Document ID: FAA-2020-0981-0001
Agency: faa
Document Type: Proposed Rule
Title: Airworthiness Directives: The Boeing Company Airplanes
Posted Date: 2020-11-18T05:00Z

[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 223 (Wednesday, November 18, 2020)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 73430-73432]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-25283]

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 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. 85, No. 223 / Wednesday, November 18, 2020 / 
Proposed Rules  

[[Page 73430]]

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Aviation Administration

14 CFR Part 39

[Docket No. FAA-2020-0981; Project Identifier AD-2020-00919-T]
RIN 2120-AA64

Airworthiness Directives; The Boeing Company Airplanes

AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), DOT.

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM).

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The FAA proposes to adopt a new airworthiness directive (AD) 
for certain The Boeing Company Model 777 airplanes. This proposed AD 
was prompted by reports that, during investigation of a fuel leak, 
fatigue cracking was found on the forward inboard side of the fuel tank 
access door cutouts on the left and right lower wing skin. The cause of 
the cracking is attributed to corrosion damage. This proposed AD would 
require repetitive inspections for any existing repair of the wing 
lower skin fuel tank and dry bay access door cutouts on the left and 
right lower wing skin, and applicable on-condition actions. The FAA is 
proposing this AD to address the unsafe condition on these products.

DATES: The FAA must receive comments on this proposed AD by January 4, 
2021.

ADDRESSES: You may send comments, using the procedures found in 14 CFR 
11.43 and 11.45, by any of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to https://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: Deliver to Mail address above between 9 
a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.
    For service information identified in this NPRM, 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, Airworthiness 
Products Section, Operational Safety Branch, 2200 South 216th St., Des 
Moines, WA. For information on the availability of this material at the 
FAA, call 206-231-3195. It is also available on the internet at https://www.regulations.gov by searching for and locating Docket No. FAA-2020-
0981.

Examining the AD Docket

    You may examine the AD docket on the internet at https://www.regulations.gov by searching for and locating Docket No. FAA-2020-
0981; or in person at Docket Operations between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., 
Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. The AD docket contains 
this NPRM, any comments received, and other information. The street 
address for Docket Operations is listed above. Comments will be 
available in the AD docket shortly after receipt.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Eric Lin, Aerospace Engineer, Airframe 
Section, FAA, Seattle ACO Branch, 2200 South 216th St., Des Moines, WA 
98198; phone and fax: 206-231-3523; email: eric.lin@faa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Comments Invited

    The FAA invites you to participate in this rulemaking by submitting 
written comments, data, or views about this proposal. The most helpful 
comments reference a specific portion of the proposal, explain the 
reason for any recommended change, and include supporting data. To 
ensure the docket does not contain duplicate comments, commenters 
should submit only one copy of the comments. Send your comments to an 
address listed under the ADDRESSES section. Include ``Docket No. FAA-
2020-0981; Project Identifier AD-2020-00919-T'' at the beginning of 
your comments.
    Except for Confidential Business Information (CBI) as described in 
the following paragraph, and other information as described in 14 CFR 
11.35, the FAA will post all comments received, without change, as well 
as a report summarizing each substantive public contact with FAA 
personnel concerning this proposed rulemaking. Before acting on this 
proposal, the FAA will consider all comments received by the closing 
date for comments. The FAA will consider comments filed after the 
comment period has closed if it is possible to do so without incurring 
expense or delay. The FAA may change this NPRM because of those 
comments.

Confidential Business Information

    CBI is commercial or financial information that is both customarily 
and actually treated as private by its owner. Under the Freedom of 
Information Act (FOIA) (5 U.S.C. 552), CBI is exempt from public 
disclosure. If your comments responsive to this NPRM contain commercial 
or financial information that is customarily treated as private, that 
you actually treat as private, and that is relevant or responsive to 
this NPRM, it is important that you clearly designate the submitted 
comments as CBI. Please mark each page of your submission containing 
CBI as ``PROPIN.'' The FAA will treat such marked submissions as 
confidential under the FOIA, and they will not be placed in the public 
docket of this NPRM. Submissions containing CBI should be sent to the 
person identified in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section. Any 
commentary that the FAA receives which is not specifically designated 
as CBI will be placed in the public docket for this rulemaking.

Discussion

    The FAA has received reports that, during investigation of a fuel 
leak, 0.55-inch to 2.10-inch fatigue cracks were found at fuel tank 
access door cutouts 633AB and 533BB on the left and right lower wing 
skin. The cracks were located on the forward inboard side of the fuel 
tank access door cutout. Boeing analysis determined the root cause of 
the cracking is corrosion damage with high shear stress concentration 
around the edge of the lower wing skin fuel tank and dry bay access 
door cutout being higher than anticipated. This condition, if not 
addressed, could result in the inability of a principal structural

[[Page 73431]]

element to sustain limit load, and consequent reduced structural 
integrity of the airplane.

Related Service Information Under 1 CFR Part 51

    The FAA reviewed Boeing Alert Requirements Bulletin 777-57A0118 RB, 
dated June 23, 2020. The service information describes procedures for 
doing repetitive general visual inspection for any existing repair of 
the fuel tank access door cutouts on the left and right lower wing 
skin, and applicable on-condition actions. On-condition actions include 
doing detailed and high frequency eddy current (HFEC) inspections for 
any corrosion, fretting or cracking, doing a blend out of corrosion or 
fretting that meets certain criteria, and repair.
    This service information is reasonably available because the 
interested parties have access to it through their normal course of 
business or by the means identified in the ADDRESSES section.

FAA's Determination

    The FAA is proposing this AD because the agency evaluated all the 
relevant information and determined the unsafe condition described 
previously is likely to exist or develop in other products of the same 
type design.

Proposed AD Requirements

    This proposed AD would require accomplishment of the actions 
identified in Boeing Alert Requirements Bulletin 777-57A0118 RB, dated 
June 23, 2020, described previously, except for any differences 
identified as exceptions in the regulatory text of this proposed AD.
    For information on the procedures and compliance times, see this 
service information at https://www.regulations.gov by searching for and 
locating Docket No. FAA-2020-0981.

Explanation of Requirements Bulletin

    The FAA worked in conjunction with industry, under the 
Airworthiness Directive Implementation Aviation Rulemaking Committee 
(AD ARC), to enhance the AD system. One enhancement is a process for 
annotating which steps in the service information are ``required for 
compliance'' (RC) with an AD. Boeing has implemented this RC concept 
into Boeing service bulletins.
    In an effort to further improve the quality of ADs and AD-related 
Boeing service information, a joint process improvement initiative was 
worked between the FAA and Boeing. The initiative resulted in the 
development of a new process in which the service information more 
clearly identifies the actions needed to address the unsafe condition 
in the ``Accomplishment Instructions.'' The new process results in a 
Boeing Requirements Bulletin, which contains only the actions needed to 
address the unsafe condition (i.e., only the RC actions).

Costs of Compliance

    The FAA estimates that this proposed AD affects 221 airplanes of 
U.S. registry. The FAA estimates the following costs to comply with 
this proposed AD:

                                      Estimated Costs for Required Actions
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                                Cost on U.S.
           Action                  Labor cost         Parts cost       Cost per product          operators
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
General Visual Inspection..  Up to 34 work-hours x              $0  Up to $2,890 per       Up to $638,690 per
                              $85 per hour = Up to                   inspection cycle.      inspection cycle.
                              $2,890 per
                              inspection cycle.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The FAA estimates the following costs to do any necessary on-
condition actions that would be required. The FAA has no way of 
determining the number of aircraft that might need these on-condition 
actions:

                                    Estimated Costs of On-Condition Actions *
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                                 Cost on U.S.
             Action                     Labor cost          Parts cost     Cost per product        operators
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Blend out of corrosion or        2 work-hours x $85 per               $0  $170 per blend out  $170 per blend
 fretting.                        hour = $170 per blend                                        out.
                                  out.
Repair of crack less than or     2 work-hours x $85 per                0  $170 per crack....  $170 per crack.
 equal to 0.2 inch with no        hour = $170 per crack.
 blend repair or keyway trim
 modification.
Detailed and HFEC inspections..  2 work-hours x $85 per                0  $170 per access     $170 per access
                                  hour = $170 per access                   door cutout.        door cutout.
                                  door cutout.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* The FAA has received no definitive data on which to base the cost estimates for the on-condition repairs
  specified in this proposed AD that require obtaining an alternative method of compliance (AMOC).

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.
    The FAA is 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 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

    The FAA 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 73432]]

    For the reasons discussed above, I certify this proposed 
regulation:
    (1) Is not a ``significant regulatory action'' under Executive 
Order 12866,
    (2) Will not affect intrastate aviation in Alaska, and
    (3) 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):

The Boeing Company: Docket No. FAA-2020-0981; Project Identifier AD-
2020-00919-T.

(a) Comments Due Date

    The FAA must receive comments by January 4, 2021.

(b) Affected ADs

    None.

(c) Applicability

    This AD applies to The Boeing Company Model 777-200, -200LR, -
300, -300ER, and 777F series airplanes, certificated in any 
category, as identified in Boeing Alert Requirements Bulletin 777-
57A0118 RB, dated June 23, 2020.

(d) Subject

    Air Transport Association (ATA) of America Code 57, Wings.

(e) Unsafe Condition

    This AD was prompted by reports that, during investigation of a 
fuel leak, fatigue cracking was found on the forward inboard side of 
the fuel tank access door cutouts on the left and right lower wing 
skin. The cause of the cracking is attributed to corrosion damage. 
The FAA is issuing this AD to address such cracking, which could 
result in the inability of a principal structural element to sustain 
limit load, and consequent reduced structural integrity of the 
airplane.

(f) Compliance

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

(g) Required Actions

    Except as specified by paragraph (h) of this AD: At the 
applicable times specified in the ``Compliance'' paragraph of Boeing 
Alert Requirements Bulletin 777-57A0118 RB, dated June 23, 2020, do 
all applicable actions identified in, and in accordance with, the 
Accomplishment Instructions of Boeing Alert Requirements Bulletin 
777-57A0118 RB, dated June 23, 2020.

    Note 1 to paragraph (g):  Guidance for accomplishing the actions 
required by this AD can be found in Boeing Alert Service Bulletin 
777-57A0118, dated June 23, 2020, which is referred to in Boeing 
Alert Requirements Bulletin 777-57A0118 RB, dated June 23, 2020.

(h) Exceptions to Service Information Specifications

    (1) Where Boeing Alert Requirements Bulletin 777-57A0118 RB, 
dated June 23, 2020, uses the phrase ``the original issue date of 
Requirements Bulletin 777-57A0118 RB,'' this AD requires using ``the 
effective date of this AD'', except where Boeing Alert Requirements 
Bulletin 777-57A0118 RB, dated June 23, 2020, uses the phrase ``the 
original issue date of Requirements Bulletin 777-57A0118 RB'' in a 
note or flag note.
    (2) Where Boeing Alert Requirements Bulletin 777-57A0118 RB, 
dated June 23, 2020, specifies contacting Boeing for repair 
instructions or for alternative inspections: This AD requires doing 
the repair, or doing the alternative inspections and applicable on-
condition actions using a method approved in accordance with the 
procedures specified in paragraph (i) of this AD.

(i) Alternative Methods of Compliance (AMOCs)

    (1) The Manager, Seattle ACO Branch, 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 responsible Flight Standards Office, 
as appropriate. If sending information directly to the manager of 
the certification office, send it to the attention of the person 
identified in paragraph (j)(1) of this AD. Information may be 
emailed to: 9-ANM-Seattle-ACO-AMOC-Requests@faa.gov.
    (2) Before using any approved AMOC, notify your appropriate 
principal inspector, or lacking a principal inspector, the manager 
of the responsible Flight Standards Office.
    (3) An AMOC that provides an acceptable level of safety may be 
used for any repair, modification, or alteration required by this AD 
if it is approved by The Boeing Company Organization Designation 
Authorization (ODA) that has been authorized by the Manager, Seattle 
ACO Branch, FAA, to make those findings. To be approved, the repair 
method, modification deviation, or alteration deviation must meet 
the certification basis of the airplane, and the approval must 
specifically refer to this AD.

(j) Related Information

    (1) For more information about this AD, contact Eric Lin, 
Aerospace Engineer, Airframe Section, FAA, Seattle ACO Branch, 2200 
South 216th St., Des Moines, WA 98198; phone and fax: 206-231-3523; 
email: eric.lin@faa.gov.
    (2) For service information identified in this AD, 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, Airworthiness Products Section, Operational 
Safety Branch, 2200 South 216th St., Des Moines, WA. For information 
on the availability of this material at the FAA, call 206-231-3195.

    Issued on October 29, 2020.
Lance T. Gant,
Director, Compliance & Airworthiness Division, Aircraft Certification 
Service.
[FR Doc. 2020-25283 Filed 11-17-20; 8:45 am]
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