Document ID: FAA-2014-0626-0001
Agency: faa
Document Type: Proposed Rule
Title: Airworthiness Directives: Dassault Aviation Airplanes
Posted Date: 2014-09-15T04:00Z

[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 178 (Monday, September 15, 2014)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 54917-54919]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-21915]

 ========================================================================
 Proposed Rules
                                                 Federal Register
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 This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains notices to the public of 
 the proposed issuance of rules and regulations. The purpose of these 
 notices is to give interested persons an opportunity to participate in 
 the rule making prior to the adoption of the final rules.
 
 ========================================================================
 

  Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 178 / Monday, September 15, 2014 / 
Proposed Rules  

[[Page 54917]]

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Aviation Administration

14 CFR Part 39

[Docket No. FAA-2014-0626; Directorate Identifier 2014-NM-017-AD]
RIN 2120-AA64

Airworthiness Directives; Dassault Aviation Airplanes

AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), DOT.

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM).

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SUMMARY: We propose to adopt a new airworthiness directive (AD) for all 
Dassault Aviation Model FAN JET FALCON and FAN JET FALCON SERIES C, D, 
E, F, and G airplanes. This proposed AD was prompted by our 
determination of the need for a revision to the airplane airworthiness 
limitations to introduce changes to the maintenance requirements and 
airworthiness limitations. This proposed AD would require revising the 
maintenance or inspection program, as applicable, to incorporate a new 
airworthiness limitations section. We are proposing this AD to prevent 
reduced structural integrity of the airplane.

DATES: We must receive comments on this proposed AD by October 30, 
2014.

ADDRESSES: You may send comments by any of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
     Fax: 202-493-2251.
     Mail: U.S. Department of Transportation, Docket 
Operations, M-30, West Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140, 1200 New 
Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20590.
     Hand Delivery: U.S. Department of Transportation, Docket 
Operations, M-30, West Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140, 1200 New 
Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday 
through Friday, except Federal holidays.
    For service information identified in this proposed AD, contact 
Dassault Falcon Jet, P.O. Box 2000, South Hackensack, NJ 07606; 
telephone 201-440-6700; Internet http://www.dassaultfalcon.com. You may 
view this referenced service information at the FAA, Transport Airplane 
Directorate, 1601 Lind Avenue SW., Renton, WA. For information on the 
availability of this material at the FAA, call 425-227-1221.

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-2014-
0626; 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 proposed AD, the regulatory evaluation, any comments 
received, and other information. The street address for the Docket 
Operations office (telephone (800) 647-5527) is in the ADDRESSES 
section. Comments will be available in the AD docket shortly after 
receipt.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tom Rodriguez, Aerospace Engineer, 
International Branch, ANM-116, Transport Airplane Directorate, FAA, 
1601 Lind Avenue SW., Renton, WA 98057-3356; telephone 425-227-1137; 
fax 425-227-1149.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Comments Invited

    We invite you to send any written relevant data, views, or 
arguments about this proposed AD. Send your comments to an address 
listed under the ADDRESSES section. Include ``Docket No. FAA-2014-0626; 
Directorate Identifier 2014-NM-017-AD'' at the beginning of your 
comments. We specifically invite comments on the overall regulatory, 
economic, environmental, and energy aspects of this proposed AD. We 
will consider all comments received by the closing date and may amend 
this proposed AD based on those comments.
    We will post all comments we receive, without change, to http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information you provide. We 
will also post a report summarizing each substantive verbal contact we 
receive about this proposed AD.

Discussion

    The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), which is the Technical 
Agent for the Member States of the European Community, has issued EASA 
Airworthiness Directive 2014-0021, dated January 20, 2014 (referred to 
after this as the Mandatory Continuing Airworthiness Information, or 
``the MCAI''), to correct an unsafe condition for the specified 
products. The MCAI states:
    The airworthiness limitations and maintenance requirements for 
the Fan Jet Falcon type design are included in Dassault Aviation 
Falcon 20 (F20) Aircraft Maintenance Manual (AMM) chapter 5-40 and 
are approved by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). EASA 
issued AD 2008-0221 to require accomplishment of the maintenance 
tasks, and implementation of the airworthiness limitations, as 
specified in Dassault Aviation F20 AMM chapter 5-40 at revision 13.
    Since that AD was issued, Dassault Aviation issued F20 AMM 
chapter 5-40 at revision 15, which introduces new or more 
restrictive maintenance requirements and/or airworthiness 
limitations.
    Dassault Aviation AMM chapter 5-40 revision 15 contains among 
other changes the following requirements:
    --Specific instructions applicable to F20GF (serial number 397);
    --Check of overpressure tightness on pressurization control 
regulating valves;
    --Check of overpressure relief valve vacuum supply lines.
    A new document reference number which comes with DGT 131028 
revision 15 is replacing DMD11755.
    The maintenance tasks and airworthiness limitations, as 
specified in the F20 AMM chapter 5-40, have been identified as 
mandatory actions for continued airworthiness of the Fan Jet Falcon 
type design. Failure to comply with AMM chapter 5-40 at revision 15 
might constitute an unsafe condition.
    For the reasons described above, this [EASA] AD requires 
implementation of the maintenance tasks and airworthiness 
limitations, as specified in Dassault Aviation F20 AMM chapter 5-40 
at revision 15.

    The unsafe condition is reduced structural integrity of the 
airplane. You may examine the MCAI in the AD docket on the Internet at 
http://www.regulations.gov by searching for and locating Docket No. 
FAA-2014-0626.

Relevant Service Information

    Dassault Aviation has issued Chapter 5-40, Airworthiness 
Limitations, DGT 131028, Revision 15, dated March 2012,

[[Page 54918]]

of the Dassault Aviation Falcon 20 Maintenance Manual. The actions 
described in this service information are intended to correct the 
unsafe condition identified in the MCAI.

FAA's Determination and Requirements of This Proposed AD

    This product has been approved by the aviation authority of another 
country, and is approved for operation in the United States. Pursuant 
to our bilateral agreement with the State of Design Authority, we have 
been notified of the unsafe condition described in the MCAI and service 
information referenced above. We are proposing this AD because we 
evaluated all pertinent information and determined an unsafe condition 
exists and is likely to exist or develop on other products of the same 
type design.

``Contacting the Manufacturer'' Paragraph in This Proposed AD

    Since late 2006, we have included a standard paragraph titled 
``Airworthy Product'' in all MCAI ADs in which the FAA develops an AD 
based on a foreign authority's AD.
    The MCAI or referenced service information in an FAA AD often 
directs the owner/operator to contact the manufacturer for corrective 
actions, such as a repair. Briefly, the Airworthy Product paragraph 
allowed owners/operators to use corrective actions provided by the 
manufacturer if those actions were FAA-approved. In addition, the 
paragraph stated that any actions approved by the State of Design 
Authority (or its delegated agent) are considered to be FAA-approved.
    In an NPRM having Directorate Identifier 2012-NM-101-AD (78 FR 
78285, December 26, 2013), we proposed to prevent the use of repairs 
that were not specifically developed to correct the unsafe condition, 
by requiring that the repair approval provided by the State of Design 
Authority or its delegated agent specifically refer to the FAA AD. This 
change was intended to clarify the method of compliance and to provide 
operators with better visibility of repairs that are specifically 
developed and approved to correct the unsafe condition. In addition, we 
proposed to change the phrase ``its delegated agent'' to include a 
design approval holder (DAH) with State of Design Authority design 
organization approval (DOA), as applicable, to refer to a DAH 
authorized to approve required repairs for the proposed AD.
    One commenter to the NPRM having Directorate Identifier 2012-NM-
101-AD (78 FR 78285, December 26, 2013) stated the following: ``The 
proposed wording, being specific to repairs, eliminates the 
interpretation that Airbus messages are acceptable for approving minor 
deviations (corrective actions) needed during accomplishment of an AD 
mandated Airbus service bulletin.''
    This comment has made the FAA aware that some operators have 
misunderstood or misinterpreted the Airworthy Product paragraph to 
allow the owner/operator to use messages provided by the manufacturer 
as approval of deviations during the accomplishment of an AD-mandated 
action. The Airworthy Product paragraph does not approve messages or 
other information provided by the manufacturer for deviations to the 
requirements of the AD-mandated actions. The Airworthy Product 
paragraph only addresses the requirement to contact the manufacturer 
for corrective actions for the identified unsafe condition and does not 
cover deviations from other AD requirements. However, deviations to AD-
required actions are addressed in 14 CFR 39.17, and anyone may request 
the approval for an alternative method of compliance to the AD-required 
actions using the procedures found in 14 CFR 39.19.
    To address this misunderstanding and misinterpretation of the 
Airworthy Product paragraph, we have changed the paragraph and retitled 
it ``Contacting the Manufacturer.'' This paragraph now clarifies that 
for any requirement in this proposed AD to obtain corrective actions 
from a manufacturer, the actions must be accomplished using a method 
approved by the FAA, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), or 
Dassault Aviation's EASA DOA.
    The Contacting the Manufacturer paragraph also clarifies that, if 
approved by the DOA, the approval must include the DOA-authorized 
signature. The DOA signature indicates that the data and information 
contained in the document are EASA-approved, which is also FAA-
approved. Messages and other information provided by the manufacturer 
that do not contain the: DOA-authorized signature approval are not 
EASA-approved, unless EASA directly approves the manufacturer's message 
or other information.
    This clarification does not remove flexibility previously afforded 
by the Airworthy Product paragraph. Consistent with long-standing FAA 
policy, such flexibility was never intended for required actions. This 
is also consistent with the recommendation of the Airworthiness 
Directive Implementation Aviation Rulemaking Committee to increase 
flexibility in complying with ADs by identifying those actions in 
manufacturers' service instructions that are ``Required for 
Compliance'' with ADs. We continue to work with manufacturers to 
implement this recommendation. But once we determine that an action is 
required, any deviation from the requirement must be approved as an 
alternative method of compliance.
    We also have decided not to include a generic reference to either 
the ``delegated agent'' or ``design approval holder (DAH) with State of 
Design Authority design organization approval,'' but instead we have 
provided the specific delegation approval granted by the State of 
Design Authority for the DAH throughout this proposed AD.

Costs of Compliance

    We estimate that this proposed AD affects 168 airplanes of U.S. 
registry.
    We also estimate that it would take about 1 work-hour per product 
to comply with the basic requirements of this proposed AD. The average 
labor rate is $85 per work-hour. Based on these figures, we estimate 
the cost of this proposed AD on U.S. operators to be $14,280, or $85 
per product.

Authority for This Rulemaking

    Title 49 of the United States Code specifies the FAA's authority to 
issue rules on aviation safety. Subtitle I, section 106, describes the 
authority of the FAA Administrator. ``Subtitle VII: Aviation 
Programs,'' describes in more detail the scope of the Agency's 
authority.
    We are issuing this rulemaking under the authority described in 
``Subtitle VII, Part A, Subpart III, Section 44701: General 
requirements.'' Under that section, Congress charges the FAA with 
promoting safe flight of civil aircraft in air commerce by prescribing 
regulations for practices, methods, and procedures the Administrator 
finds necessary for safety in air commerce. This proposed regulation is 
within the scope of that authority because it addresses an unsafe 
condition that is likely to exist or develop on products identified in 
this rulemaking action.

Regulatory Findings

    We determined that this proposed AD would not have federalism 
implications under Executive Order 13132. This proposed AD would not 
have a substantial direct effect on the States, on the relationship 
between the national Government and the States, or on the distribution 
of power and responsibilities among the various levels of government.

[[Page 54919]]

    For the reasons discussed above, I certify this proposed 
regulation:
    1. Is not a ``significant regulatory action'' under Executive Order 
12866;
    2. Is not a ``significant rule'' under the DOT Regulatory Policies 
and Procedures (44 FR 11034, February 26, 1979);
    3. Will not affect intrastate aviation in Alaska; and
    4. Will not have a significant economic impact, positive or 
negative, on a substantial number of small entities under the criteria 
of the Regulatory Flexibility Act.

List of Subjects in 14 CFR Part 39

    Air transportation, Aircraft, Aviation safety, Incorporation by 
reference, Safety.

The Proposed Amendment

    Accordingly, under the authority delegated to me by the 
Administrator, the FAA proposes to amend 14 CFR part 39 as follows:

PART 39--AIRWORTHINESS DIRECTIVES

0
1. The authority citation for part 39 continues to read as follows:

    Authority:  49 U.S.C. 106(g), 40113, 44701.

Sec.  39.13  [Amended]

0
2. The FAA amends Sec.  39.13 by adding the following new airworthiness 
directive (AD):

Dassault Aviation: Docket No. FAA-2014-0626; Directorate Identifier 
2014-NM-017-AD.

(a) Comments Due Date

    We must receive comments by October 30, 2014.

(b) Affected ADs

    None.

(c) Applicability

    This AD applies to Dassault Aviation Model FAN JET FALCON and 
FAN JET FALCON SERIES C, D, E, F, and G airplanes, certificated in 
any category, all serial numbers.

(d) Subject

    Air Transport Association (ATA) of America Code 05, Time Limits 
and Maintenance Checks.

(e) Reason

    This AD was prompted by our determination of the need for a 
revision to the airplane airworthiness limitations to introduce 
changes to the maintenance requirements and airworthiness 
limitations. We are issuing this AD to prevent reduced structural 
integrity of the airplane.

(f) Compliance

    Comply with this AD within the compliance times specified, 
unless already done.

(g) Maintenance or Inspection Program Revision

    Within 30 days after the effective date of this AD, revise the 
maintenance or inspection program, as applicable, to incorporate the 
information specified in Chapter 5-40, Airworthiness Limitations, 
DGT 131028, Revision 15, dated March 2012, of the Dassault Aviation 
Falcon 20 Maintenance Manual. The initial compliance time for 
accomplishing the actions specified in Chapter 5-40, Airworthiness 
Limitations, DGT 131028, Revision 15, dated March 2012, of the 
Dassault Aviation Falcon 20 Maintenance Manual is at the applicable 
time specified in Chapter 5-40, Airworthiness Limitations, DGT 
131028, Revision 15, dated March 2012, of the Dassault Aviation 
Falcon 20 Maintenance Manual, or within 60 days after the effective 
date of this AD, whichever occurs later. Where the threshold column 
in the table in paragraph B, Mandatory Maintenance Operations, of 
Chapter 5-40, Airworthiness Limitations, DGT 131028, Revision 15, 
dated March 2012, of the Dassault Aviation Falcon 20 Maintenance 
Manual specifies a compliance time in flight hours, those compliance 
times are total flight hours. Where the threshold column in the 
table in paragraph B, Mandatory Maintenance Operations, of Chapter 
5-40, Airworthiness Limitations, DGT 131028, Revision 15, dated 
March 2012, of the Dassault Aviation Falcon 20 Maintenance Manual 
specifies a compliance time in years, those compliance times are 
since the date of issuance of the original French or EASA standard 
airworthiness certificate or date of issuance of the original French 
or EASA export certificate of airworthiness.

(h) No Alternative Actions and Intervals

    After accomplishing the revision required by paragraph (g) of 
this AD, no alternative actions (e.g., inspections) or intervals may 
be used unless the actions or intervals are approved as an 
alternative method of compliance (AMOC) in accordance with the 
procedures specified in paragraph (i)(1) of this AD.

(i) Other FAA AD Provisions

    The following provisions also apply to this AD:
    (1) Alternative Methods of Compliance (AMOCs): The Manager, 
International Branch, ANM-116, Transport Airplane Directorate, FAA, 
has the authority to approve AMOCs for this AD, if requested using 
the procedures found in 14 CFR 39.19. In accordance with 14 CFR 
39.19, send your request to your principal inspector or local Flight 
Standards District Office, as appropriate. If sending information 
directly to the International Branch, send it to ATTN: Tom 
Rodriguez, Aerospace Engineer, International Branch, ANM-116, 
Transport Airplane Directorate, FAA, 1601 Lind Avenue SW., Renton, 
WA 98057-3356; telephone 425-227-1137; fax 425-227-1149. Information 
may be emailed to: 9-ANM-116-AMOC-REQUESTS@faa.gov. Before using any 
approved AMOC, notify your appropriate principal inspector, or 
lacking a principal inspector, the manager of the local flight 
standards district office/certificate holding district office. The 
AMOC approval letter must specifically reference this AD.
    (2) Contacting the Manufacturer: For any requirement in this AD 
to obtain corrective actions from a manufacturer, the action must be 
accomplished using a method approved by the Manager, International 
Branch, ANM-116, Transport Airplane Directorate, FAA; or the 
European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA); or Dassault Aviation's EASA 
Design Organization Approval (DOA). If approved by the DOA, the 
approval must include the DOA-authorized signature.

(j) Related Information

    (1) Refer to Mandatory Continuing Airworthiness Information 
(MCAI) EASA Airworthiness Directive 2014-0021, dated January 20, 
2014, for related information. This MCAI may be found in the AD 
docket on the Internet at http://www.regulations.gov by searching 
for and locating Docket No. FAA-2014-0626.
    (2) For service information identified in this AD, contact 
Dassault Falcon Jet, P.O. Box 2000, South Hackensack, NJ 07606; 
telephone 201-440-6700; Internet http://www.dassaultfalcon.com. You 
may view this service information at the FAA, Transport Airplane 
Directorate, 1601 Lind Avenue SW., Renton, WA. For information on 
the availability of this material at the FAA, call 425-227-1221.

    Issued in Renton, Washington, on September 9, 2014.
Jeffrey E. Duven,
Manager, Transport Airplane Directorate, Aircraft Certification 
Service.
[FR Doc. 2014-21915 Filed 9-12-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-13-P