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[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 106 (Thursday, June 4, 2009)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 26777-26778]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-12992]

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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Aviation Administration

14 CFR Part 23

[Docket No. CE297; Special Conditions No. 23-237-SC]

Special Conditions: Spectrum Aeronautical, LLC Model S-40; Full 
Authority Digital Engine Control (FADEC) System

AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), DOT.

ACTION: Final special conditions; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: These special conditions are issued for the Spectrum 
Aeronautical, LLC Model S-40 airplane. This airplane will have a novel 
or unusual design feature(s) associated with the use of an electronic 
engine control system instead of a traditional mechanical control 
system. 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 May 26, 2009.
    We must receive your comments by July 20, 2009.

ADDRESSES: Mail two copies of your comments to: Federal Aviation 
Administration, Regional Counsel, ACE-7, Attention: Rules Docket CE297, 
901 Locust, Room 506, Kansas City, Missouri 64106. You may deliver two 
copies to the Rules Docket at the above address. You must mark your 
comments Docket No. CE297. You may inspect comments in the Rules Docket 
weekdays, except Federal holidays, between 7:30 a.m. and 4 p.m.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Peter L. Rouse, Federal Aviation 
Administration, Aircraft Certification Service, Small Airplane 
Directorate, ACE-111, 901 Locust, Room 301, Kansas City, Missouri 
64106; 816-329-4135, fax 816-329-4090.

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 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 issuance.

Comments Invited

    We invite interested persons 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 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 
about these special conditions. You may inspect the docket 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 by 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 based on the comments we receive.
    If you want us to let you know we received your comments on these 
special conditions, send us 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 November 21, 2007, Spectrum Aeronautical, LLC applied for a type 
certificate for their new Model S-40. The Spectrum Model S-40 is a 2 + 
9 seat (pilots + passengers) conventionally configured low wing normal 
category jet airplane with a T-tail and tricycle landing gear. This 
fiber-wound, all composite aircraft will be certified for day, night, 
VFR, IFR, and flight into known icing operations with a planned maximum 
operating altitude of 45,000 feet. The company seeks approval for 
single pilot operations and will show compliance with Reduced Vertical 
Separation Minimums (RVSM) requirements.
    The Spectrum Model S-40 airplane is equipped with two GE Honda Aero 
HF120 turbofan engines, each using an electronic engine control system 
(FADEC) instead of a traditional mechanical control system. Even though 
the engine control system will be certificated as part of the engine, 
the installation of an engine with an electronic control system 
requires evaluation due to critical environmental effects and possible 
effects on or by other airplane systems. For example, indirect effects 
of lightning, radio interference with other airplane electronic 
systems, shared engine and airplane data and power sources.
    The regulatory requirements in 14 CFR part 23 for evaluating the 
installation of complex systems, including electronic systems and 
critical environmental effects, are contained in Sec.  23.1309. 
However, when Sec.  23.1309 was developed, the use of electronic 
control systems for engines was not envisioned. Therefore, the Sec.  
23.1309 requirements were not applicable to systems certificated as 
part of the engine (reference Sec.  23.1309(f)(1)). Although the parts 
of the system that are not certificated with the engine could be

[[Page 26778]]

evaluated using the criteria of Sec.  23.1309, the integral nature of 
systems such as these makes it unfeasible to evaluate the airplane 
portion of the system without including the engine portion of the 
system.
    In some cases, the airplane that the engine is used in will 
determine a higher classification (Advisory Circular (AC) 23.1309) than 
the engine controls are certificated for, which will require that the 
FADEC/DEEC systems be analyzed at a higher classification. Since 
November 2005, FADEC special conditions have mandated the 
classification for Sec.  23.1309 analysis for loss of FADEC control as 
catastrophic for any airplane. This is not to imply that an engine 
failure is classified as catastrophic, but that the digital engine 
control must provide an equivalent reliability to mechanical engine 
controls.

Type Certification Basis

    Under the provisions of 14 CFR 21.17, Spectrum Aeronautical, LLC 
must show that the Model S-40 meets the applicable provisions of 14 CFR 
part 23, as amended by Amendments 23-1 through 23-57, thereto.
    If the Administrator finds that the applicable airworthiness 
regulations (i.e., 14 CFR part 23) do not contain adequate or 
appropriate safety standards for the Model S-40 because of a novel or 
unusual design feature, special conditions are prescribed under the 
provisions of Sec.  21.16.
    In addition to the applicable airworthiness regulations and special 
conditions, the Model S-40 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 Sec.  611 of Public Law 92-574, the ``Noise 
Control Act of 1972.''
    The FAA issues special conditions, as appropriate, as defined in 
Sec.  11.19, under Sec.  11.38, and they become part of the type 
certification basis under Sec.  21.17(a)(2).
    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.

Novel or Unusual Design Features

    The Spectrum Aeronautical, LLC Model S-40 will incorporate the 
following novel or unusual design features: Electronic engine control 
system.

Applicability

    As discussed above, these special conditions are applicable to the 
Model S-40. Should Spectrum Aeronautical, LLC 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 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 Spectrum 
Aeronautical, LLC Model S-40 is imminent, the FAA finds that good cause 
exists to make these special conditions effective upon issuance.

Conclusion

    This action affects only certain novel or unusual design features 
on one model, Model S-40, of 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.

List of Subjects in 14 CFR Part 23

    Aircraft, Aviation safety, Signs and symbols.

Citation

0
The authority citation for these special conditions is as follows:

    Authority: 49 U.S.C. 106(g), 40113 and 44701; 14 CFR 21.16 and 
21.17; and 14 CFR 11.38 and 11.19.

The Special Conditions

0
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 Spectrum Aeronautical, LLC Model S-40 
airplanes.
1. Electronic Engine Control
    The installation of the electronic engine control system must 
comply with the requirements of Sec.  23.1309(a) through (e) at 
Amendment 23-49. The intent of this requirement is not to re-evaluate 
the inherent hardware reliability of the control itself, but rather to 
determine the effects, including environmental effects addressed in 
Sec.  23.1309(e), on the airplane systems and engine control system 
when installing the control on the airplane. When appropriate, engine 
certification data may be used when showing compliance with this 
requirement; however, the effects of the installation on this data must 
be addressed.
    For these evaluations, the loss of FADEC control will be analyzed 
utilizing the threat levels associated with a catastrophic failure.

    Issued in Kansas City, Missouri on May 26, 2009.
John Colomy,
Acting Manager, Small Airplane Directorate, Aircraft Certification 
Service.
[FR Doc. E9-12992 Filed 6-3-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-13-P
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