This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER

contains regulatory documents having general

applicability and legal effect, most of which

are keyed to and codified in the Code of

Federal Regulations, which is published under

50 titles pursuant to 44 U.S.C. 1510.

The Code of Federal Regulations is sold by

the Superintendent of Documents.

Rules and Regulations Federal Register

48193 

Vol. 82, No. 199 

Tuesday, October 17, 2017 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Aviation Administration 

14 CFR Part 25 

[Docket No. FAA–2017–0580; Special 

Conditions No. 25–701–SC] 

Special Conditions: ALOFT 

AeroArchitects, Boeing Model 737–800 

Airplanes; Aircraft Electronic System 

Security Protection From Unauthorized 

External Access 

AGENCY: Federal Aviation 

Administration (FAA), DOT. 

ACTION: Final special conditions; request 

for comments. 

SUMMARY: These special conditions are 

issued for the Boeing Model 737–800 

airplane. These airplanes, as modified 

by ALOFT AeroArchitects (ALOFT), 

will have a novel or unusual design 

feature when compared to the state of 

technology envisioned in the 

airworthiness standards for transportcategory airplanes. This design feature 

is a Wireless Access Point (WAP), and 

connection of an improved Wireless 

Quick Access Recorder (WQAR) to the 

satellite communications (SATCOM) 

system, to provide in-flight access to 

information, in the WQAR, to ground 

personnel. 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: This action is effective on 

ALOFT on October 17, 2017. Send your 

comments by December 1, 2017. 

ADDRESSES: Send comments identified 

by docket number FAA–2017–0580 

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). 

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 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: 

Varun Khanna, FAA, Airplane and 

Flightcrew Interface Section, AIR–671, 

Transport Standards Branch, Policy and 

Innovation Division, Aircraft 

Certification Service, 1601 Lind Avenue 

SW., Renton, Washington 98057–3356; 

telephone 425–227–1298; facsimile 

425–227–1320. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

substance of these special conditions 

has been subject 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. 

In addition, for the reasons stated 

above, the FAA finds it unnecessary to 

delay the effective date and 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 by the closing date for 

comments. We may change these special 

conditions based on the comments we 

receive. 

Background 

On December 8, 2016, ALOFT applied 

for a supplemental type certificate for 

installing a Wireless Access Point 

(WAP), and connection of an improved 

Wireless Quick Access Recorder 

(WQAR) to the satellite communications 

(SATCOM) system, in a Boeing Model 

737–800 airplane. The Boeing Model 

737–800 airplane is a twin jet engine, 

short-to-medium-range passenger 

airplane with a maximum takeoff weight 

of 174,200 pounds and seating for 189 

passengers. 

Type Certification Basis 

Under the provisions of Title 14, Code 

of Federal Regulations (14 CFR) 21.101, 

ALOFT must show that the Boeing 

Model 737–800, as changed, continues 

to meet the applicable provisions of the 

regulations listed in Type Certificate No. 

A16WE or the applicable regulations in 

effect on the date of application for the 

change, except for earlier amendments 

as agreed upon by the FAA. 

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 Boeing Model 737–800 airplane 

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 applicant apply 

for a supplemental type certificate to 


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48194 Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 199 / Tuesday, October 17, 2017 / Rules and Regulations 

modify any other model included on the 

same type certificate, to incorporate the 

same novel or unusual design feature, 

these special conditions would also 

apply to the other model under § 21.101. 

In addition to the applicable 

airworthiness regulations and special 

conditions, the Boeing Model 737–800 

airplane must comply with the fuel-vent 

and exhaust-emission requirements of 

14 CFR part 34, and the noisecertification 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 Boeing Model 737–800 airplane 

will incorporate the following novel or 

unusual design features: 

A Wireless Access Point (WAP), and 

connection of an improved Wireless 

Quick Access Recorder (WQAR) to the 

satellite communications (SATCOM) 

system, to provide in-flight access to 

information, in the WQAR, to ground 

personnel. 

Discussion 

The applicant supplemental type 

certificate (STC) for the Boeing Model 

737–800 airplane design adds wired and 

wireless access points to the aircraftcontrol domain and airline-informationservices domain networks, which do not 

exist on current airplanes. The aircraftcontrol domain consists of the airplane 

electronic systems, equipment, 

instruments, networks, servers, software 

and hardware components, databases, 

etc., which are part of the type design 

of the airplane and are installed in the 

airplane to enable the safe operation of 

the airplane. These can also be referred 

to as flight-safety-related systems, and 

include flight controls, communication, 

display, monitoring, navigation, and 

other systems. 

The airline-information services 

domain generally consists of functions 

that are managed or controlled by the 

operator, such as administrative 

functions and cabin-support functions. 

This design creates a potential for 

unauthorized access to aircraft-control 

and airline-information-services 

domains, as well as security 

vulnerabilities related to the 

introduction of viruses, worms, user 

mistakes, and intentional sabotage of 

airplane electronic assets such as 

networks, systems, and databases. 

Historically, the operating systems for 

current airplanes are proprietary. 

Therefore, they are not as susceptible to 

corruption from worms, viruses and 

other malicious actions as are more 

widely used commercial operating 

systems, such as Microsoft Windows, 

because access to the design details of 

the proprietary operating system is 

limited to the system developer and 

airplane integrator. Some systems 

installed on the Boeing Model 737–800 

airplane, as modified by ALOFT, will 

use operating systems that are widely 

used and commercially available from 

third-party software suppliers. The 

security vulnerabilities of these 

operating systems may be more widely 

known than are the vulnerabilities of 

proprietary operating systems currently 

used by avionics manufacturers. The 

increased networking of systems based 

on these popular operating systems 

increases the opportunity for attack by 

a larger community, especially those 

using scripted attacks. 

While the FAA has developed policy 

and guidance on the use and protection 

of certain databases and software, these 

documents did not anticipate the 

potential for access to the airplane 

systems, networks, and software 

components by external systems, and 

the resulting potential security 

vulnerabilities from access by 

unauthorized users or from the potential 

corruption of airplane system software 

resources (applications, databases, 

configuration files, etc.) by worms, 

viruses or other malicious entities. 

The major differences between the 

applicant’s STC for the Boeing Model 

737–800 airplane implementation and 

typical implementations include: 

1. The electronic transmission of 

updates to airplane servers of databases 

and software applications using ground 

data networks rather than physically 

controlled media. 

2. The connection of external data 

networks or devices to airplane data 

networks of the Aircraft Control Domain 

and the Airline Information Services 

Domain, which may use wired or 

wireless connections. 

3. The connection of wireless devices 

operated by the flight crew or operator 

maintenance personnel to the airplane 

data networks of the Aircraft Control 

Domain, and connections between the 

Airline Information Services Domain 

(including unprotected electronic flight 

bags and maintenance computers) and 

the Aircraft Control Domain. 

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. 

Applicability 

As discussed above, these special 

conditions are applicable to the Boeing 

Model 737–800 airplane. Should 

ALOFT apply at a later date for a 

supplemental type certificate to modify 

any other model included on Type 

Certificate No. A16WE to incorporate 

the same novel or unusual design 

feature, these special conditions would 

apply to that model as well. 

Conclusion 

This action affects only certain novel 

or unusual design features on one model 

series of airplanes. It is not a rule of 

general applicability and affects only 

the applicant who applied to the FAA 

for approval of these features on the 

airplane. 

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 Boeing Model 

737–800 airplanes modified by ALOFT. 

1. The applicant must ensure airplane 

electronic system security protection 

from access by unauthorized sources 

external to the airplane, including those 

possibly caused by maintenance 

activity. 

2. The applicant must ensure that 

electronic system security threats are 

identified and assessed, and that 

effective electronic system security 

protection strategies are implemented to 

protect the airplane from all adverse 

impacts on safety, functionality, and 

continued airworthiness. 

3. The applicant must establish 

appropriate procedures to allow the 

operator to ensure that continued 

airworthiness of the aircraft is 

maintained, including all post typecertification modifications that may 

have an impact on the approved 

electronic system security safeguards. 

Issued in Renton, Washington, on 

September 28, 2017. 

Suzanne Masterson, 

Acting Manager, Transport Standards 

Branch, Policy and Innovation Division, 

Aircraft Certification Service. 

[FR Doc. 2017–22415 Filed 10–16–17; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–13–P 


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