Source: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2016/08/03/2016-18449/special-conditions-the-boeing-company-model-787-9-series-airplane-dynamic-test-requirements-for
Timestamp: 2017-10-18 00:54:16
Document Index: 534662102

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 25', '§\u200921', 'art 34', 'art 36', '§\u200925', '§\u200925', '§\u200925', '§\u200925']

Federal Register :: Special Conditions: The Boeing Company Model 787-9 Series Airplane; Dynamic Test Requirements for Single-Occupant Oblique (Side-Facing) Seats With Inflatable and 3-Point Restraint Systems
Special Conditions: The Boeing Company Model 787-9 Series Airplane; Dynamic Test Requirements for Single-Occupant Oblique (Side-Facing) Seats With Inflatable and 3-Point Restraint Systems
51081-51084 (4 pages)
Docket No. FAA-2016-5909
Special Conditions No. 25-626-SC
FAA-2016-5909
Structure-Mounted Airbag and Inflatable Lapbelt Special Conditions
https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2016-18449 https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2016-18449
These special conditions are issued for The Boeing Company (Boeing) Model 787-9 series airplane. This airplane, as modified by Boeing, will have novel or unusual design features when compared to the state of technology envisioned in the airworthiness standards for transport-category airplanes. These design features are single-occupant oblique (side-facing) seats with inflatable and 3-point restraint systems requiring dynamic testing. The applicable airworthiness regulations do not contain adequate or appropriate safety standards for these design features. 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.
Send comments identified by docket number FAA-2016-5909 using any of the following methods:
Jeff Gardlin, FAA, Airframe and Cabin Safety branch, ANM-115, Transport Start Printed Page 51082Airplane Directorate, Aircraft Certification Service, 1601 Lind Avenue SW., Renton, Washington 98057-3356; telephone 425-227-2136; facsimile 425-227-1320.
On January 29, 2016, Boeing applied for a change to type certificate no. T00021SE to install single-occupant oblique (side-facing) seats with inflatable and 3-point restraint systems in the Model 787-9 airplane.
This airplane is a twin-engine transport-category airplane. It has a 420-passenger capacity and a maximum takeoff weight of 553,000 lbs.
Under the provisions of title 14, Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR), 21.101, Boeing must show that the Model 787-9 airplane meets the applicable provisions of the regulations listed in type certificate no. T00021SE, 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 Model 787-9 airplane because of a novel or unusual design feature, special conditions are prescribed under the provisions of § 21.16.
In addition to the applicable airworthiness regulations and special conditions, the Model 787-9 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 Model 787-9 airplane will incorporate the following novel or unusual design features:
Single-occupant oblique (side-facing) seats with inflatable and 3-point restraint systems requiring dynamic testing.
Amendment 25-64, dated June 16, 1988, revised the emergency-landing conditions that must be considered in the design of the airplane. It revised the static-load conditions in 14 CFR 25.561 and added a new § 25.562, requiring dynamic testing for all seats approved for occupancy during takeoff and landing. The intent was to provide an improved level of safety for occupants on transport-category airplanes. Because most seating on transport-category airplanes is forward-facing, the pass/fail criteria developed in Amendment 25-64 focused primarily on forward-facing seats. Therefore, the testing specified in the rule did not provide a complete measure of occupant injury in seats that are not forward-facing; although § 25.785 does require that occupants of all seats that are occupied during taxi, takeoff, and landing not suffer serious injury as a result of the inertia forces specified in §§ 25.561 and 25.562.
To address recent research findings and accommodate commercial demand, the FAA developed a methodology to address all fully side-facing seats (i.e., seats oriented in the airplane with the occupant facing 90-degrees to the direction of airplane travel) and has documented those requirements in a set of proposed new special conditions. The FAA issued policy statement PS-ANM-25-03-R1 on November 12, 2012, titled, “Technical Criteria for Approving Side-Facing Seats,” which conveys the injury criteria to be used in the special conditions. Some of those criteria are applicable to oblique seats but others are not, because the motion of an occupant in an oblique seat is different from the motion of an occupant in a fully side-facing seat during emergency landing conditions.
The proposed Model 787 airplane oblique business-class seat installations are novel such that the current Model 787 airplane certification basis does not adequately address occupant protection expectations with regard to the occupant's neck and spine for seat configurations that are oriented at an angle greater than 18-degrees from the airplane centerline. The FAA has previously issued special conditions no. 25-580-SC for the 787, which reflected the best available criteria at the time. However, as the FAA continues research into the injury mechanisms associated with obliquely oriented seats and the means to measure those injuries, the criteria evolve. These special conditions Start Printed Page 51083therefore reflect refinements beyond special conditions no. 25-580-SC, and that incorporate the knowledge gained from research. The intent of the special conditions is unchanged. 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.
Boeing proposes to install on Model 787-9 airplanes 3-point restraint systems and airbag devices as a means to protect each occupant from serious injury in the event of an emergency landing, as required by § 25.562(c)(5). Shoulder harnesses have been widely used on attendant seats, flight-deck seats, business jets, and general-aviation airplanes to reduce occupant head injury in the unlikely event of an emergency landing. A passenger-seat 3-point restraint system is defined as a safety belt (pelvic restraint), a single-belt shoulder harness, and the seat structure associated with the harness attachment points. The 3-point restraint system is intended to protect the occupant from serious injury, and the means of protection must take into consideration a range of occupant stature, ranging from a 2-year old child to a 95th percentile male, in addition to the oblique seat orientation. The use of 3- point restraint systems on transport-category airplane passenger seats is rare; however, existing regulations provide an adequate safety standard for these installations. The FAA has issued advisory material on acceptable means of compliance for combined shoulder-harness and safety-belt restraint systems, such as the 3-point restraint system.
Inflatable airbag devices are designed to limit occupant forward excursion in the event of an accident. This will reduce the potential for head injury, thereby reducing the head injury criteria (HIC) measurement. While inflatable airbags are now standard in the automotive industry, the use of an inflatable airbag device is novel for commercial aviation. Special conditions exist for airbags installed on seat belts, known as inflatable lapbelts, which have been installed on Boeing passenger seats. The FAA has also issued special conditions for structure-mounted airbags on the Model 787-9 that are similar to those for inflatable lapbelts, but that account for the differences between the two types of airbag installations.
These special conditions are applicable to the following Boeing Model 787-9 airplanes: AAL ZB 446 (Project PS15-0762), AMX ZB 676 (Project PS15-0588), XIA ZB 812 (Project PS16-0060), and JAL ZB 424 (Project PS15-0723).
The substance of these special conditions has been subject to the public-comment process in several prior instances with no substantive comments received. 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, and good cause exists for adopting these special conditions upon publication in the Federal Register. The FAA is requesting comments to allow interested persons to submit views that may not have been submitted in response to the prior opportunities for comment described above.
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 787-9 airplanes.
b. In addition, peak upper-neck Fz must be below 937 lb of tension and 899 lb of compression.
Axial rotation of the upper leg (about the z-axis of the femur per SAE Recommended Practice J211-1) must be limited to 35 degrees from the nominal Start Printed Page 51084seated position. Evaluation during rebound does not need to be considered.
Longitudinal tests conducted to measure the injury criteria above must be performed with the FAA Hybrid III ATD, as described in SAE 1999-01-1609. The tests must be conducted with an undeformed floor, at the most-critical yaw cases for injury, and with all lateral structural supports (e.g., armrests or walls) installed.
When present, the structure-mounted airbag device must meet special conditions no. 25-605-SC, “Boeing Model 787-9 Airplane; Structure-Mounted Airbags.” When present, the inflatable lapbelt(s) must meet special conditions no. 25-431-SC, “Boeing Model 787 Series Airplanes; Seats with Inflatable Lapbelts.”
As indicated in the special conditions above, airbags and inflatable lapbelts must be shown to not affect emergency-egress capabilities in the main aisle, cross-aisle, and passageway.
[FR Doc. 2016-18449 Filed 8-2-16; 8:45 am]