49492 Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 206 / Thursday, October 26, 2017 / Rules and Regulations 

The authority citation for 7 CFR part 

1217 continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 7 U.S.C. 7411–7425; 7 U.S.C. 

7401. 

Dated: October 19, 2017. 

Bruce Summers, 

Acting Administrator. 

[FR Doc. 2017–23094 Filed 10–25–17; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–02–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Aviation Administration 

14 CFR Part 25 

[Docket No. FAA–2017–0862; Special 

Conditions No. 25–703–SC] 

Special Conditions: Boeing Model 777– 

300ER Airplanes; Passenger-Cabin 

High-Wall Suites 

AGENCY: Federal Aviation 

Administration (FAA), DOT. 

ACTION: Final special conditions; request 

for comments. 

SUMMARY: These special conditions are 

issued for Boeing Model 777–300ER 

airplanes with high-wall suites installed 

in the passenger cabin. This installation 

is novel or unusual, and the applicable 

airworthiness regulations do not contain 

adequate or appropriate safety standards 

for this interior configuration. 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 Boeing 

on October 26, 2017. Send your 

comments by December 11, 2017. 

ADDRESSES: Send comments identified 

by docket number FAA–2017–0862 

using any of the following methods: 

D Federal eRegulations Portal: Go to 

http://www.regulations.gov/ and follow 

the online instructions for sending your 

comments electronically. 

D 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. 

D 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. 

D 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: John 

Shelden, Airframe and Cabin Safety 

Section, AIR–675, Transport Standards 

Branch, Policy and Innovation Division, 

Aircraft Certification Service, 1601 Lind 

Avenue SW., Renton, Washington 

98057–3356; telephone 425–227–2785; 

facsimile 425–227–1232; email 

john.shelden@faa.gov. 

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, since 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 finds it unnecessary to delay the 

effective date and finds that good cause 

exists for adopting these special 

conditions 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 19, 2014, Boeing 

applied for a type certificate design 

change to Type Certificate (TC) No. 

T00001SE to install high-wall suites in 

the passenger compartment of Boeing 

Model 777–300ER airplanes. 

The Model 777 series airplane is a 

swept-wing, conventional-tail, twinengine, turbofan- powered, transportcategory airplane. The airplane has 

seating for 365 passengers and a 

maximum takeoff weight of 775,000 

pounds. 

Type Certification Basis 

Under the provisions of title 14, Code 

of Federal Regulations (14 CFR) 21.101, 

Boeing must show that the Model 777– 

300ER airplane, as changed, continues 

to meet the applicable provisions of the 

regulations listed in Type Certificate No. 

T00001SE 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 777–300ER 

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 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, 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 777– 

300ER airplane 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. 

The FAA issues special conditions, as 

defined in 14 CFR 11.19, in accordance 

with § 11.38, and they become part of 


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Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 206 / Thursday, October 26, 2017 / Rules and Regulations 49493 

the type-certification basis under 

§ 21.101. 

Novel or Unusual Design Features 

The Boeing Model 777–300ER 

airplane will incorporate the following 

novel or unusual design features: 

A passenger cabin with six high-wall 

suites arranged in two rows of three 

suites each. 

Discussion 

The Boeing Model 777–300ER 

airplane will include, as a customer 

option, a passenger cabin with six highwall suites arranged in two rows of 

three suites each, in a 1–1–1 

configuration. The suites have doors 

and walls that are taller than has been 

previously certified by the FAA on 

Boeing 777 series airplanes. The walls 

extend from the floor to the ceiling or 

close to the ceiling. 

The characteristics of the suite design 

are unique such that the suites are not 

fully open to the cabin, as are 

conventional mini-suites with partialheight surrounds, and they are not 

remote from the main cabin, as are 

overhead crew rests. Likewise, unique 

but suitable fire-protection requirements 

for smoke detection and firefighting are 

needed for this configuration. 

Furthermore, the proposed suite design 

necessitates the development of 

additional conditions that do not 

currently exist within associated 

airworthiness standards, including, but 

not limited to, alerting and lighting 

when oxygen masks are needed, crew 

procedures for managing hazards and 

suite occupants, and maintaining cabinegress route dimensions after 

deformations of the walls and seats. 

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 777–300ER airplane with highwall, single-occupant suites with doors 

installed. Should Boeing apply at a later 

date for a change to the type certificate 

to include another model incorporating 

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 airplane. It is not a rule of 

general applicability. 

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 

777–300ER airplanes. 

Note: In these special conditions, 

‘‘suite’’ means high-wall suite. 

1. Where suites are installed, a 

supplemental oxygen system must 

provide the following: 

a. The supplemental oxygen system 

for each suite must include a minimum 

of two oxygen masks and meet the same 

14 CFR part 25 regulations as do the 

supplemental oxygen system for the 

main passenger-cabin occupants. 

b. An aural alert to warn occupants 

and to indicate the need to don oxygen 

masks in the event of decompression. 

The aural alert must activate 

concurrently with deployment of the 

oxygen masks in the main passenger 

cabin. 

c. The illumination level of the 

normal suite lighting system must be 

activated automatically and must be 

sufficient for each occupant to locate a 

deployed oxygen mask. 

d. If a chemical oxygen generator is 

used as the oxygen supply source, the 

suite oxygen installation must meet 

§§ 25.795(d) and 25.1450. 

2. A smoke-detection or fire-detection 

system (or systems) must be provided 

that monitors each occupiable space 

within the suite. Flight tests must be 

conducted to show compliance with 

this requirement. If a fire occurs, each 

system (or systems) in the affected suite 

must provide: 

a. A visual indication to the flight 

deck within one minute after the start of 

a fire. 

b. An aural warning in the suite area 

where detection has occurred. 

c. A warning in the main passenger 

cabin. This warning must be readily 

detectable by a flight attendant, taking 

into consideration the locations of flight 

attendants throughout the main 

passenger compartment during various 

phases of flight. 

3. Passenger-management procedures 

must be provided should occupants 

need to be moved in the event of smoke 

detection, or firefighting within the 

suite or where suites are installed: 

a. A limitation must be included in 

the airplane flight manual (AFM) or 

other suitable means requiring that 

crewmembers be trained in the suite 

passenger-management procedures. 

b. Approved procedures describing 

methods for suite passenger 

management must be established. These 

procedures must be transmitted to the 

operator for incorporation into its 

training programs and appropriate 

operational manuals. 

4. The design of each suite, and the 

location of the firefighting equipment 

where suites are installed, must allow 

the crewmembers to conduct effective 

firefighting in the suite. For a manual, 

hand-held extinguishing system 

(designed as the sole means to fight a 

fire) for the suite: 

a. A limitation must be included in 

the AFM or other suitable means 

requiring that crewmembers be trained 

in the firefighting procedures. 

b. Each suite design must allow 

crewmembers equipped for firefighting 

to have unrestricted access to all parts 

of the suite compartment. 

c. The time for a crewmember in the 

main passenger cabin to react to the fire 

alarm and gain access to the suite must 

not exceed the time it would take for the 

compartment to become filled with 

smoke, thus making it difficult to locate 

the fire source(s). 

d. Approved procedures describing 

methods for searching the suite 

compartment for fire source(s) must be 

established. These procedures must be 

transmitted to the operator for 

incorporation into its training programs 

and appropriate operational manuals. 

5. A means must be provided to 

prevent hazardous quantities of smoke 

or extinguishing agent originating in 

each suite from entering any other 

occupiable compartments. 

a. Small quantities of smoke may 

penetrate from the suite into other 

occupied areas during the one-minute 

smoke detection time. 

b. Hazardous quantities of smoke may 

not enter any occupied compartment 

during access to manually fight a fire in 

the suite. A small amount of smoke may 

enter the occupied compartments while 

a firefighter enters and exits the suite, 

and is not considered hazardous 

provided the smoke dissipates quickly. 

c. Flight tests must be conducted to 

show compliance with this requirement. 

6. If waste-disposal receptacles are 

fitted in the suite, the suite must be 

equipped with an automatic fireextinguishing system that meets the 

performance requirements of 

§ 25.854(b). 

7. Each stowage compartment in the 

suite must be completely enclosed. All 

enclosed stowage compartments within 

the suite compartment that are not 


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49494 Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 206 / Thursday, October 26, 2017 / Rules and Regulations 

limited to stowage of emergency 

equipment or airplane- supplied 

equipment (i.e., bedding) must meet the 

design criteria described in the table 

below. Enclosed stowage compartments 

greater than 57 feet 3 inches cubic 

interior volume are not permitted by 

these special conditions. 

DESIGN CRITERIA FOR ENCLOSED STOWAGE COMPARTMENTS NOT LIMITED TO STOWAGE OF EMERGENCY OR AIRPLANESUPPLIED EQUIPMENT

Fire protection features 

Applicability of fire-protection requirements by interior volume 

Less than 

25 cubic feet 

25 Cubic feet to 

less than 57 Cubic feet 57 cubic feet 

Compliant Materials of Construction 1 ............................. Yes .................................... Yes .................................... Yes. 

Smoke or Fire Detectors 2 ............................................... No ...................................... Yes .................................... Yes. 

Liner 3 ............................................................................... No ...................................... Conditional ......................... Yes. 

Fire Location Detector 4 ................................................... No ...................................... Yes .................................... Yes. 

1 Compliant Materials of Construction: The material used in constructing each enclosed stowage compartment must at least be fire resistant 

and must meet the flammability standards established for interior components (i.e., 14 CFR part 25 Appendix F, Parts I, IV, and V) per the requirements of § 25.853. For compartments less than 25 ft.3 in interior volume, the design must ensure the ability to contain a fire likely to occur 

within the compartment under normal use. 2Smoke or Fire Detectors: Enclosed stowage compartments equal to or exceeding 25 ft.3 in interior volume must be provided with a smoke- or 

fire-detection system to ensure that a fire can be detected within a one-minute detection time. Flight tests must be conducted to show compliance with this requirement. Each system (or systems) must provide: 

b A visual indication in the flight deck within one minute after the start of a fire. 

b An aural warning in the suite compartment. 

b A warning in the main passenger cabin. This warning must be readily detectable by a flight attendant, taking into consideration the locations 

of flight attendants throughout the main passenger compartment during various phases of flight. 3 Liner: If material used in constructing the stowage compartment can be shown to meet the flammability requirements of a liner for a Class B 

cargo compartment (i.e., § 25.855 at Amendment 25–116, and Appendix F, part I, paragraph (a)(2)(ii)), then no liner would be required for enclosed stowage compartments equal to or greater than 25 ft.3 but less than 57 ft.3 in interior volume. For all enclosed stowage compartments 

equal to 57 ft.3 in interior volume, a liner must be provided that meets the requirements of § 25.855 for a Class B cargo compartment. 4Fire Location Detector: If a suite compartment has enclosed stowage compartments exceeding 25 ft.3 interior volume that are located separately from the other stowage compartments (located, for example, away from one central location, such as the entry to the suite compartment or 

a common area within the suite compartment, where the other stowage compartments are), that suite compartment would require additional fireprotection features and/or devices to assist the firefighter in determining the location of a fire. 

8. Where suites are installed, the 

design of each suite must: 

a. Maintain minimum main aisle(s), 

cross aisle(s), and passageway(s) 

requirements of § 25.815 when 

subjected to the ultimate inertia forces 

listed in § 25.561(d). 

b. Prevent structural failure or 

deformation of components that could 

block access to the available evacuation 

routes (e.g., seats, doors, contents of 

stowage compartments, etc.). 

9. In addition to the requirements of 

§ 25.562 for seat systems, which are 

occupiable during taxi, takeoff, and 

landing, the suite structure must be 

designed for the additional loads 

imposed by the seats as a result of the 

conditions specified in § 25.562(b). 

Issued in Renton, Washington, on October 

19, 2017. 

Suzanne Masterson, 

Acting Manager, Transport Standards 

Branch, Policy and Innovation Division, 

Aircraft Certification Service. 

[FR Doc. 2017–23256 Filed 10–25–17; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–13–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Aviation Administration 

14 CFR Part 39 

[Docket No. FAA–2017–0332; Product 

Identifier 2016–NM–164–AD; Amendment 

39–19084; AD 2017–22–04] 

RIN 2120–AA64 

Airworthiness Directives; The Boeing 

Company Airplanes 

AGENCY: Federal Aviation 

Administration (FAA), DOT. 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: We are adopting a new 

airworthiness directive (AD) for certain 

The Boeing Company Model 737–200, 

–200C, –300, –400, and –500 series 

airplanes. This AD was prompted by 

reports of skin doublers that disbonded 

from their skin panels. This AD requires 

repetitive inspections of fuselage skin 

panels, and applicable on-condition 

actions. We are issuing this AD to 

address the unsafe condition on these 

products. 

DATES: This AD is effective November 

30, 2017. 

The Director of the Federal Register 

approved the incorporation by reference 

of a certain publication listed in this AD 

as of November 30, 2017. 

ADDRESSES: For service information 

identified in this final rule, contact 

Boeing Commercial Airplanes, 

Attention: Contractual & Data Services 

(C&DS), 2600 Westminster Blvd., MC 

110 SK57, Seal Beach, CA 90740 5600; 

telephone 562–797–1717; Internet 

https://www.myboeingfleet.com. You 

may view this referenced service 

information at the FAA, Transport 

Standards Branch, 1601 Lind Avenue 

SW., Renton, WA. For information on 

the availability of this material at the 

FAA, call 425–227–1221. It is also 

available on the Internet at http://

www.regulations.gov by searching for 

and locating Docket No. FAA–2017– 

0332. 

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–2017– 

0332; 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 final rule, the regulatory 

evaluation, any comments received, and 

other information. The address for the 

Docket Office (phone: 800–647–5527) is 

Docket Management Facility, U.S. 

Department of Transportation, Docket 

Operations, M–30, West Building 

Ground Floor, Room W12–140, 1200 


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