[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 167 (Thursday, August 28, 1997)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 45589-45591]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-22921]
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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.
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Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 167 / Thursday, August 28, 1997 /
Proposed Rules
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Aviation Administration
14 CFR Part 25
[Docket No. NM-25; Notice No. SC-97-4-NM]
Special Conditions: Boeing Model 747 Series Airplanes; Overhead
Crew Rest Area
AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration, DOT.
ACTION: Notice of proposed special conditions.
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SUMMARY: This notice proposes to amend special conditions issued to the
Boeing Commercial Airplane Company for the Model 747 series airplanes.
This airplane has a novel or unusual design feature associated with the
overhead crew rest area. Special Conditions No. 25-ANM-16 were issued
on November 13, 1987, addressing this installation. On January 23,
1997, Boeing applied for a type design change which proposes to add an
additional feature; the installation of curtains or partitions in the
crew rest area. Since the applicable airworthiness regulations,
including those contained in Special Conditions No. 25-ANM-16, do not
contain adequate or appropriate safety standards for this particular
design feature, this notice contains the additional safety standards
which the Administrator finds necessary to establish a level of safety
equivalent to that established by the airworthienss standards for
transport category airplanes.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before September 17, 1997.
ADDRESSES: Comments on this proposal may be mailed in duplicate to
Federal Aviation Administration, Office of the Assistant Chief Counsel,
Attn: Rules Docket (ANM-7), Docket No. NM-25, 1601 Lind Avenue SW.,
Renton, WA 98055-4056; or delivered in duplicate to the Office of the
Assistant Chief Counsel at the above address. Comments must be marked:
Docket No. NM-25. Comments may be inspected in the Rules Docket
weekdays, except Federal holidays, between 7:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Greg Dunn, FAA, Transport Standards
Staff, Standardization Branch, ANM-113, 1601 Lind Avenue SW., Renton,
WA 98055-4056; telephone (425) 227-2799, or facsimile (425) 227-1149.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Comments Invited
Interested persons are invited to participate in the making of the
proposed special conditions by submitting such written data, views, or
arguments as they may desire. Communications should identify the
regulatory docket or notice number and be submitted in duplicate to the
address specified above. All communications received on or before the
closing date for comments will be considered by the Administrator. The
proposal described in this notice may be changed in light of the
comments received. All comments received will be available in the rules
docket for examination by interested persons, both before and after the
closing date for comments. A report summarizing each substantive public
contact with FAA personnel concerning this rulemaking will be filed in
the docket. Persons wishing the FAA to acknowledge receipt of their
comments submitted in response to this notice must submit with those
comments a self addressed, stamped postcard on which the following
statement is made: ``Comments to Docket No. NM-25.'' The postcard will
be date stamped and returned to the commenter.
Background
On December 17, 1986, the Boeing Commercial Airplane Company
applied for a change to Type Certificate No. A20WE to include Model 747
series airplanes with overhead crew rest areas installed. The crew rest
area was to be installed above the main passenger cabin in the vicinity
of the Number 5 passenger door. This is an area that had not been used
for this purpose in any previous transport-category airplane. Due to
the novel or unusual features associated with the installation of those
crew rest areas, Special Conditions No. 25-ANM-16 were issued on
November 13, 1987, to provide a level of safety equal to that
established by the regulations incorporated by reference in the type
certificate. Upon issuance, Special Conditions No. 25-ANM-16 became
part of the regulations incorporated by reference in Type Certificate
No. A20WE for Boeing 747 series airplanes.
Boeing Commercial Airplane Group now proposes certification of
overhead crew rest areas that would be divided into three sections by a
hard partition and a curtain. These crew rest areas, which would be in
the same location, would be designated for in-flight use only and would
include additional novel or unusual design features not incorporated in
the previous crew rest areas. Because of these additional features, the
regulations incorporated by reference in Type Certificate No. A20WE,
including Special Conditions 25-ANM-16, do not contain adequate or
appropriate safety standards. Special Conditions 25-ANM-16 would,
therefore, be amended to contain the additional safety standards found
necessary to establish a level of safety equivalent to that established
in the regulations.
Discussion
A hard partition separates the crew rest area into forward and aft
sections while a door in the partition provides access between the
forward and aft sections. A curtain slides in the forward and aft
directions to visually divide the aft section of the crew rest area.
Item 3 of Special Conditions No. 25-ANM-16 requires that a stairway be
installed between the main deck and the crew rest area. Additionally,
there must be an alternate evacuation route for occupants of the crew
rest area, located on the opposite side of the crew rest area or
sufficiently separated within the compartment from the stairway. The
installation of a hard partition creates an area within the crew rest
area which does not have a means of egressing directly to the main
cabin.
In addition to the partition, a curtain has been added to the crew
rest area which further breaks up the crew rest area into sections.
This was not considered in Special Conditions No. 25-ANM-16. The
curtain and partition installation also reduces the accessibility to
the emergency equipment and communication controls, and has the
potential to prevent the occupants from being able to easily locate the
primary and
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secondary escape means. This could cause additional confusion during an
emergency.
Since the installation of a door in the crew rest area raises
concerns about operational reliability during an in-flight emergency
and since the related paragraphs of Sec. 25.819 from which the original
special conditions were developed require two evacuation routes, design
features must be provided to assure that occupants of the forward
section will be able to vacate the crew rest area in the event of an
in-flight emergency. Additional emergency equipment and two-way
communication equipment will also be required in the forward section
since the equipment in the aft area will not be readily accessible to
the forward section occupants in the event of an in-flight emergency.
A limitation in the Airplane Flight Manual or other suitable means
requiring that crewmembers be trained in the use of the evacuation
routes would be required.
The additional proposed safety standards would be contained in
proposed new Item 13. Although Items 1 through 12 are standards already
adopted in Special Conditions No. 25-ANM-16 and are not subject to
further public comment, they are repeated in this notice in order to
place the additional proposed standards in proper perspective.
Delivery of Model 747-400 airplanes with these additional novel or
unusual design features is currently scheduled for September 26, 1997.
Because a delay would significantly affect the applicant's installation
and type certification of the crew rest areas, the public comment
period is only 20 days.
Type Certification Basis
The Type Certification Basis for the Boeing Model 747 series prior
to the 747-400 is Part 25 of the FAR effective February 1, 1965, as
amended by Amendments 25-1 through 25-8, plus Amendments 25-15, 25-17,
25-18, 25-20, and 25-39, with certain exceptions and several sets of
special conditions, which are identified in Type Certificate Data Sheet
No. A20WE. These exceptions are not pertinent to the subject of
overhead crew rest areas.
The regulations incorporated by reference in Type Certificate No.
A20WE for the Boeing Model 747-400 series airplanes include Part 25 of
the FAR as amended by Amendments 25-1 through 25-59, with certain
exceptions not relevant to the installation of an overhead crew rest
area.
In addition, the regulations incorporated by reference for all 747
series include the noise certification requirements of Part 36 of the
FAR, emission standards, and a number of special conditions, including
Special Conditions No. 25-ANM-16.
If the Administrator finds that the applicable airworthiness
regulations (i.e., Part 25 as amended) do not contain adequate or
appropriate safety standards for the Boeing model 747 because of a
novel or unusual design feature, special conditions are prescribed
under the provisions of Sec. 21.16.
Special conditions, as appropriate, are issued in accordance with
Sec. 11.49 of the FAR after public notice, as required by Secs. 11.28
and 11.29(b), and become part of the type certification basis in
accordance with Sec. 21.101(b)(2).
Conclusion: This action affects only certain novel or unusual
design features on one model series of airplanes. It is not a rule of
general applicability and affects only the manufacturer who applied to
the FAA for approval of these features on the airplane.
List of Subjects in 14 CFR Part 25
Air transportation, Aircraft, Aviation safety, safety.
The authority citation for these special conditions is as follows:
Authority: 49 U.S.C. 106(g), 40113, 44701, 44702, 44704.
The Proposed Special Conditions
Accordingly, the Federal Aviation Administration proposes the
following additional special condition (Item No. 13) as part of the
type certification basis for the Boeing Model 747 series airplanes with
overhead crew rest areas installed. (Existing special conditions (Item
Nos. 1-12) are repeated below for clarity.)
1. Occupancy of the overhead crew rest area is limited to a maximum
of 10 crewmembers. Occupancy during taxi, takeoff, or landing is not
permitted.
2. There must be a stairway between the main deck and the crew rest
area and there must be an alternate evacuation route for occupants of
the crew rest area.
The stairway and alternate evacuation route must be located on
opposite sides of the crew rest area or have sufficient separation
within the compartment. The stairway and the alternate evacuation route
must provide for evacuation of an incapacitated person, with
assistance, from the crew rest area to the main deck, must not be
dependent on any powered device, and must be designed to minimize the
possibility of blockage which might result from fire, mechanical or
structural failure. The crewmember procedures for carriage of an
incapacitated person must be established.
3. An exit sign meeting the requirements of Sec. 25.812(b)(1)(i)
must be provided in the crew rest area near the stairway.
4. In the event the airplane's main power system should fail,
emergency illumination of the crew rest area must be automatically
provided. Unless two independent sources of normal lighting are
provided, the emergency illumination of the crew rest area must be
automatically provided if the crew rest area normal lighting system
should fail. The illumination level must be sufficient for the
occupants of the crew rest area to locate, and descend to the main deck
by means of the stairway and/or the alternate evacuation route, and to
read any required operating instructions.
5. There must be a means for two-way voice communication between
crewmembers on the flight deck and occupants of the crew rest area, and
between crewmembers at least one flight attendant seat on the main deck
and occupants of the crew rest area.
6. There must also be either public address speaker(s), or other
means of alerting the occupants of the crew rest area to an emergency
situation, installed in the crew rest area.
7. There must be a means, readily detectable by occupants of the
crew rest area, that indicates when seat belts should be fastened and
when smoking is prohibited.
8. For each occupant permitted in the crew rest area, there must be
an approved seat or berth that must be able to withstand the maximum
flight loads when occupied.
9. The following equipment must be provided:
a. At least one approved fire extinguisher appropriate to the kinds
of fires likely to occur.
b. One protective breathing device, having TSO-C99 authorization or
equivalent, suitable for firefighting.
c. One flashlight.
10. A smoke detection system that annunciates in the flight deck
and is audible in the crew rest area must be provided.
11. A supplemental oxygen system equivalent to that provided for
main deck passengers must be provided for each seat and berth.
12. There must be a limitation in the Airplane Flight Manual or
other suitable means requiring that crewmembers be trained in the use
of the evacuation routes.
13. The following requirements apply to crew rest areas that are
divided into
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several sections by the installation of curtains or partitions.
a. To compensate for lack of crowd awareness, there must be an
audible alert concurrent with automatic presentation of supplemental
oxygen masks in each section of the crew rest area, whether or not
seats or berths are installed in the section. There must also be a
means by which the flightcrew can manually deploy the oxygen masks.
b. A placard is required adjacent to each curtain that visually
divides or separates the overhead crew rest area into small areas to
serve a function of creating privacy. The placard must require that the
curtain(s) remain open when the private area it creates is unoccupied.
The vestibule area adjacent to the stair well is not considered a
private area, and as such, its vacancy does not require a placard.
c. Each crew rest section created by the installation of a curtain
must meet the requirements of items 4, 6, 7, and 10 of these special
conditions with the curtain open or closed.
d. Overhead crew rest areas, which are visually divided to the
extent that evacuation could be affected, must have exit signs meeting
the requirements of Sec. 25.812(b)(1)(i) in each separate area of the
crew rest which direct occupants to the primary stairway exit.
e. Sections within an overhead crew rest area that are created by
the installation of a rigid partition with a door physically separating
the sections require either a secondary evacuation route from each
section of the crew rest area to the main deck or it must be shown that
any door between the sections cannot be jammed, rendering the door
unusable. In either case, any door between compartments must be shown
to be frangible from both directions and openable when crowded against.
There can be no more than one door between each section of a crew rest
area and the primary stairway exit. Exit signs meeting the requirements
of Sec. 25.812(b)(1)(i) that direct occupants to the primary stairway
exit must be provided in each section of the crew rest area.
f. Each smaller area, within the main crew rest area, created by
the installation of a partition with a door must individually meet the
requirements of items 4, 5, 6, 7, 9 and 10 of these special conditions
with the door open or closed.
Issued in Renton, Washington, on August 20, 1997.
John J. Hickey,
Acting Manager, Transport Airplane Directorate, Aircraft Certification
Service, ANM-100.
[FR Doc. 97-22921 Filed 8-27-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-13-P