Source: http://thefederalregister.com/2012/09/18/2012-22831.html
Timestamp: 2018-03-17 06:27:55
Document Index: 323129934

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 25', 'art 25', '§ 21', '§ 25', '§ 25', '§ 25', 'art 25', '§ 25', '§ 25', '§ 25', '§ 25']

Federal Register | Special Conditions: Embraer S.A., Models EMB-135 and EMB-145
[Docket No. FAA-2012-0984; Special Conditions No. 25-468-SC]
SUMMARY: These special conditions are issued for the Embraer S.A. Models EMB-135 and EMB-145 series airplanes. These airplanes will have a novel or unusual design feature associated with the airplane seats that have non-traditional, large, non-metallic panels that would affect survivability during a post-crash fire event. 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: The effective date of these special conditions is September 11, 2012. We must receive your comments by November 2, 2012.
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 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except federal holidays.
Fax:Fax comments to Docket Operations at 202-493-2251.
Docket:Background documents or comments received may be read athttp://www.regulations.gov/at any time. Follow the online instructions for accessing the docket or go to the 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: Jayson Claar, FAA, Airframe and Cabin Safety Branch, ANM-115, Transport Airplane Directorate, Aircraft Certification Service, 1601 Lind Avenue SW., Renton, Washington 98057-3356; telephone 425-227-2194; facsimile 425-227-1232.
The applicable regulations, Title 14, Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR) part 25, do not require seats to meet the more stringent flammability standards required of large, non-metallic panels in the cabin interior. At the time the applicable rules were written, seats were designed with a metal frame covered by fabric, not with large, non-metallic panels. Seats also met the then-recently adopted standards for flammability of seat cushions. With the seat design being mostly fabric and metal, the contribution to a fire in the cabin had been minimized and was not considered a threat. For these reasons,seats did not need to be tested to heat-release and smoke-emission requirements.
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 Embraer S.A. Models EMB-135 and EMB-145 series airplanes because of a novel or unusual design feature, special conditions are prescribed under the provisions of § 21.16.
The existing regulations do not provide adequate or appropriate safety standards for seat designs that incorporate non-traditional, large, non-metallic panels in their designs. To provide a level of safety that is equivalent to that afforded to the balance of the cabin, additional airworthiness standards, in the form of special conditions, are necessary. These special conditions supplement § 25.853. The requirements contained in these special conditions consist of applying the identical test conditions, required of all other large panels in the cabin, to seats with non-traditional, large, non-metallic panels.
“Exposed” is considered to include panels that are directly exposed to the passenger cabin in the traditional sense, and panels that are enveloped, such as by a dress cover. Traditional fabrics or leathers currently used on seats are excluded from these special conditions. These materials must still comply with §§ 25.853(a) and 25.853(c) if used as a covering for a seat cushion, or § 25.853(a) if installed elsewhere on the seat. Non-traditional, large, non-metallic panels covered with traditional fabrics or leathers will be tested without their coverings or covering attachments.
In the early 1980s, the FAA extensively researched the effects of post-crash flammability in the passenger cabin. As a result of this research and service experience, the FAA adopted new rules for interior surfaces associated with large surface area parts. Specifically, the rules require measurement of heat release and smoke emission (part 25, Appendix F, parts IV and V) for the affected parts. Heat release has been shown to have a direct correlation with post-crash fire survival time. The materials that comply with the standards (i.e., § 25.853 titled “Compartment interiors” as amended by Amendments 25-61 and 25-66) extend survival time by approximately two minutes over materials that do not comply.
In the late 1990s, when seat designs were evolving to include large non-metallic panels with surface areas that would impact survivability during a cabin fire event comparable to partitions or galleys, the FAA issued Policy Memorandum 97-112-39, “Guidance for Flammability Testing of Seat/Console Installations,” dated October 17, 1997. The memo noted that large surface area panels must comply with heat release and smoke emissionrequirements, even if they were attached to a seat. If the FAA had not issued such policy, seat designs could have been viewed as a loophole to the airworthiness standards that would result in an unacceptable decrease in survivability during a cabin fire event.
The following paragraphs are the pertinent regulatory information involving § 25.853.
14 CFR 25.853,Compartment interiors,at Amendment 25-72 (55 FR 29774, July 20, 1990):
Under standard practice, the effective date of final special conditions would be 30 days after the date of publication in theFederal Register; however, as the certification date for the Embraer S.A. Models EMB-135 and EMB-145 series airplanes is imminent, the FAA finds that good cause exists to make these special conditions effective upon issuance.
b. Airplanes that do not have smoke and heat release in their certificationbasis and do not need to comply with the requirements per 14 CFR 121.312,
Clarification of “exposed”—Exposed is considered to include panels that are directly exposed to the passenger cabin in the traditional sense, plus those panels enveloped, such as by a dress cover. Traditional fabrics or leathers currently used on seats are excluded from these special conditions. These materials must still comply with §§ 25.853(a) and 25.853(c) if used as a covering for a seat cushion, or § 25.853(a) if installed elsewhere on the seat. Non-traditional large, nonmetallic panels covered with traditional fabrics or leathers will be tested without their coverings or covering attachments.