Exemption No. 10380A

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION WASHINGTON, DC 20591

In the matter of the petition of

UNI TED AIRLINES, INC. Regulatory Docket No. FAA

- 2 01 1

- 0 617

requesting change to Exemption No. 10380, for an exemption from §121. 317 ( d ) of Title 14, Code of Federal Regulations

PARTIAL GRANT OF EXEMPTION

By letter dated February 28 , 201 2

, Mr. D

. K

. Loo

, Director, Quality Assurance, United Airlines ( CALA ), 800 South Airport Boulevard, P.O. Box 3800, San Francisco,

CA 94128 petiti oned the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on behalf of CALA for

additional consideration in the relief from § 121. 317 ( d ) of Title 14, Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR) . The proposed exemption , if granted, would permit the use of symbolic placards in lieu of text that states, “Fasten Seat Belt While Seated” for all Boeing Model 787 (B787) aircraft. This petition was submitted to Docket No. FAA

2012

- 0236. The FAA requested the contents of that docket to be transferred to Docket

No. FAA

- 2011

- 0617 ; where the petitioner submitted its initial request

.

The petitioner requests relief from the following regulation:

Section 121. 317(d) prescribes, in pertinent part, that n o person may operate a passenger

carrying airplane under this part unless at least one legible sign or placard that reads “Fasten Seat Belt While Seated” is visible from each passenger seat. These signs or placards need not meet the requirements of paragraph (a) of this section

The petitioner supports its request with the following inf ormation:

As background for this request, United Airlines ( UAL ) and Continental Airlines (CAL)

commenced a merger transition process on November 1, 2010. CALA and CAL received a single operating certificate November 30, 2011 and now operates as a single c arrier2

under the name United Airlines and operating certificate CALA014A. On October 28, 2011 CALA was granted a partial exemption for relief from § 121.317(d) to the extent necessary to allow CALA (formerly CAL) to use symbolic pla cards in lieu of text f or all

B 787 aircraft “Fasten Seat Belt While Seated” placards. Exemption No. 10380 (Docket

No

. FAA

- 2011

- 0617) allows CALA to use symbolic placards in lieu of text; however, the exemption is contingent upon certain conditions and limitations.

The FAA ide ntified six c onditions and l imitations i n its partial grant of exemption to § 121.317(d). These six conditions and limitations are:

1. The symbolic placards on the Boeing 787 aircraft will be included in the initial conformity inspection and maintained in the condition that was present during aircraft delivery.

2. Strict compliance with § 121.571(a)(2) will be reemphasized to each crewmember serving on any airplane to be operated under this exemption prior to introduction of the Boeing 787 aircraft int o air carrier service. Thus, after each takeoff, immediately before or immediately after turning the seatbelt sign off, an announcement shall be made that passengers should keep their seatbelts fastened, while seated, even when the seatbelt sign

is off.

3. The briefing shall include a statement that the Federal Aviation Regulations require passenger compliance with lighted passenger information signs, placards, and crewmember instructions concerning the use of safety belts.

4. Cabin crewmembers will us e alternate methods to alert special passengers; such as, the elderly, non

- English speaking, deaf or hearing impaired, those with limited mobility, and those traveling with small children. CALA cabin safety procedures will include the use of visual aids; such as, seatbelt extenders or briefing cards, pointing to seatbelt signs and symbolic placards combined with oral announcements during seatbelt compliance

checks.

5. Crewmembers will include a caution to passengers that they should not attempt to

open o verhead bins when the seatbelt sign is illuminated in the seatbelt announcement.

6. Cabin crewmembers will include additional announcements that passenger risk is increased when long lines form around the lavatory as needed.

In its a dditional r equest fo r e xemption to 14 CFR § 121.317(d), the petitioner request s relief from three of the six conditions and limitations in the FAA’s partial grant of exemption. The petitioner states the original petition was necessary because the aircraft manufacturer is emp loying graphic symbols in lieu of text in many areas on the B787 to communicate to passengers certain safety messages required by federal regulation.

The petitioner states that Condition No s . 1 through 3 provide a level of safety equivalent

to the inten ded purpose of the rule, whereas Condition No. 4 focuses on an issue3

addressed in CALA ’s existing procedures, and Condition No s

. 5 and 6 are an attempt to safeguard passengers when they are not seated. The petitioner requests to be released

from Condition No s . 4, 5 and 6 of the FAA’s grant of partial exemption. The peti tioner

believes that Condition No s . 4 through 6 do not support the goal of achieving a level of safety equivalent to that intended by § 121.317 (d).

Specifically, in its submission, the p etitioner states that C ondition No. 4 targets additional communication to customers requiring special attention (elderly, non

- English speaking,

he a ring impaired, etc.). The petitioner state s the Air Carrier Access Act already mandates specific flight atte ndant procedures for addressing these customers for all public announcements and communication to customers, not just the seat belt policy and

the petitioner ’s procedures have bee n reviewed and accepted by FAA certificate

management o ffice for CALA . The p etitioner believes that imposing additional requirements is redundant and indicates current procedures are inadequate.

In regards to C ondition No. 5, the petitioner asserts it has absolutely no correlation to ensuring compliance with § 121.317(d) or ach ieving an equivalent level of safety, nor does it ensure customers understand they must keep their seat belts fastened while seated. The petitioner further states by providing an announcement with this warning it implies to customers it is acceptable to b e up while the seat belt sign is on as long as they don’t open the overhead bins. The petitioner believes that this condition creates a contradiction in expectations that would actually aggravate the task of keeping customers seated while

the seat belt si gn is on.

C ondition No. 6 requires crewmembers to provide “announcements that passenger risk is increased when long lines form around the lavatory

. ” The petitioner maintains t h is requirement also has no correlation to ensuring compliance with § 121.317( d) or achieving an equivalent level of safety . T he petitioner believes it also does not ensure customers understand they must keep their seat belts fastened while seated. The petitioner states that CALA security procedures require flight attendants to ma ke an almost identical statement during boarding and after takeoff, which makes this a redundant requirement.

The FAA has determined that good cause exists for not publishing a summary of the petition in the Federal Register because the requested exemptio n would not set a precedent and any delay in acting on this petition would be detrimental to CALA

.

The FAA’s analysis is as follows:

Clear Air Turbulence (CAT) continues to be the leading cause of in

- flight injury to passenger and crewmembers . T he “Fast en Seat Belt While Seated” placard has traditionally been the medium by whi ch th is information is presented. Several factors are considered in the evaluation of the placard, such as, the noticeable placard against the background, characteristics of letter ing, picture quality and the location of the placard

. T he petitioner did not provide a safety risk analysis to support additio nal relief.4

F AA human f actors research and published guidance recommends the combination of crewmember instructions and placar ds with text stating “Fasten Seat Belt While Seated” denoting when seat belts must be fastened and when all persons must be seated in the

cabin. The proposed use of a symbol in lieu of the “Fasten Seat Belt While Seated” text placard is introducing an unf amiliar graphic. There is a potential increa se in the risk of

passenger non

- compliance due to being unfamiliar with the graphic symbol.

The conditions in Condition No s . 4 and 5 of the partial exemption have been reevaluated

to include additional measur es to increase passenger situational awareness with this unique graphic symbol

, therefore mitigat ing the hazard of injur y due to turbulence. Crewmember instructions during routine seatbelt announcements combined w ith the use

of visual aids such as safet y information cards increase passenger awareness and compliance. The revised verbiage in Condition No s . 4 and 5 is intended to bridge the transition from the established regulatory standard text placard to the new graphic symbol

.

The “F asten S eat B elt W hile S eated ” placards provide both information and instruction about items of safety hardware in the cabin. The FAA has adopted safety standards based

on h uman f actors and s urvival f actors r esearch when it pertains to placard requirements

in part s 25 an d 121.

Section 25.791(e) specifically allows carriers to use symbols in lieu of letters. It is the FAA’s position that although the aircraft manufacturer has proposed to deliver the aircraft with symbolic placards in lieu of text stating “Fasten Seat B elts While Seated

, ”

this does not relieve the air carrier from the prescribed rules of part 121.

The FAA’s grant of exemption to § 121.317(d) with the conditions described

, permit s the use of symbolic placards alone. Without this relief

, the air carrier could potentially have both symbolic placards to meet § 25.791(e) and text placards stating “Fasten Seat Belts While Seated” to comply with § 121.317(d)

. The conditions listed in the exemption ensure that the safety hazard of seat belt non

- compliance is communicated consistently to passengers in a form acceptable to the Administrator.

The FAA has considered all the information presented by the petitioner in its request for

relief from Condition No s . 4 through 6

. The revised conditions in this partial gr ant of exemption are directly related to compliance with § 121.317(d) and include announcements to remind passenger s about the importance of seatbelt compliance while seated. The objective is to educate the occupants of the cabin about the pictorial

repre sentation in lieu of the words “Fasten Seat Belt While Seated ” and to achieve a level of safety at least equal to that provided by the rule

.

The FAA’s Decision

In consideration of the foregoing, I find that a grant of exemption is in the public

int erest. Therefore, pursuant to the authority contained in 49 U.S.C. §§ 40113 and 44701, delegated to me by the Administrator, United Airlines, Inc. is granted an exemption from

14 CFR § 121.317(d) to the extent necessary to allow CALA to operate its B787 a ircraft5

using symbolic representation placards . Each placard will be affixed to each forward bulkhead or partition and each passenger seat back in lieu of text placard s read ing

"F asten S eat B elt W hile S eated

, " subject to the conditions and limitations lis ted below.

Conditions and Limitations

1. The symbolic placards on the B 787 aircraft will be included in the initial conformity inspection and maintained in the condition that was present during aircraft delivery.

2. Strict compliance with § 121.571(a)(2) will be reemphasized to each crewmember serving on any airplane to be operated under this exemption prior to introduction of the B787 aircraft into air carrier service. Thus, after each takeoff, immediately before or immediately after turning the seat belt sign off, an announcement shall be made that passengers should keep their seat belts fastened, while seated, even when the seat belt sign is off. This announcement must be mad e each time the seat belt sign is turned off.

3. The briefing shall include a statemen t that Federal Aviation Regulations require passenger compliance with lighted passenger information signs

, symbolic placards

, and crewmember instructions concerning the use of safety belts.

4. Flight attendants will conduct a cabin walk

- through each time the seat belt sign is

turned off to remind passengers to keep their seat belts fastened when seated.

5. Safety information cards will be revised to illustrate the symbolic placard symbol in lieu of text that has replaced the “ Fasten Seat Belt While Seated ” plac ard.

This exemption terminates on August 31. 2015, unless sooner superseded or rescinded.

Issued in Washington, D

. C

. , on July 30, 2013.

.

/s/

Michael J. Zenkovich Deputy Director, Flight

Standards Service