 

Staff, ANM–111, Transport Airplane 

Directorate, Aircraft Certification 

Service, 1601 Lind Avenue SW., 

Renton, Washington 98057–3356; 

telephone 425–227–2239; fax 425–227– 

1320; email dale.dunford@faa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The FAA 

has determined that notice of, and 

opportunity for prior public comment 

on, these special conditions are 

impracticable because 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 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 on or before the closing date for 

comments. We may change these special 

conditions based on the comments we 

receive. 

Background 

On November 30, 2012, FedEx 

applied for a supplemental type 

certificate for the installation and 

operation of a HUD and an EFVS in the 

Boeing Model 767–300F airplane. The 

original type certificate for the 767– 

300F airplanes is A1NM. The Boeing 

Model 767–300F is a transport-category, 

cargo-carrying airplane that operates 

with a crew of two. 

Type Certification Basis 

Under the provisions of 14 CFR 

21.101, FedEx must show that the 

Boeing Model 767–300F airplane, as 

changed, continues to meet the 

applicable provisions of the regulations 

listed in type certificate no. A1NM, 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 are 

listed in Type Certificate Data Sheet No. 

A1NM, which covers all variants of 

Boeing Model 767 airplanes. In 

addition, the certification basis includes 

certain special conditions and 

exemptions 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 767–300F 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 Model 767–300F 

airplane must comply with the fuel-vent 

and exhaust-emission requirements of 

14 CFR part 34, and the noisecertification 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 767–300F airplane 

will incorporate the following novel or 

unusual design feature: An EFVS that 

projects a video image derived from a 

FLIR camera through the HUD. The 

EFVS image is projected in the center of 


rmajette on DSK2TPTVN1PROD with RULES
51094 Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 149 / Wednesday, August 3, 2016 / Rules and Regulations 

the ‘‘pilot compartment view,’’ which is 

governed by § 25.773. The image is 

displayed with HUD symbology and 

overlays the forward outside view. 

Therefore, § 25.773 does not contain 

appropriate safety standards for the 

EFVS display. 

Discussion 

Video display on the HUD constitutes 

new and unusual technology for which 

the FAA has no certification criteria. 

Section 25.773 does not permit visual 

distortions and reflections in the pilot’s 

view out the airplane windshield that 

could interfere with the pilot’s normal 

duties, and was not written in 

anticipation of such technology. Special 

conditions are therefore issued as 

prescribed under the provisions of 

§ 21.16. 

For many years, the FAA has 

approved, on transport-category 

airplanes, the use of HUD that display 

flight symbols without a significant 

visual obstruction of the outside view. 

When the FAA began to evaluate the 

display of enhanced vision-system 

(EVS) imagery on the HUD, significant 

potential to obscure the outside view 

became apparent, contrary to the 

requirements of 14 CFR 25.773. This 

rule does not permit distortions and 

reflections in the pilot-compartment 

view, through the airplane windshield, 

that interfere with normal duties, and 

the rule was not written in anticipation 

of such technology. The video image 

potentially interferes with the pilot’s 

ability to see the natural scene in the 

center of the forward field of view. 

Therefore, the FAA issued special 

conditions for such HUD/EVS 

installations to ensure that the level of 

safety required by § 25.773 would be 

met even when the image might 

partially obscure the outside view. EVS 

video has the potential for causing 

interference with the outside view 

through the airplane windshield. 

Although the pilot may be able to see 

around and through small, individual, 

stroke-written symbols on the HUD, the 

pilot may not be able to see around or 

through the image that fills the display 

without some interference of the outside 

view. Nevertheless, the EVS video may 

be capable of meeting the required level 

of safety when considering the 

combined view of the image and the 

outside scene visible to the pilot 

through the image. It is essential that the 

pilot can use this combination of image 

and natural view of the outside scene as 

safely and effectively as the pilotcompartment view currently available 

without the vision-system image. 

Because § 25.773 does not provide for 

any alternatives or considerations for 

such a new and novel system, the FAA 

establishes safety requirements that 

assure an equivalent level of safety and 

effectiveness of the pilot-compartment 

view as intended by that rule. The 

purpose of these special conditions is to 

provide the unique pilot-compartmentview requirements for the EFVS 

installation. 

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 767–300F airplane. Should 

FedEx apply at a later date for a 

supplemental type certificate to modify 

any other model included on type 

certificate no. A1NM to incorporate the 

same novel or unusual design feature, 

the special conditions would apply to 

that model as well. 

Conclusion 

This action affects only certain novel 

or unusual design features on Boeing 

767–300F airplanes. It is not a rule of 

general applicability and it 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 issuance. 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 typecertification basis for Boeing Model 

767–300F airplanes modified by FedEx. 

1. Enhanced flight vision system 

(EFVS) imagery on the head-up display 

(HUD) must not degrade the safety of 

flight or interfere with the effective use 

of outside visual references for required 

pilot tasks during any phase of flight in 

which it is to be used. 

2. To avoid unacceptable interference 

with the safe and effective use of the 

pilot compartment view, the EFVS 

device must meet the following 

requirements: 

a. The EFVS design must minimize 

unacceptable display characteristics or 

artifacts (e.g., noise, ‘‘burlap’’ overlay, 

running water droplets) that obscure the 

desired image of the scene, impair the 

pilot’s ability to detect and identify 

visual references, mask flight hazards, 

distract the pilot, or otherwise degrade 

task performance or safety. 

b. Automatic control of EFVS display 

brightness must be sufficiently effective, 

in dynamically changing background 

(ambient) lighting conditions, to prevent 

full or partial blooming of the display 

that would distract the pilot, impair the 

pilot’s ability to detect and identify 

visual references, mask flight hazards, 

or otherwise degrade task performance 

or safety. If automatic control for image 

brightness is not provided, it must be 

shown that a single manual setting is 

satisfactory for the range of lighting 

conditions encountered during a timecritical, high-workload phase of flight 

(e.g., low visibility instrument 

approach). 

c. A readily accessible control must be 

provided that permits the pilot to 

immediately deactivate and reactivate 

display of the EFVS image on demand 

without removing the pilot’s hands from 

the primary flight controls (yoke or 

equivalent) or thrust control. 

d. The EFVS image on the HUD must 

not impair the pilot’s use of guidance 

information, or degrade the presentation 

and pilot awareness of essential flight 

information displayed on the HUD, such 

as alerts, airspeed, attitude, altitude and 

direction, approach guidance, 

windshear guidance, traffic alert and 

collision avoidance system (TCAS) 

resolution advisories, or unusual 

attitude recovery cues. 

e. The EFVS image and the HUD 

symbols, which are spatially referenced 

to the pitch scale, outside view, and 

image, must be scaled and aligned (i.e., 

conformal) to the external scene. In 

addition, the EFVS image and the HUD 

symbols, when considered singly or in 

combination, must not be misleading, 

cause pilot confusion or increase 


rmajette on DSK2TPTVN1PROD with RULES
Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 149 / Wednesday, August 3, 2016 / Rules and Regulations 51095 

workload. Airplane attitudes or 

crosswind conditions may cause certain 

symbols (e.g., the zero-pitch line or 

flight path vector) to reach field-of-view 

limits such that they cannot be 

positioned conformally with the image 

and external scene. In such cases, these 

symbols may be displayed but with an 

altered appearance, which makes the 

pilot aware that they are no longer 

displayed conformally (for example, 

‘‘ghosting’’). 

f. A HUD system used to display 

EFVS images must, if previously 

certified, continue to meet all of the 

requirements of the original approval. 

3. The safety and performance of the 

pilot tasks associated with the use of the 

pilot compartment view must not be 

degraded by the display of the EFVS 

image. Pilot tasks that must not be 

degraded by the EFVS image include: 

a. Detection, accurate identification, 

and maneuvering, as necessary, to avoid 

traffic, terrain, obstacles, and other 

hazards of flight. 

b. Accurate identification and 

utilization of visual references required 

for every task relevant to the phase of 

flight. 

4. Use of EFVS for instrument 

approach operations must be in 

accordance with the provisions of 

§ 91.175(l) and (m), and § 121.651, 

where applicable. Appropriate 

limitations must be stated in the 

operating limitations section of the 

airplane flight manual to prohibit the 

use of the EFVS for functions that have 

not been found to be acceptable. 

Issued in Renton, Washington, on July 27, 

2016. 

Victor Wicklund, 

Acting Manager, Transport Airplane 

Directorate, Aircraft Certification Service. 

[FR Doc. 2016–18445 Filed 8–2–16; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–13–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Aviation Administration 

14 CFR Part 25 

[Docket No. FAA–2016–7851; Special 

Conditions No. 25–625–SC] 

Special Conditions: Associated Air 

Center, Boeing Model 747–8 Airplane; 

Installation of an Airbag System To 

Limit the Axial Rotation of the Upper 

Leg on Single-Place Side-Facing Seats 

AGENCY: Federal Aviation 

Administration (FAA), DOT. 

ACTION: Final special conditions; 

request for comments. 

SUMMARY: These special conditions are 

issued for the Boeing Model 747–8 

airplane. This airplane, as modified by 

Associated Air Center, will have a novel 

or unusual design feature when 

compared to the state of technology 

envisioned in the airworthiness 

standards for transport-category 

airplanes. This design feature is an 

airbag system to limit axial rotation of 

the upper leg, due to leg flail, of 

occupants in single-place side-facing 

seats. The applicable airworthiness 

regulations do not contain adequate or 

appropriate safety standards for these 

design features. 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 

Associated Air Center on August 3, 

2016. We must receive your comments 

by September 19, 2016. 

ADDRESSES: Send comments identified 

by docket number FAA–2016–7851 

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: 

Jayson Claar, FAA, Airframe and Cabin 

Safety Branch, ANM–115, Transport 

Airplane Directorate, Aircraft 

Certification Service, 1601 Lind Avenue 

SW., Renton, Washington 98057–3356; 

telephone 425–227–2194; facsimile 

425–227–1320. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

substance of these special conditions 

has been subject to the public comment 

process with no comments received. 

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 February 15, 2014, Associated Air 

Center applied for a supplemental type 

certificate for inflatable airbag systems 

in the Boeing Model 747–8 airplane. 

This airplane, currently approved under 

type certificate no. A20WE, is a private, 

not-for-hire, not-for-common-carriage 

business jet with a head-of-state interior. 

This airplane has a maximum passenger 

seating capacity of 113. Twelve of the 

passenger-seating positions include 

single-place side-facing seats, each of 

which include an airbag system to 

protect against leg-flail injuries. 

Type Certification Basis 

Under the provisions of title 14, Code 

of Federal Regulations (14 CFR) 21.101, 

Associated Air Center must show that 

the Model 747–8 airplane, as changed, 

continues to meet the applicable 

provisions of the regulations listed in 

type certificate no. A20WE, 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 


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