[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 85 (Friday, May 2, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 24152-24153]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-11206]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Aviation Administration


Type Certification Procedures for Changed Products

AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), DOT.

ACTION: Notice of availability for public comment.

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SUMMARY: This notice announces the availability of and requests 
comments on the proposed advisory circular (AC), Advisory Material for 
the Evaluation of the Certification Basis of Changed Aeronautical 
Products, pertaining to the type certification procedures for changed 
products. Elsewhere in this edition of the Federal Register, the FAA 
has issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), Type Certification 
Procedures for Changed Products, which would revise certain sections in 
part 21 of Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations. This proposed 
AC provides guidance for determining compliance with those proposed 
sections.

DATES: Comments must be identified by the name of the AC and be 
received on or before September 2, 1997.

ADDRESSES: Send all comments on this proposed AC to: Certification 
Procedures Branch, AIR-110, Aircraft Engineering Division, Aircraft 
Certification Service, Federal Aviation Administration, 800 
Independence Avenue SW., Washington, DC 20591, or deliver comments to 
room 815 at the same address.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lyle C. Davis, Certification 
Procedures Branch (AIR-110), Aircraft Certification Service, Federal 
Aviation Administration, 800 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 
20591, telephone (202) 267-9588.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Comments Invited

    Interested persons are invited to comment on the proposed AC listed 
in this notice by submitting such written data, views, or arguments as 
they may desire. Comments received on the proposed AC may be examined, 
before and after the comment closing date, in Room 815, FAA 
Headquarters Building (FOB-10A), 800 Independence Avenue, SW., 
Washington, DC 20591, weekdays, except Federal holidays, between 8:30 
a.m. and 4:30 p.m. By separate notice, in this edition of the Federal 
Register, the FAA is also inviting interested persons to comment on the 
notice of proposed rulemaking. The FAA will consider comments from this 
notice and comments received on the notice of

[[Page 24153]]

proposed rulemaking in deciding the nature of final action on each.

Background

    New procedural regulations are being proposed in a Notice of 
Proposed Rulemaking, Type Certification Procedures for Changed 
Products, as a result of a trend towards fewer products that are of 
such significantly new design that a new type certificate is required. 
This proposal would require the starting point for determining the 
certification basis for an amended or supplemental type certificate to 
be the regulations in effect at the date of the application for the 
change, rather than those regulations incorporated by reference in the 
type certificate. Exceptions would be provided to permit the applicant, 
under certain conditions, to comply with previous amendments to those 
regulations.

Advisory Circular

    This AC provides guidance for the applicant to comply with the 
regulations proposed in the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, Type 
Certification Procedures for Changed Products.

Proposed Sec. 21.101(b)(3): Determining Whether Compliance Would Not 
Materially Contribute to the Level of Safety of the Changed Product or 
Would Be Impractical

    Proposed Sec. 21.101(b)(3) states that an applicant's changed 
product may be shown to comply with an earlier amendment to a 
regulation in effect on the date of the application for the change, if 
compliance with that later regulation would not materially contribute 
to the level of safety of the changed product or would be impractical.
    Parts of the associated NPRM published in this edition of the 
Federal Register, and parts of this proposed AC, resulted from a 
recommendation from the Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee (ARAC). 
Appendix 2 of this proposed AC contains a ``safety benefit--resource 
evaluation guide,'' which was recommended by the ARAC. As explained in 
the introduction to Appendix 2, the FAA has declined to include the 
safety benefit--resource evaluation guide as a means of compliance with 
proposed Sec. 21.101(b)(3). However, the ARAC-recommended guide does 
describe some of the issues that should be considered in making a case 
about complying with the later regulations under proposed 
Sec. 21.101(b)(3). Thus, it is being proposed for inclusion for 
information purposes. An applicant seeking approval of a changed 
aeronautical product can review this guidance prior to developing an 
argument that compliance with a regulation in effect at the date of the 
application for the change would be impractical. In using a similar 
guide, an applicant would have to demonstrate how his charts, values, 
and graphs demonstrate compliance with the proposed section.
    For the procedure in Appendix 2, the points on the charts represent 
the mean derived from the experience of a number of engineers who have 
been involved in certification programs. The numbers on the charts were 
adjusted to reflect a review of several alternations of air carrier 
transport category airplanes, with respect to the revision of part 25.

    Issued in Washington, DC, on April 22, 1997.
Ava L. Mims,
Acting Director, Aircraft Certification Service.
[FR Doc. 97-11206 Filed 5-1-97; 8:45 am]
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