Source: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2001/05/15/01-12105/electrical-cables
Timestamp: 2017-11-21 17:50:28
Document Index: 152448786

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 25', 'art 25', 'art 25', 'art 25', '§\u200925', 'art 25', 'art 25', 'art 25', 'art 25', '§\u200925', '§\u200925', 'art 25', '§\u20092531', 'art 25', '§\u200925', 'art 25', '§\u200925', 'art 25', 'art 25', '§\u200925', '§\u200925', '§\u200925']

Federal Register :: Electrical Cables
A Proposed Rule by the Federal Aviation Administration on 05/15/2001
Send your comments on or before July 16, 2001.
66 FR 26941
26941-26946 (6 pages)
Docket No. FAA-2001-9633
2120-AH29
01-12105
JAR 25.1353 Electrical equipment and installations
https://www.federalregister.gov/d/01-12105 https://www.federalregister.gov/d/01-12105
Start Preamble Start Printed Page 26942
The Federal Aviation Administration proposes to amend the airworthiness standards for transport category airplanes concerning electrical cables. This proposal would harmonize part 25 and JAR-25 requirements concerning cable installations and clarify the cable design requirements ensuring that the designer considers the critical conditions, routings, and markings of a proper installation. Adopting this proposal would eliminate regulatory differences between the airworthiness standards of the U.S. and the Joint Aviation Requirements of Europe, without affecting current industry design practices.
Address your comments to Dockets Management System, U.S. Department of Transportation Dockets, Room Plaza 401, 400 Seventh Street SW., Washington, DC 20590-0001. You must identify the docket number FAA-2001-9633 at the beginning of your comments, and you should submit two copies of your comments. If you wish to receive confirmation that the FAA has received your comments, please include a self-addressed, stamped postcard on which the following statement is made: “Comments to Docket No. FAA-2001-9633.” We will date-stamp the postcard and mail it back to you.
You also may submit comments electronically to the following Internet address: http://dms.dot.gov.
Stephen Slotte, FAA, Airplane and Flight Crew Interface Branch, ANM-111, Transport Airplane Directorate, Aircraft Certification Service, 1601 Lind Avenue SW., Renton, WA 98055-4056; telephone 425-227-2315 facsimile 425-227-1320, e-mail steve.slotte@faa.gov.
Although part 25 and JAR-25 are very similar, they are not identical in every respect. When airplanes are type certificated to both sets of standards, the differences between part 25 and JAR-25 can result in substantial additional costs to manufacturers and operators. These additional costs, however, frequently do not bring about an increase in safety. In many cases, part 25 and JAR-25 may contain different requirements to accomplish the same safety intent. Consequently, manufacturers are usually burdened with meeting the requirements of both sets of standards, although the level of safety is not increased correspondingly. Start Printed Page 26943
Recognizing that a common set of standards would not only benefit the aviation industry economically, but also maintain the necessary high level of safety, the FAA and the JAA began an effort in 1988 to “harmonize” their respective aviation standards. The goal of the harmonization effort is to ensure that:
Recently, representatives of the aviation industry (including Aerospace Industries Association of America, Inc. (AIA), General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA), and European Association of Aerospace Industries (AECMA)) proposed an accelerated process to reach harmonization.
Under this program, the FAA provides ARAC with an opportunity to review, discuss, and comment on the FAA's draft NPRM. In the case of this rulemaking, ARAC suggested a number of editorial changes, which have been incorporated into this NPRM.
This proposed regulation results from the recommendations of ARAC submitted under the FAA's Fast Track Harmonization Program. In this notice, the FAA proposes to amend § 25.1353, concerning electrical cables.
This requirement gives design requirements relating to the proper installation of aircraft electrical equipment, controls, wiring, cables, and storage batteries. The operation of any one unit or system of units must not affect the operations of any other electrical unit or system essential to the safe operation of the airplane.
The current text of 14 CFR 25.1353 addresses the proper installation of Start Printed Page 26944electrical equipment, controls, wiring, cables, and storage batteries to prevent any hazardous effect on the airplane structure or essential systems.
There is no current text for 14 CFR 25.1353(d).
The current text of JAR-25.1353 contains an additional requirement in paragraph (d), which states:
* * * (d) Electrical cables and cable installations must be designed and installed as follows:
(1) The electrical cables used must be compatible with the circuit protection devices required by JAR 25.1357, such that a fire or smoke hazard cannot be created under temporary or continuous fault conditions.
(2) Means of permanent identification must be provided for electrical cables, connectors and terminals.
(3) Electrical cables must be installed such that the risk of mechanical damage and/or damage caused by fluids, vapors, or sources of heat, is minimized.
Section 25.1353(a), (b), (c) of part 25 does not address the aircraft installation design requirements of electrical cables. JAR 25.1353(d), however, provides very explicit aircraft installation design requirements for electrical cables.
Part 25 does not have a specific requirement for installation design requirements for electrical cables. However, installation designs approved under part 25 typically meet the JAR requirement. The JAR states specific requirements for cable installations that must be met. Installation designers, through experience, have adopted the practice of permanent identification, protection, and installation routing to minimize the risk of damage to electrical cables.
The proposed action is to revise part 25 by adopting the text of JAR-25.1353(d) in its entirety. The proposed revision would specify a design action to be taken, and remove the possibility that a designer may not consider a critical installation design condition. It is in line with current best design practices.
The new § 25.1353(d) would clarify the cable design requirements, in the same manner as the current JAR, by ensuring that the designer considers the critical conditions, routings, and markings of a proper installation.
The proposed standard is more stringent in that it adds a requirement that is not currently in § 25.1353. However, current industry practice is to comply with both standards.
The FAA has not considered another option. The FAA considers the adoption of JAR 25.1353(d) in its entirety the most appropriate way to maintain the level of safety.
The proposed standard is in line with current design practices and the effect of the change is considered to be minimal for aircraft operators, modification centers, service centers, and manufacturers.
There is no advisory material for either part 25 or the JAR. The FAA considers developing new advisory material to be unnecessary.
Proposed changes to Federal regulations must undergo several economic analyses. First, Executive Order 12866 directs that each Federal agency shall propose or adopt a regulation only upon a reasoned determination that the benefits of the intended regulation justify its costs. Second, the Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980 requires agencies to analyze the economic effect of regulatory changes on small entities. Third, the Trade Agreements Act (19 U.S.C. §§ 2531-2533) prohibits agencies from setting standards that create unnecessary obstacles to the foreign commerce of the United States. In developing U.S. standards, this Trade Act also requires the consideration of international standards and, where appropriate, that they be the basis of U.S. standards. And fourth, the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 requires agencies to prepare a written assessment of the costs, benefits, and other effects of proposed or final rules that include a Federal mandate likely to result in the expenditure by State, local, or tribal governments, in the aggregate, or by the private sector of $100 million or more annually (adjusted for inflation).
In conducting these analyses, the FAA has determined that this proposal has benefits, but no substantial costs, and that it is not “a significant regulatory action” as defined in Executive Order 12866, nor “significant” as defined in DOT's Regulatory Policies and Procedures. Further, this proposed rule would not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities, would reduce barriers to international trade, and would not impose an Unfunded Mandate on state, local, or tribal governments, or on the private sector.
Currently, airplane manufacturers must satisfy both part 25 and the European JAR-25 standards to certificate transport category aircraft in both the United States and Europe. Meeting two sets of certification requirements raises the cost of developing a new transport category airplane often with no increase in safety. In the interest of fostering international trade, lowering the cost of aircraft development, and making the certification process more efficient, the FAA, JAA, and aircraft manufacturers have been working to create, to the maximum possible extent, a single set of certification requirements accepted in both the United States and Europe. As explained in detail previously, these efforts are referred to as “harmonization.”
This proposal would harmonize § 25.1353 to the JAR by adopting JAR 25.1353(d) in its entirety. The JAR requirement states specific requirements for cable installations. This section clarifies the cable design requirements Start Printed Page 26945ensuring that the designer considers the critical conditions, routings, and markings of proper installations.
Industry practice is to use the JAR requirements for installation, and therefore, the addition of this language to part 25 will not add a burden to the manufacturers. Aircraft manufacturers currently use several approved standards or specifications to ensure that design and installation of electrical cables are in compliance with the JAR standards.
Standards used by the manufacturing industry, for example, are based on MIL-W-5088L or SAE ARP 5088 and FAA guidance material which includes AC 25-16 and AC 43.13-1B. These standards provide guidance for the design process from wire specification through the installation of wiring and wiring devices used in airplanes. (Wiring within that specification is defined as wires, cables, groups, harnesses and bundles, and their terminations, associated hardware, and support installed on aircraft.)
It is standard industry practice for aircraft and wiring manufacturers to test electrical cables before installation and the aircraft manufacturer also tests the electrical cables upon installation. Manufacturers are also using the JAR and § 25.1357 as a means of ensuring that the electrical cables and wiring used are compatible with the circuit protection devices required by that regulation to prevent a fire or smoke hazard created under temporary or continuous fault conditions.
The FAA has concluded that, for the reasons previously discussed in the preamble, the adoption of these JAR requirements into 14 CFR part 25 is the most efficient way to harmonize these sections. Additionally, adopting this proposal would neither reduce nor increase the requirements beyond those that exist in the current FAA published regulations.
Thus, the FAA expects that there would be no additional costs to part 25 manufacturers, and the level of safety would be maintained. The FAA requests comments to the contrary, identifying additional testing, time, procedures, paperwork and cost estimates.
In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3507(d)), the FAA has determined there are no requirements for information Start Printed Page 26946collection associated with this proposed rule.
In keeping with U.S. obligations under the Convention on International Civil Aviation, it is FAA policy to comply with International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Standards and Recommended Practices to the maximum extent practicable. The FAA determined that there are no ICAO Standards and Recommended Practices that correspond to this proposed regulation.
Section 1205 of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 1996 (110 Stat. 3213) requires the Administrator, when modifying regulations in Title 14 of the CFR in a manner affecting intrastate aviation in Alaska, to consider the extent to which Alaska is not served by transportation modes other than aviation, and to establish such regulatory distinctions as he or she considers appropriate. Because this proposed rule would apply to the certification of future designs of transport category airplanes and their subsequent operation, it could, if adopted, affect intrastate aviation in Alaska. The FAA, therefore, specifically requests comments on whether there is justification for applying the proposed rule differently to intrastate operations in Alaska.
In response to the June 1, 1998, Presidential memorandum regarding the issue of plain language, the FAA re-examined the writing style currently used in the development of regulations. The memorandum requires Federal agencies to communicate clearly with the public. We are interested in your comments on whether the style of this document is clear, and in any other suggestions you might have to improve the clarity of FAA communication that affect you. You can get more information about the Presidential memorandum and the plain language initiative at http://www.plainlanguage.gov.
2. Amend § 25.1353 by adding paragraph (d) to read as follows:
§ 25.1353
Electrical equipment and installations.
(d) Electrical cables and cable installations must be designed and installed as follows:
(1) The electrical cables used must be compatible with the circuit protection devices required by § 25.1357 such that a fire or smoke hazard cannot be created under temporary or continuous fault conditions.
[FR Doc. 01-12105 Filed 5-14-01; 8:45 am]