Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 9 / Tuesday, January 14, 2014 / Rules and Regulations 2365 

Issued in Renton, Washington, on 

December 30, 2013. 

John P. Piccola, Jr., 

Acting Manager, Transport Airplane 

Directorate, Aircraft Certification Service . 

[FR Doc. 2014–00446 Filed 1–13–14; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–13–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Aviation Administration 

14 CFR Part 25 

[Docket No. FAA–2013–0895; Notice No. 25– 

516–SC] 

Special Conditions: Airbus, A350–900 

Series Airplane; Design Roll Maneuver 

AGENCY: Federal Aviation 

Administration (FAA), DOT. 

ACTION: Final special conditions, request 

for comments. 

SUMMARY: These special conditions are 

issued for Airbus Model A350–900 

series airplanes. These airplanes will 

have a novel or unusual design 

feature(s) associated with the airplane’s 

response to the design roll maneuver. 

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: The effective date of these 

special conditions is January 14, 2014. 

We must receive your comments by 

February 28, 2014. 

ADDRESSES: Send comments identified 

by docket number FAA–2013–0895 

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 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: 

Todd Martin, FAA, Airframe and Cabin 

Safety Branch, ANM–115, Transport 

Airplane Directorate, Aircraft 

Certification Service, 1601 Lind Avenue 

SW., Renton, Washington, 98057–3356; 

telephone (425) 227–1178; facsimile 

(425) 227–1320. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 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 issuance. 

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 45 days after publication of 

these special condition in the Federal 

Register. We may change these special 

conditions based on the comments we 

receive. 

Background 

On August 25, 2008, Airbus applied 

for a type certificate for their new Model 

A350–900 series airplane. Later, Airbus 

requested and the FAA approved an 

extension to the application for FAA 

type certification to June 28, 2009. The 

Model A350–900 series has a 

conventional layout with twin wingmounted Rolls-Royce Trent engines. It 

features a twin aisle 9-abreast economy 

class layout, and accommodates side-byside placement of LD–3 containers in 

the cargo compartment. The basic 

Model A350–900 series configuration 

will accommodate 315 passengers in a 

standard two-class arrangement. The 

design cruise speed is Mach 0.85 with 

a Maximum Take-Off Weight of 602,000 

lbs. Airbus proposes the Model A350– 

900 series to be certified for extended 

operations (ETOPS) beyond 180 minutes 

at entry into service for up to a 420- 

minute maximum diversion time. 

The Airbus Model A350–900 series is 

equipped with an electronic flight 

control system that provides control of 

the aircraft through pilot inputs to the 

flight computer. Current part 25 

airworthiness regulations account for 

control laws for which aileron 

deflection is proportional to control 

stick deflection. They do not address 

any nonlinearities or other effects on 

aileron actuation that may be caused by 

electronic flight controls. Since this type 

of system may affect flight loads, and 

therefore the structural capability of the 

airplane, specific regulations are needed 

to address these effects. These special 

conditions adjust the current roll 

maneuver requirement, Title 14, Code of 

Federal Regulations (14 CFR) 25.349(a), 

to take into account the effects of an 

electronic flight control system. 

Type Certification Basis 

Under § 21.17, Airbus must show that 

the Model A350–900 series meets the 

applicable provisions of 14 CFR part 25, 

as amended by Amendments 25–1 

through 25–129. 

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 A350–900 series because 

of a novel or unusual design feature, 

special conditions are prescribed under 

§ 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, the special conditions 

would also apply to the other model. 

In addition to the applicable 

airworthiness regulations and special 

conditions, the Model A350–900 series 

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 section 611 of Public 

Law 92–574, the ‘‘Noise Control Act of 

1972.’’ 


pmangrum on DSK3VPTVN1PROD with RULES
2366 Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 9 / Tuesday, January 14, 2014 / Rules and Regulations 

The FAA issues special conditions, as 

defined in 14 CFR 11.19, under § 11.38, 

and they become part of the typecertification basis under § 21.17(a)(2). 

Novel or Unusual Design Features 

The Airbus Model A350–900 series 

will incorporate the following novel or 

unusual design features: An electronic 

flight control system that can affect how 

the airplane responds to a roll 

maneuver. This requires that the roll 

maneuver result from defined 

movements of the cockpit roll control as 

opposed to defined aileron deflections. 

This also requires an additional load 

condition at VA, in which the cockpit 

roll control is returned to neutral 

following the initial roll input. 

Discussion 

These proposed special conditions 

differ from similar special conditions 

applied on previous programs; and are 

limited to the roll axis only, whereas 

previous special conditions also 

included the pitch and yaw axes. 

Special conditions are no longer needed 

for the pitch or yaw axes, because 14 

CFR part 25 Amendment 25–91 takes 

into account the effects of an electronic 

flight control system in those axes 

(§ 25.331 for pitch and § 25.351 for 

yaw). 

Applicability 

As discussed above, these special 

conditions apply to Airbus Model 

A350–900 series airplanes. Should 

Airbus apply later 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 the Airbus 

Model A350–900 series airplanes. It is 

not a rule of general applicability. 

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, 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 type 

certification basis for Airbus Model 

A350–900 series airplanes. 

1. Design Roll Maneuver Conditions 

The following conditions, speeds, and 

cockpit roll control motions (except as 

the motions may be limited by pilot 

effort) must be considered in 

combination with an airplane load 

factor of zero and of two-thirds of the 

positive maneuvering factor used in 

design. In determining the resulting 

control surface deflections, the torsional 

flexibility of the wing must be 

considered in accordance with 

§ 25.301(b): 

a. Conditions corresponding to steady 

rolling velocities must be investigated. 

In addition, conditions corresponding to 

maximum angular acceleration must be 

investigated for airplanes with engines 

or other weight concentrations outboard 

of the fuselage. For the angular 

acceleration conditions, zero rolling 

velocity may be assumed in the absence 

of a rational time history investigation 

of the maneuver. 

b. At VA, sudden movement of the 

cockpit roll control up to the limit is 

assumed. The position of the cockpit 

roll control must be maintained until a 

steady roll rate is achieved and then 

must be returned suddenly to the 

neutral position. 

c. At VC, the cockpit roll control must 

be moved suddenly and maintained so 

as to achieve a roll rate not less than 

that obtained in paragraph b. 

d. At VD, the cockpit roll control must 

be moved suddenly and maintained so 

as to achieve a roll rate not less than 

one-third of that obtained in paragraph 

b. 

Issued in Renton, Washington, on October 

22, 2013. 

Stephen P. Boyd, 

Acting Manager, Transport Airplane 

Directorate, Aircraft Certification Service. 

[FR Doc. 2014–00451 Filed 1–13–14; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–13–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Aviation Administration 

14 CFR Part 39 

[Docket No. FAA–2013–0635; Directorate 

Identifier 2012–SW–081–AD; Amendment 

39–17720; AD 2013–26–11] 

RIN 2120–AA64 

Airworthiness Directives; Eurocopter 

France Helicopters 

AGENCY: Federal Aviation 

Administration (FAA), DOT. 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: We are adopting a new 

airworthiness directive (AD) for 

Eurocopter France (Eurocopter) Model 

EC225LP helicopters. This AD requires 

inspecting the swashplates for corrosion 

or a crack, and making the appropriate 

repairs or replacement of parts. This AD 

was prompted by the discovery of 

corrosion on the swashplates when the 

main rotor hub (MRH) assemblies were 

reconditioned. The actions of this AD 

are intended to detect corrosion or a 

crack in the swashplates, which could 

lead to failure of the swashplates and 

subsequent loss of helicopter control. 

DATES: This AD is effective February 18, 

2014. 

The Director of the Federal Register 

approved the incorporation by reference 

of a certain document listed in this AD 

as of February 18, 2014. 

ADDRESSES: For service information 

identified in this AD, contact American 

Eurocopter Corporation, 2701 N. Forum 

Drive, Grand Prairie, TX 75052; 

telephone (972) 641–0000 or (800) 232– 

0323; fax (972) 641–3775; or at http://

www.eurocopter.com/techpub. You may 

review the referenced service 

information at the FAA, Office of the 

Regional Counsel, Southwest Region, 

2601 Meacham Blvd., Room 663, Fort 

Worth, Texas 76137. 

Examining the AD Docket 

You may examine the AD docket on 

the Internet at http://

www.regulations.gov or in person at the 

Docket Operations Office between 9 

a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through 

Friday, except Federal holidays. The AD 

docket contains this AD, the foreign 

authority’s AD, any incorporated-byreference service information, the 

economic evaluation, any comments 

received, and other information. The 

street address for the Docket Operations 

Office (phone: 800–647–5527) is U.S. 

Department of Transportation, Docket 

Operations Office, M–30, West Building 

Ground Floor, Room W12–140, 1200 


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