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contains regulatory documents having general

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Rules and Regulations Federal Register

49153

Vol. 70, No. 162

Tuesday, August 23, 2005

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Aviation Administration 

14 CFR Part 25

[Docket No. NM326; Special Conditions No. 

25–295–SC] 

Special Conditions: Boeing Model 777 

Series Airplanes; Side-Facing SingleOccupant Seats Equipped With 

Inflatable Lapbelts

AGENCY: Federal Aviation 

Administration (FAA), DOT.

ACTION: Final special conditions; request 

for comments. 

SUMMARY: These special conditions are 

issued for the Boeing Model 777 series 

airplanes. This airplane will have a 

novel or unusual design feature 

associated with side-facing singleoccupant seats equipped with inflatable 

lapbelts. The applicable airworthiness 

regulations do not contain adequate or 

appropriate safety standards for these 

design features. These special 

conditions contain the additional safety 

standards 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 August 9, 2005. 

Send your comments on or before 

October 7, 2005.

ADDRESSES: Comments on these special 

conditions may be mailed in duplicate 

to: Federal Aviation Administration, 

Transport Airplane Directorate, Attn: 

Rules Docket (ANM–113), Docket No. 

NM326, 1601 Lind Avenue, SW., 

Renton, Washington 98055–4056; or 

delivered in duplicate to the Transport 

Airplane Directorate at the above 

address. Comments must be marked: 

Docket No. NM326. Comments may be 

inspected in the Rules Docket 

weekdays, except Federal holidays, 

between 7:30 a.m. and 4 p.m.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Alan Sinclair, FAA, Airframe/Cabin 

Safety Branch, ANM–115, Transport 

Airplane Directorate, Aircraft 

Certification Service, 1601 Lind 

Avenue, SW., Renton, Washington 

98055–4056; telephone (425) 227–2195, 

facsimile (425) 227–1232.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The FAA 

has determined that notice and 

opportunity for prior public comment 

hereon are impracticable because these 

procedures would significantly delay 

issuance of the approval design 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 

issuance. 

Comments Invited 

We invite interested persons to 

participate in this rulemaking by 

submitting 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 ask that 

you send us two copies of written 

comments. 

We will file in the docket all 

comments we receive, as well as a 

report summarizing each substantive 

public contact with FAA personnel 

concerning these special conditions. 

The docket is available for public 

inspection before and after the comment 

closing date. If you wish to review the 

docket in person, go to the address in 

the ADDRESSES section of this preamble 

between 7:30 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday 

through Friday, except Federal holidays. 

We will consider all comments we 

receive on or before the closing date for 

comments. We will consider comments 

filed late if it is possible to do so 

without incurring expense or delay. We 

may change these special conditions in 

light of the comments we receive. 

If you want the FAA to acknowledge 

receipt of your comments on these 

special conditions, include with your 

comments a pre-addressed, stamped 

postcard on which the docket number 

appears. We will stamp the date on the 

postcard and mail it back to you. 

Background 

On July 26, 2004, Boeing Commercial 

Airplanes, P.O. Box 3707, Seattle, 

Washington 98124, applied for a type 

certificate design change to install 

single-occupant side-facing seats 

equipped with inflatable lapbelts in 

Boeing Model 777 series airplanes. The 

Model 777 series airplane is a sweptwing, conventional-tail, twin-engine, 

turbofan-powered transport category 

airplane. 

Type Certification Basis 

Under the provisions of 14 CFR 

21.101, Boeing Commercial Airplanes 

must show that the Model 777 series 

airplanes, as changed, continue to meet 

the applicable provisions of the 

regulations incorporated by reference in 

Type Certificate No. T00001SE 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 Type 

Certificate No. T00001SE are as follows: 

14 CFR part 25, Amendments 25–1 

through 25–82 for the Model 777–200 

and Amendments 25–1 through 25–86 

with exceptions for the Model 777–300. 

The U.S. type certification basis for the 

Model 777 is established in accordance 

with §§ 21.29 and 21.17 and the type 

certification application date. The U.S. 

type certification basis is listed in Type 

Certificate Data Sheet No. T00001SE. 

If the Administrator finds that the 

applicable airworthiness regulations 

(i.e., part 25 as amended) do not contain 

adequate or appropriate safety standards 

for Boeing Model 777 series airplanes 

because of a novel or unusual design 

feature, special conditions are 

prescribed under the provisions of 

§ 21.16. 

In addition to the applicable 

airworthiness regulations and special 

conditions, the Boeing Model 777 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. 

Special conditions, as appropriate, are 

issued in accordance with 14 CFR 11.19 

after public notice, as required by 

§ 11.38, and become part of the type 

certification basis in accordance with 

§ 21.101(b)(2). 

49154 Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 162 / Tuesday, August 23, 2005 / Rules and Regulations 

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 

under the provisions of § 21.101(a)(1). 

Novel or Unusual Design Features 

The Boeing Model 777 offers interior 

arrangements which include singleoccupant side-facing seat installations. 

These arrangements include a unique 

‘‘pod’’ style of side-facing seats that use 

inflatable lapbelts instead of standard 

belts for occupant restraint. Side-facing 

seats are considered a novel design for 

transport category airplanes that include 

Amendment 25–64 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 occupants of side-facing 

seats. In order to provide a level of 

safety that is equivalent to that afforded 

occupants of forward- and aft-facing 

seats, additional airworthiness 

standards, in the form of special 

conditions, are necessary. These special 

conditions supplement part 25 and, 

more specifically, supplement §§ 25.562 

and 25.785. The requirements contained 

in these special conditions consist of 

both test conditions and injury pass/fail 

criteria. 

Discussion 

Section 25.785(b), ‘‘Seats, berths, 

safety belts, and harnesses,’’ requires 

that ‘‘each seat * * * at each station 

designated as occupiable during takeoff 

and landing must be designed so that a 

person making proper use of these 

facilities will not suffer serious injury in 

an emergency landing as a result of the 

inertia forces specified in §§ 25.561 and 

25.562.’’ Additionally, § 25.562, 

‘‘Emergency landing dynamic 

conditions,’’ requires dynamic testing of 

all seats occupied during takeoff and 

landing. The relative forces and injury 

mechanisms affecting the occupants of 

side-facing seats during an emergency 

landing are different from those of 

standard forward- or aft-facing seats, or 

seats equipped with conventional 

restraint systems. 

Side-facing Seats: Amendment 25–64, 

which adopted § 25.562, enhances 

occupant protection during emergency 

landing conditions. Although the rule 

was written with forward- and aft-facing 

seats in mind, the orientation of the seat 

does not change the relevant test 

conditions, and the rule applies to all 

seats regardless of orientation. 

The dynamic test conditions included 

in § 25.562 are directly applicable to 

side-facing seats. However, for injury 

pass/fail criteria, the orientation of the 

seat may be significant. For forward-, 

aft-, and side-facing seats the injury 

criteria are currently limited to head, 

spine, and femur loads. The head and 

lumbar loads are critical but the femur 

load is not critical. For a side-facing 

seat, additional injury parameters may 

be identified and evaluation of those 

parameters would be necessary to 

provide an acceptable level of safety. 

When evaluating side-facing seats the 

following should be taken into 

consideration: 

1. The isolation of one occupant from 

another. Occupants should not rely on 

impact with other occupants to provide 

energy absorption; body-to-body 

impacts are unacceptable. 

2. The restraint system and the 

retention of occupants in the seat. 

Addressing this concern may necessitate 

providing a means of restraint for the 

lower limbs as well as the torso. Failure 

to limit the forward (in the airplane’s 

coordinate system) travel of the lower 

limbs may cause the occupant to come 

out of the restraint system or produce 

severe injuries due to the resulting 

position of the restraint system and/or 

twisting (torsional load) of the lower 

lumber spinal column. 

3. The load limit in the torso in the 

lateral direction. Human tolerance for 

side-facing seats differs from that for 

forward- or aft-facing seats. 

The automotive industry has 

developed test procedures and occupant 

injury criteria appropriate for side 

impact conditions. The criteria includes 

limiting lateral pelvic accelerations and 

using the ‘‘Thoracic Trauma Index,’’

which is defined in 49 CFR 571.214. 

Use of the Side Impact Dummy (SID) 

identified in 49 CFR part 572, subpart 

F, rather than the Hybrid II dummy 

identified in 49 CFR part 572, subpart 

B, is required to evaluate these 

parameters. The Hybrid II dummy is 

used in the current § 25.562 test. Testing 

with a SID is the best means available 

to assess the injury potential of a 

sideward impact condition. Such an 

evaluation is considered necessary to 

provide an acceptable level of safety for 

side-facing seats. 

The side-facing seat special 

conditions have been determined to 

result in a level of safety equivalent to 

that provided by the injury pass/fail 

criteria in § 25.562 for forward- or aftfacing seats. 

Inflatable Lapbelts: From the 

standpoint of a passenger safety system, 

the inflatable lapbelt is unique because 

it is both an active and entirely 

autonomous device. While the 

automotive industry has good 

experience with airbags, which are 

similar to inflatable lapbelts, the 

conditions of use and reliance on the 

inflatable lapbelt as the sole means of 

injury protection in an airplane are 

quite different. In automobile 

installations, the airbag is a 

supplemental system that works in 

conjunction with an upper torso 

restraint. In addition, an automobile 

crash is more definable and is typically 

shorter in duration, which can simplify 

the activation logic of the airbag. The 

airplane operating environment is also 

quite different from automobiles and 

includes the potential for greater wear 

and tear and unanticipated abuse 

conditions (due to galley loading, 

passenger baggage, etc.). Airplanes also 

operate where exposure to high 

intensity electromagnetic fields could 

affect the inflatable lapbelt activation 

system. 

The lapbelt special conditions can be 

characterized as addressing either the 

safety performance of the inflatable 

lapbelt activation system, or the 

system’s integrity against inadvertent 

activation. Because a crash requiring the 

use of inflatable lapbelts is a relatively 

rare event, and the consequences of an 

inadvertent activation are potentially 

quite severe, these latter requirements 

are more rigorous from a design 

standpoint. 

Applicability 

As discussed above, these special 

conditions are applicable to the Boeing 

Model 777. Should the Boeing Company 

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 under the provisions of § 21.101. 

Conclusion 

This action affects only certain novel 

or unusual design features on the 

Boeing Model 777 airplane. 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. 

Under standard practice, the effective 

date of final special conditions would 

be 30 days after the date of publication 

in the Federal Register; however, as the 

certification date for the Boeing Model 

777 series airplanes is imminent, the 

Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 162 / Tuesday, August 23, 2005 / Rules and Regulations 49155

FAA finds that good cause exists to 

make these special conditions effective 

upon issuance.

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 the Boeing Model 

777 airplane. 

In addition to the airworthiness 

standards of §§ 25.562 and 25.785, the 

minimum acceptable standards for 

dynamic certification of Boeing Model 

777 single-occupant side-facing seats are 

as follows:

Additional Injury Criteria 

(a) Existing Criteria: All injury 

protection criteria of § 25.562(c)(1) 

through (c)(6) apply to the occupant of 

a side-facing seat. Head Injury Criterion 

(HIC) assessments are only required for 

head contact with the seat and/or 

adjacent structures. 

(b) Body-to-Wall/Furnishing Contact:

Under the load condition defined in 

§ 25.562(b)(2), the seat must be installed 

immediately aft of a structure such as an 

interior wall or furnishing that will 

support the pelvis, upper arm, chest, 

and head of an occupant seated next to 

the structure. A conservative 

representation of the structure and its 

stiffness must be included in the tests. 

It is recommended, but not required, 

that the contact surface of this structure 

be covered with at least two inches of 

energy absorbing protective padding 

(foam or equivalent), such as Ensolite. 

(c) Thoracic Trauma: Under the load 

condition defined in § 25.562(b)(2), 

Thoracic Trauma Index (TTI) injury 

criterion must be substantiated by 

dynamic test or by rational analysis 

based on previous test(s) of a similar 

seat installation. Testing must be 

conducted with a Side Impact Dummy 

(SID), as defined by Title 49 Code of 

Federal Regulations (CFR) part 572, 

Subpart F, or its equivalent. The TTI 

must be less than 85, as defined in 49 

CFR part 572, Subpart F. The SID TTI 

data must be processed as defined in 

Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 

(FMVSS) part 571.214, section S6.13.5. 

(d) Pelvis: Under the load condition 

defined in § 25.562(b)(2), pelvic lateral 

acceleration must be shown by dynamic 

test or by rational analysis based on 

previous test(s) of a similar seat 

installation to not exceed 130g. Pelvic 

acceleration data must be processed as 

defined in FMVSS part 571.214, section 

S6.13.5. 

(e) Shoulder Strap Loads: Where 

upper torso straps (shoulder straps) are 

used for occupants, tension loads in 

individual straps must not exceed 1,750 

pounds. If dual straps are used for 

restraining the upper torso, the total 

strap tension loads must not exceed 

2,000 pounds. 

(f) Neck Injury Criteria: The seating 

system must protect the occupant from 

experiencing serious neck injury. 

Inflatable Lapbelt Conditions 

(a) If inflatable lapbelts are used as the 

means of occupant restraint on single 

place side-facing seats, the requirements 

of existing Special Conditions 25–04–

03–SC (1–14), ‘‘Boeing Model 777 Series 

Airplanes; Seats with Inflatable 

Lapbelts’’ are incorporated by reference 

except for special conditions 1 and 3, 

which are replaced by (b) and (c) below. 

(b) Seats With Inflatable Lapbelts. It 

must be shown that the inflatable 

lapbelt will deploy and provide 

protection under crash conditions 

where it is necessary to prevent serious 

head, neck, thoracic, and pelvic lateral 

acceleration injury from body-to-wall/

furnishing contact. The means of 

protection must take into consideration 

a range of stature from two-year-old 

child to ninety-fifth percentile male. 

The inflatable lapbelt must provide a 

consistent approach to energy 

absorption throughout the range. In 

addition, the following situations must 

be considered: 

1. The seat occupant is holding an 

infant. 

2. The seat occupant is a child in a 

child restraint device. 

3. The seat occupant is a child not 

using a child restraint device. 

4. The seat occupant is a pregnant 

woman. 

(c) The design must prevent the 

inflatable lapbelt from being either 

incorrectly buckled or incorrectly 

installed such that the inflatable lapbelt 

would not properly deploy. 

Alternatively, it must be shown that 

such deployment is not hazardous to the 

occupant, and will provide the required 

injury protection.

Note: The existing means of controlling 

HIC, TTI and pelvic lateral acceleration result 

in a progressive reduction of injury severity 

for impact conditions less than the maximum 

specified by the requirements. However, 

airbag technology involves a step change in 

protection for impacts below and above that 

at which the airbag deploys. This could 

result in one or more of the injury criteria 

being higher at an intermediate impact 

condition than that resulting from the 

maximum. The step change in injury 

protection is acceptable, provided that the 

injury criteria values for any intermediate 

impact (whether or not the inflatable lapbelt 

delays) do not exceed the maximum allowed 

by the requirements.

Additional Test Requirements 

(a) One longitudinal test with the SID 

Anthropomorphic Test Dummy (ATD), 

undeformed floor, no yaw, and with all 

lateral structural supports (armrests/

walls). 

Pass/fail injury assessments: The TTI 

and pelvic acceleration. 

(b) One longitudinal test with the 

Hybrid II ATD, deformed floor, with 10 

degrees yaw, and with all lateral 

structural supports (armrests/walls). 

Pass/fail injury assessments: The HIC; 

upper torso restraint load, restraint 

system retention, and pelvic 

acceleration. 

(c) Vertical (14 G’s) test is to be 

conducted with modified Hybrid II 

ATDs with existing pass/fail criteria.

Note: It must be demonstrated that seats 

installed on plinths or pallets meet all 

applicable requirements. Compliance with 

the guidance contained in FAA Policy 

Memorandum PS–ANM–100–2000–00123, 

dated February 2, 2000, titled ‘‘Guidance for 

Demonstrating Compliance with Seat 

Dynamic Testing for Plinths and Pallets’’ will 

be acceptable to the FAA.

Issued in Renton, Washington, on August 

9, 2005. 

Ali Bahrami, 

Manager, Transport Airplane Directorate, 

Aircraft Certification Service.

[FR Doc. 05–16745 Filed 8–22–05; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–13–P

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Aviation Administration 

14 CFR Part 25

[Docket No. NM307; Special Conditions No. 

25–296–SC] 

Special Conditions: Embraer Model 

ERJ 190 Series Airplanes; Sudden 

Engine Stoppage, Interaction of 

Systems and Structures, Operation 

Without Normal Electrical Power, 

Electronic Flight Control Systems, 

Automatic Takeoff Thrust Control 

System (ATTCS), and Protection From 

Effects of High Intensity Radiated 

Fields (HIRF)

AGENCY: Federal Aviation 

Administration (FAA), DOT.

ACTION: Final special conditions.