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contains regulatory documents having general

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are keyed to and codified in the Code of

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Rules and Regulations Federal Register

11679 

Vol. 79, No. 41 

Monday, March 3, 2014 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Aviation Administration 

14 CFR Part 25 

[Docket No. FAA–2014–0078; Special 

Conditions No. 25–543–SC] 

Special Conditions: Embraer S.A., 

Model ERJ–170 Airplanes; Seats With 

Large, Non-Traditional, Non-Metallic 

Panels 

AGENCY: Federal Aviation 

Administration (FAA), DOT. 

ACTION: Final special conditions; request 

for comments. 

SUMMARY: These special conditions are 

issued for Embraer Model ERJ–170 

airplanes. This airplane will have a 

novel or unusual design feature 

associated with interior arrangements 

that include passenger seats that 

incorporate non-traditional, large, nonmetallic panels in lieu of the traditional 

metal frame covered by fabric. 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 March 3, 2014. We 

must receive your comments by April 

17, 2014. 

ADDRESSES: Send comments, identified 

by docket number FAA–2014–0078, 

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: 

Jayson Claar, FAA, Airframe/Cabin 

Safety Branch, ANM–115, Transport 

Airplane Directorate, Aircraft 

Certification Service, 1601 Lind Avenue 

SW., Renton, Washington, 98057–3356; 

telephone 425–227–2194; facsimile 

425–227–1232. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The FAA 

has determined that notice of, and 

opportunity for prior public comment 

on, these special conditions are 

impracticable because these procedures 

would significantly delay issuance of 

the design approval and thus delivery of 

the affected aircraft. In addition, 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 July 2, 2013, Embraer applied for 

a change to Type Certificate No. A57NM 

to include seats with large, nontraditional, non-metallic panels in 

Embraer Model ERJ–170 airplanes. The 

Embraer ERJ–170 airplanes are lowwing, conventional tail, twin turbofan, 

transport-category airplanes. They can 

seat up to 88 passengers. 

The applicable regulations to 

airplanes currently approved under 

Type Certificate No. A57NM do not 

require seats to meet the more-stringent 

flammability standards required of 

large, non-metallic panels in the cabin 

interior. At the time the applicable rules 

were written, seats were designed with 

a metal frame covered by fabric, not 

with large, non-metallic panels. Seats 

also met the then-recently adopted 

standards for flammability of seat 

cushions. With the seat design being 

mostly fabric and metal, their 

contribution to a fire in the cabin had 

been minimized and was not considered 

a threat. For these reasons, seats did not 

need to be tested to heat-release and 

smoke-emission requirements. 

Seat designs have now evolved to 

occasionally include large, nontraditional, non-metallic panels. Taken 

in total, the surface area of these panels 

is on the same order as the sidewall and 

overhead-stowage-bin interior panels. 

To provide the level of passenger 

protection established by the 

airworthiness standards, these large, 

non-traditional, non-metallic panels in 

the cabin must meet the standards of 

Title 14, Code of Federal Regulations 

(CFR) part 25, Appendix F, parts IV and 

V, heat-release and smoke-emission 

requirements. 

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11680 Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 41 / Monday, March 3, 2014 / Rules and Regulations 

Type Certification Basis 

Under the provisions of § 21.101, 

Embraer must show that the ERJ–170, as 

changed, continues to meet the 

applicable provisions of the regulations 

incorporated by reference in A57NM or 

the applicable regulations in effect on 

the date of application for the change. 

The regulations incorporated by 

reference in the type certificate are 

commonly referred to as the ‘‘original 

type-certification basis.’’ The 

regulations incorporated by reference in 

A57NM are as follows: 

14 CFR part 25, Amdts. 25–1 through 

25–101 in entirety. In addition, the 

certification basis includes certain 

special conditions, exemptions, or later 

amended sections of the applicable part 

that are not relevant to these special 

conditions. 

If the Administrator finds that the 

applicable airworthiness regulations 

(e.g., 14 CFR part 25) do not contain 

adequate or appropriate safety standards 

for Embraer Model ERJ–170 airplanes 

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 novel or unusual 

design feature, or should any other 

model already included on the same 

type certificate be modified to 

incorporate 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, ERJ–170 airplanes must 

comply with the fuel-vent and exhaustemission requirements of 14 CFR part 

34, and the noise-certification 

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 ERJ–170 will incorporate the 

following novel or unusual design 

features: 

These models offer interior 

arrangements that include passenger 

seats that incorporate large, nontraditional, non-metallic panels in lieu 

of the traditional metal frame covered 

by fabric. The flammability properties of 

these panels have been shown to 

significantly affect the survivability of 

cabin occupants in the event of fire. 

These seats are considered a novel 

design for transport-category airplanes 

that include Amendment 25–61 and 

Amendment 25–66 in the certification 

basis, and were not considered when 

those airworthiness standards were 

established. 

The existing regulations do not 

provide adequate or appropriate safety 

standards for seat designs that 

incorporate large, non-traditional, nonmetallic panels in their designs. To 

provide a level of safety that is 

equivalent to that afforded to the 

balance of the cabin, additional 

airworthiness standards, in the form of 

special conditions, are necessary. These 

special conditions supplement § 25.853. 

The requirements contained in these 

special conditions consist of applying 

the identical test conditions, required of 

all other large panels in the cabin, to 

seats with large, non-traditional, nonmetallic panels. 

Discussion 

In the early 1980s, the Federal 

Aviation Administration (FAA) 

conducted extensive research on the 

effects of post-crash flammability in the 

passenger cabin. As a result of this 

research and service experience, the 

FAA adopted new standards for interior 

surfaces associated with larger surfacearea parts. Specifically, the rules require 

measurement of heat release and smoke 

emission (part 25, Appendix F, parts IV 

and V) for the affected parts. Heat 

release has been shown to have a direct 

correlation to post-crash fire-survival 

time. The materials that comply with 

the standards (e.g., § 25.853, 

‘‘Compartment Interiors,’’ as amended 

by Amendments 25–61 and 25–66) were 

found to extend survival time by 

approximately two minutes over 

materials that do not comply. 

At the time Amendment 25–61 was 

written, the potential application of the 

requirement to seats was explored. The 

seat frame itself was not a concern 

because it was primarily made of 

aluminum and incorporated only small 

amounts of non-metallic materials (for 

example, a food-tray table and armrest 

closeout). The FAA determined that the 

overall effect on survivability was 

negligible, whether or not these panels 

met the heat-release and smokeemission requirements. The 

requirements therefore did not address 

seats, and the preambles to both Notice 

of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) 85–10 

and the final rule (Amendment 25–61) 

specifically note that they were 

excluded ‘‘. . . because the recently 

adopted standards for flammability of 

seat cushions will greatly inhibit 

involvement of the seats’’ in their postcrash fire. 

In the late 1990s, when it became 

clear that seat designs were evolving to 

include large non-metallic panels with 

surface area that would impact 

survivability during a cabin-fire event 

compared to partitions or galleys, the 

FAA issued Policy Memorandum 97– 

112–39. This memo noted that large 

surface-area panels must comply with 

heat-release and smoke-emission 

requirements, even if they were attached 

to a seat. If the FAA had not issued such 

policy, seat designs would have been an 

exception to the airworthiness 

standards, which could result in an 

unacceptable decrease in survivability 

during a cabin-fire event. 

Definition of ‘‘Large, Non-Traditional, 

Non-Metallic Panel’’ 

A large, non-traditional panel, in this 

case, is defined as a panel with exposedsurface areas greater than 1.5 square feet 

installed per seat place. The panel may 

consist of either a single component or 

multiple components in a concentrated 

area. Examples of non-traditional areas 

include, but are not limited to, seat 

backs, bottoms and leg/foot rests, kick 

panels, back shells, and associated 

furniture. Examples of traditional, 

exempted areas include, but are not 

limited to, arm caps, armrest close-outs, 

and items such as end-bays and center 

consoles, food trays, video monitors, 

and shrouds. 

Clarification of ‘‘Exposed’’ 

‘‘Exposed’’ is considered to include 

those panels directly exposed to the 

passenger cabin in the traditional sense, 

plus those panels enveloped, such as by 

a dress cover. Traditional fabrics or 

leathers currently used on seats are 

excluded from the special conditions. 

These materials must still comply with 

§ 25.853(a) and (c) if used as a covering 

for a seat cushion, or § 25.853(a) if 

installed elsewhere on the seat. Large, 

non-metallic panels covered with 

traditional fabrics or leathers will be 

tested without their coverings or 

covering attachments. 

Applicability 

As discussed above, these special 

conditions are applicable to Embraer 

Model ERJ–170 airplanes. Should 

Embraer 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. 

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Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 41 / Monday, March 3, 2014 / Rules and Regulations 11681 

Conclusion 

This action affects only certain novel 

or unusual design features on one model 

of airplane. 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, because a 

delay would significantly affect the 

certification of the airplane, the FAA 

has determined that prior public notice 

and comment are unnecessary and 

impracticable, and good cause exists for 

adopting these special conditions upon 

publication in the Federal Register. 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 Embraer Model 

ERJ–170 airplanes: 

1. Compliance with part 25, Appendix 

F, parts IV and V, heat release and 

smoke emission, is required for seats 

that incorporate large, non-traditional, 

non-metallic panels that may either be 

a single component or multiple 

components in a concentrated area in 

their design. 

2. The applicant may designate up to 

and including 1.5 square feet of nontraditional, non-metallic panel material 

per seat place that does not have to 

comply with No. 1. A triple seat 

assembly may have a total of 4.5 square 

feet excluded on any portion of the 

assembly (e.g., outboard seat place 1 sq. 

ft., middle 1 sq. ft., and inboard 2.5 sq. 

ft.) 

3. Seats need not meet the test 

requirements of Title 14 CFR part 25 

Appendix F, parts IV and V when 

installed in compartments that are not 

otherwise required to meet these 

requirements. Examples include: 

a. Airplanes with passenger capacities 

of 19 or fewer. 

b. Airplanes that do not have smoke 

emission and heat release in their 

certification basis and do not need to 

comply with the requirements of 

§ 121.312. 

c. Airplanes exempted from heatrelease and smoke-emission 

requirements. 

4. Only airplanes associated with 

new-seat certification programs 

approved after the effective date of these 

special conditions will be affected by 

the requirements in these special 

conditions. Previously certificated 

interiors on the existing airplane fleet 

and follow-on deliveries of airplanes 

with previously certificated interiors are 

not affected. 

Issued in Renton, Washington, on February 

21, 2014. 

John P. Piccola, Jr., 

Acting Manager, Transport Airplane 

Directorate, Aircraft Certification Service. 

[FR Doc. 2014–04559 Filed 2–28–14; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–13–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Aviation Administration 

14 CFR Part 39 

[Docket No. FAA–2011–0562; Directorate 

Identifier 2011–CE–015–AD; Amendment 

39–17740; AD 2014–03–03] 

RIN 2120–AA64 

Airworthiness Directives; Cessna 

Aircraft Company Airplanes 

AGENCY: Federal Aviation 

Administration (FAA), DOT. 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: We are adopting a new 

airworthiness directive (AD) for certain 

Cessna Aircraft Company (Cessna) 

Models 310, 320, 340, 401, 402, 411, 

414, and 421 airplanes. This AD was 

prompted by an investigation of recent 

and historical icing-related accidents 

and incidents for the products listed 

above. This AD requires either having 

the supplemental airplane flight 

manual/airplane flight manual 

supplement (SAFM/AFMS) inside the 

airplane and accessible to the pilot 

during the airplane’s operation or 

installing a placard that prohibits flight 

into known icing conditions and 

installing a placard that increases 

published airspeed on approach at least 

17 mph (15 knots) in case of an 

inadvertent encounter with icing. We 

are issuing this AD to correct the unsafe 

condition on these products. 

DATES: This AD is effective April 7, 

2014. 

The Director of the Federal Register 

approved the incorporation by reference 

of a certain publication listed in the AD 

as of April 7, 2014. 

ADDRESSES: For service information 

identified in this AD, contact Cessna 

Aircraft Company, Product Support, 

P.O. Box 7706, Wichita, KS 67277; 

telephone: (316) 517–5800; fax: (316) 

517–7271; email: customercare@

cessna.textron.com; Internet: http://

www.cessna.com/. You may review 

copies of the referenced service 

information at the FAA, Small Airplane 

Directorate, 901 Locust, Kansas City, 

MO 64106. For information on the 

availability of this material at the FAA, 

call (816) 329–4148. 

Examining the AD Docket 

You may examine the AD docket on 

the Internet at http://www.

regulations.gov by searching for and 

locating Docket No. FAA–2011–0562; or 

in person at the Docket Management 

Facility between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., 

Monday through Friday, except Federal 

holidays. The AD docket contains this 

AD, the regulatory evaluation, any 

comments received, and other 

information. The address for the Docket 

Office (phone: 800–647–5527) is 

Document Management Facility, U.S. 

Department of Transportation, Docket 

Operations, M–30, West Building 

Ground Floor, Room W12–140, 1200 

New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, 

DC 20590. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dan 

Withers, Program Manager, FAA, 

Wichita Aircraft Certification Office, 

1801 S. Airport Road, Room 100, 

Wichita, Kansas 67209; telephone: (316) 

946–4137; fax: (316) 946–4107; email: 

dan.withers@faa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Discussion 

We issued a notice of proposed 

rulemaking (NPRM) to amend 14 CFR 

part 39 to include an AD that would 

apply to certain Cessna Aircraft 

Company (Cessna) Models 310, 320, 

340, 401, 402, 411, 414, and 421 

airplanes. The NPRM published in the 

Federal Register on June 3, 2011 (76 FR 

32103). The NPRM proposed to require 

you to install a placard that prohibits 

flight into known icing conditions and 

install a placard that increases 

published airspeed on approach at least 

17 mph (15 knots) in case of an 

inadvertent encounter with icing. We 

are issuing this AD to prohibit flight 

into known icing conditions as well as 

increase the approach speed in case of 

an inadvertent encounter with icing. 

This condition, if not corrected, could 

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