Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 211 / Thursday, October 31, 2013 / Proposed Rules 65235 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Aviation Administration 

14 CFR Part 25 

[Docket No. FAA–2013–0857; Notice No. 25– 

13–08–SC] 

Special Conditions: Learjet Inc., Model 

LJ–200–1A10 Airplane; 

Crashworthiness, Emergency Landing 

Conditions 

AGENCY: Federal Aviation 

Administration (FAA), DOT. 

ACTION: Notice of proposed special 

conditions. 

SUMMARY: This action proposes special 

conditions for the Learjet Model LJ– 

200–1A10 airplane. 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 features are 

associated with a hybrid construction 

that uses both composite and metallic 

materials in the structure for which the 

crashworthiness responses for occupant 

safety may not be equivalent to current 

all-metallic airplanes. The applicable 

airworthiness regulations do not contain 

adequate or appropriate safety standards 

for the crashworthiness of this design 

feature. These proposed 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: Send your comments on or 

before December 16, 2013. 

ADDRESSES: Send comments identified 

by docket number FAA–2013–0857 

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 the 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: 

Mark Freisthler, FAA, Airframe/Cabin 

Safety, ANM–115, Transport Airplane 

Directorate, Aircraft Certification 

Service, 1601 Lind Avenue SW., 

Renton, Washington 98057–3356; 

telephone (425) 227–1119; facsimile 

(425) 227–1320. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

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 February 9, 2009, Learjet Inc. 

applied for a type certificate for their 

new Model LJ–200–1A10 airplane 

(hereafter referred to as the ‘‘Model LJ– 

200’’). The Model LJ–200 is a business 

class airplane powered by two highbypass turbine engines with an 

estimated maximum takeoff weight of 

35,550 pounds and an interior 

configuration for up to 10 passengers. 

The current design includes a skinstringer fuselage and aft fuselage 

configuration. The pressure fuselage 

will consist of monolithic carbon fiber 

reinforced plastic (CFRP) skin, with 

CFRP and metallic frames above floor 

level, and CFRP longerons and stringers. 

All substructure will be mechanically 

fastened to the skin. Fasteners for 

stringers aligned along the length of the 

co-cured splice will provide fail-safe 

capability for the splice. Cabin entry 

door frames, over-wing exit door frames, 

and frames below floor level will be 

metallic. Attachment of pressure 

bulkheads, windshield frame, and 

splicing concepts will be adjusted for 

any skin thickness variation that occurs. 

The wing consists of resin transfer 

infusion (RTI) skins with composite 

spars and metallic ribs. The empennage 

consists of composite sandwich skins 

with metallic spars and ribs. The 

airframe has a sandwich construction 

for the nose and empennage structures. 

There are no existing regulations that 

adequately address the potential 

difference between metallic fabricated 

airplanes and composite fabricated 

airplanes with regards to impact 

response characteristics for what are 

considered survivable crash conditions. 

The CFRP fuselage constitutes a novel 

and unusual design feature for a 

transport category airplane. These 

special conditions are necessary to 

ensure a level of safety equivalent to 

that provided by Title 14, Code of 

Federal Regulations (14 CFR) part 25. 

Type Certification Basis 

Under the provisions of 14 CFR 21.17, 

Learjet Inc. must show that the Model 

LJ–200 meets the applicable provisions 

of part 25, as amended by Amendments 

25–1 through 25–127 thereto, and 14 

CFR part 26, as amended by 

Amendment 26–1 through 26–2 thereto. 

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 Model LJ–200 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 type certificate 

for that model be amended later to 

include any other model that 

incorporates the same or similar novel 

or unusual design feature, the special 

conditions would also apply to the other 

model under § 21.101. 

In addition to the applicable 

airworthiness regulations and special 

conditions, the Model LJ–200 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, and the 

FAA must issue a finding of regulatory 

adequacy under § 611 of Public Law 92– 

574, the ‘‘Noise Control Act of 1972.’’ 

The FAA issues special conditions, as 

defined in 14 CFR 11.19, in accordance 

with § 11.38, and they become part of 


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65236 Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 211 / Thursday, October 31, 2013 / Proposed Rules 

the type-certification basis under 

§ 21.17(a)(2). 

Novel or Unusual Design Features 

The Model LJ–200 will incorporate 

the following novel or unusual design 

features: Hybrid construction using both 

composite and metallic materials in the 

structure for which the crashworthiness 

responses for occupant safety may not 

be equivalent to current all-metallic 

airplanes. 

Discussion 

The Model LJ–200 fuselage is 

fabricated using carbon fiber reinforced 

plastic (CFRP) skins with aluminum ribs 

and stringers. This hybrid construction 

may behave differently from similar, 

fully-metallic structure due to 

differences in material ductility, 

stiffness, failure modes, and energy 

absorption characteristics. Therefore, 

the impact response characteristics of 

the Model LJ–200 must be evaluated to 

ensure the survivable crashworthiness 

characteristics are not significantly 

different than those of a similarly sized 

airplane fabricated from traditionally 

used metallic materials. 

The FAA and industry have been 

working together for many years to 

understand how transport airplane 

occupant safety can be improved for 

what are considered survivable 

accidents. This work has involved 

examining airplane accidents, 

conducting tests to simulate crash 

conditions, and developing analytical 

modeling of a range of crash conditions, 

all with the purpose of providing further 

insight into the factors that can 

influence occupant safety. Results of 

this on-going effort have enabled 

specific changes to regulatory standards 

and design practices to improve 

occupant safety. This evolution is 

reflected in changes to the part 25 

emergency landing condition 

regulations. For example, airplane 

emergency load factors in § 25.561, 

General, have been increased, and 

passenger seat dynamic load conditions 

have been added (§ 25.562, Emergency 

landing dynamic conditions). 

The seat dynamic load conditions 

were added to the regulations based on 

FAA and industry tests and a review of 

accidents. They reflect horizontal and 

vertical accelerations/time environment 

generated by previously certificated 

airplane designs given conditions that 

were survivable. These tests also 

demonstrated that the performance of 

the airframe was acceptable in a 

dynamic impact event. In the evolution 

of the regulations, there is at present no 

specific dynamic regulatory requirement 

for airplane-level crashworthiness. 

However, the FAA requires an 

assessment of each new model airplane 

to ensure that the airplane will not 

significantly depart from typical 

dynamic characteristics found in 

previously certificated designs. 

The nature of the assessment is 

largely dependent on the similarities 

and differences between the new type 

design and previously certificated 

airplanes. Such an assessment ensures 

that the level of safety of the new 

composite designs corresponds to the 

level of safety achieved with similar 

metallic designs around which the 

existing regulations were written. If 

significant trends in industry warrant 

change to the existing regulations, the 

FAA and industry rulemaking process 

may be used to develop an appropriate 

dynamic regulatory requirement for 

airplane level crashworthiness. 

The FAA and industry have collected 

a significant amount of experimental 

data as well as data from crashes of 

transport category airplanes that 

demonstrate a high occupant survival 

rate at vertical descent velocities up to 

30 ft/sec (on a single-aisle airplane). 

Based on this information, the FAA 

finds it appropriate and necessary for an 

assessment of the Model LJ–200 to span 

a range of airplane vertical descent 

velocities (up to 30 ft/sec, or that 

appropriate for a comparable size 

airplane). 

The FAA expects the Model LJ–200 to 

exhibit similar crashworthiness 

capabilities under foreseeable 

survivable impact events as achieved by 

previously certificated transport 

category airplanes of similar size and 

configuration. In order to make this 

assessment, criteria need to be 

established by which the similarities 

and differences between new type 

designs and previously certificated 

airplanes may be analytically evaluated. 

Based on the FAA’s evaluation of the 

intent of existing regulations, the 

following areas need to be evaluated to 

demonstrate comparable behavior of the 

Model LJ–200 design to currently 

certificated transport category airplanes: 

• Retention of items of mass. It must 

be shown that the occupants, i.e., 

passengers, flight attendants, and flight 

crew, will be protected during the 

impact event from release of seats, 

overhead bins, and other items of mass 

due to the impact loads and resultant 

structural deformation of the supporting 

airframe and floor structures. 

• Maintenance of occupant 

emergency egress paths. The airframe 

must not deform such that rapid 

evacuation of occupants is impeded. 

• Maintenance of acceptable 

acceleration and loads experienced by 

the occupants. 

• Maintenance of a survivable 

volume. All areas of the airplane 

occupied for takeoff and landing must 

be shown to provide a survivable 

volume during and after the impact 

event. 

Applicability 

As discussed above, these special 

conditions are applicable to the Learjet 

Model LJ–200–1A10. Should Learjet Inc. 

apply at a later date for a change to the 

type certificate to include another 

model incorporating 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 one model 

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. 

The authority citation for these 

special conditions is as follows: 

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

44702, 44704. 

The Proposed Special Conditions 

Accordingly, the Federal Aviation 

Administration (FAA) proposes the 

following special conditions as part of 

the type certification basis for Learjet 

Model LJ–200–1A10 airplanes. 

In order to demonstrate an equivalent 

level of occupant safety and 

survivability to that provided by 

previously certificated transport 

category airplanes of similar size and 

configuration under foreseeable 

survivable impact events, Learjet must 

demonstrate that the Model LJ–200– 

1A10 meets the following criteria for a 

range of airplane vertical descent 

velocities up to 30 ft/sec: 

1. Retention of items of mass. The 

occupants, i.e., passengers, flight 

attendants, and flightcrew, must be 

protected during the impact event from 

release of seats, overhead bins, and 

other items of mass due to the impact 

loads and resultant structural 

deformation of the supporting airframe 

and floor structures. The applicant must 

show that loads due to the impact event 

and resultant structural deformation of 

the supporting airframe and floor 

structure at the interface of the airplane 

structure to seats, overhead bins, and 

other items of mass are comparable to 

those of previously certificated transport 

category airplanes of similar size for the 


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Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 211 / Thursday, October 31, 2013 / Proposed Rules 65237 

range of descent velocities stated above. 

The attachments of these items need not 

be designed for static emergency 

landing loads in excess of those defined 

in § 25.561 if impact response 

characteristics of the Model LJ–200– 

1A10 yield load factors at the attach 

points comparable with those expected 

for a previously certificated transport 

category airplane of similar size. 

2. Maintenance of acceptable 

acceleration and loads experienced by 

the occupants. The applicant must show 

that the vertical acceleration levels 

experienced at the seat/floor interface 

and loads experienced by the occupants 

during the impact event are consistent 

with those found in § 25.562(b) or with 

the levels expected for a previously 

certificated comparable transport 

category airplane of similar size. 

3. Maintenance of a survivable 

volume. The applicant must show that 

all areas of the airplane occupied for 

takeoff and landing provide a survivable 

volume comparable to that of previously 

certificated transport category airplanes 

of similar size during and after the 

impact event. This means that structural 

deformation will not result in 

infringement of the occupants’ normal 

living space significantly affecting their 

survivability or egress. 

4. Maintenance of occupant 

emergency egress paths. The applicant 

must show that the airframe 

deformation after the vertical impact 

event does not impede the rapid 

evacuation of occupants comparable to 

previously certified transport category 

airplanes of similar size. 

Issued in Renton, Washington, on 

September 19, 2013. 

Ross Landes, 

Acting Manager, Transport Airplane 

Directorate, Aircraft Certification Service. 

[FR Doc. 2013–25841 Filed 10–30–13; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–13–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Aviation Administration 

14 CFR Part 71 

[Docket No. FAA–2013–0017; Airspace 

Docket No. 13–AAL–1] 

Proposed Establishment of Class E 

Airspace; Central, AK 

AGENCY: Federal Aviation 

Administration (FAA), DOT. 

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking 

(NPRM). 

SUMMARY: This action proposes to 

establish Class E airspace at Central 

Airport, Central, AK. Controlled 

airspace is necessary to accommodate 

the new Area Navigation (RNAV) Global 

Positioning System (GPS) standard 

instrument approach procedures at the 

airport. The FAA is proposing this 

action to enhance the safety and 

management of aircraft operations at 

Central Airport, Central, AK. 

DATES: Comments must be received on 

or before December 16, 2013. 

ADDRESSES: Send comments on this 

proposal to the U.S. Department of 

Transportation, Docket Operations, M– 

30, West Building Ground Floor, Room 

W12–140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., 

Washington, DC 20590; telephone (202) 

366–9826. You must identify FAA 

Docket No. FAA–2013–0017; Airspace 

Docket No. 13–AAL–1, at the beginning 

of your comments. You may also submit 

comments through the Internet at 

http://www.regulations.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Richard Roberts, Federal Aviation 

Administration, Operations Support 

Group, Western Service Center, 1601 

Lind Avenue SW., Renton, WA 98057; 

telephone (425) 203–4517. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Comments Invited 

Interested parties are invited to 

participate in this proposed rulemaking 

by submitting such written data, views, 

or arguments, as they may desire. 

Comments that provide the factual basis 

supporting the views and suggestions 

presented are particularly helpful in 

developing reasoned regulatory 

decisions on the proposal. Comments 

are specifically invited on the overall 

regulatory, aeronautical, economic, 

environmental, and energy-related 

aspects of the proposal. 

Communications should identify both 

docket numbers (FAA Docket No. FAA– 

2013–0017 and Airspace Docket No. 13– 

AAL–1) and be submitted in triplicate to 

the Docket Management System (see 

ADDRESSES section for address and 

phone number). You may also submit 

comments through the Internet at 

http://www.regulations.gov. 

Commenters wishing the FAA to 

acknowledge receipt of their comments 

on this action must submit with those 

comments a self-addressed stamped 

postcard on which the following 

statement is made: ‘‘Comments to FAA 

Docket No. FAA–2013–0017 and 

Airspace Docket No. 13–AAL–1’’. The 

postcard will be date/time stamped and 

returned to the commenter. 

All communications received on or 

before the specified closing date for 

comments will be considered before 

taking action on the proposed rule. The 

proposal contained in this action may 

be changed in light of comments 

received. All comments submitted will 

be available for examination in the 

public docket both before and after the 

closing date for comments. A report 

summarizing each substantive public 

contact with FAA personnel concerned 

with this rulemaking will be filed in the 

docket. 

Availability of NPRM’s 

An electronic copy of this document 

may be downloaded through the 

Internet at http://www.regulations.gov. 

Recently published rulemaking 

documents can also be accessed through 

the FAA’s Web page at http:// 

www.faa.gov/airports_airtraffic/ 

air_traffic/publications/ 

airspace_amendments/. 

You may review the public docket 

containing the proposal, any comments 

received, and any final disposition in 

person in the Dockets Office (see the 

ADDRESSES section for the address and 

phone number) between 9:00 a.m. and 

5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, 

except federal holidays. An informal 

docket may also be examined during 

normal business hours at the Northwest 

Mountain Regional Office of the Federal 

Aviation Administration, Air Traffic 

Organization, Western Service Center, 

Operations Support Group, 1601 Lind 

Avenue SW., Renton, WA 98057. 

Persons interested in being placed on 

a mailing list for future NPRM’s should 

contact the FAA’s Office of Rulemaking, 

(202) 267–9677, for a copy of Advisory 

Circular No. 11–2A, Notice of Proposed 

Rulemaking Distribution System, which 

describes the application procedure. 

The Proposal 

The FAA is proposing an amendment 

to Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations 

(14 CFR) Part 71 by establishing Class E 

airspace extending upward from 700 

feet above the surface at Central, AK. 

Airspace is needed to accommodate the 

new RNAV (GPS) standard instrument 

approaches and departures developed 

for the airport. Class E airspace 

extending upward from 700 feet above 

the surface would be established within 

an area 17 miles east and west of the 

airport and 4 miles north and 9 miles 

south of the airport. This action would 

enhance the safety and management of 

aircraft operations at the airport. 

Class E airspace designations are 

published in paragraph 6005, of FAA 

Order 7400.9X, dated August 7, 2013, 

and effective September 15, 2013, which 

is incorporated by reference in 14 CFR 

71.1. The Class E airspace designation 

listed in this document will be 

published subsequently in this Order. 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with PROPOSALS