[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 163 (Tuesday, August 22, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 51052-51053]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-21266]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Aviation Administration


Proposed Advisory Circular (AC) No. 21.101-XX, Advisory Material 
for the Establishment of the Certification Basis of Changed 
Aeronautical Products

AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), DOT.

ACTION: Notice of availability and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: This notice announces the availability of and request for 
comments on a proposed advisory circular (AC) that provides guidance 
for establishing the certification basis for changed aeronautical 
products, including identifying the conditions under which it will be 
necessary to apply for a new type certificate. The FAA has issued a 
final rule, Type Certification Procedures for Changed Products that 
amends the procedural regulations for the certification of changes to 
type certification products. These amendments affect changes 
accomplished through either an amended type certificate or a 
supplemental type certificate. This proposed AC provides guidance for 
determining compliance with those amended procedural regulations for 
the certification of changes to transport category airplanes and 
restricted category airplanes that have been certified using transport 
category regulations.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before November 20, 2000.

ADDRESSES: Send all comments on the proposed AC to: Certification 
Procedures Branch, AIR-110, Aircraft Engineering Division, Aircraft 
Certification Service, Federal Aviation Administration, 800 
Independence Ave., SW., Washington, DC 20591; telephone number: (202) 
267-3777.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Madeleine Miguel, Certification 
Procedures Branch, AIR-110, Aircraft Engineering Division, Aircraft 
Certification Service, Federal Aviation Administration, 800 
Independence Ave. SW., Washington, DC 20591; telephone number: (202) 
267-3777, fax (202) 267-5340.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Comments Invited

    A copy of the draft AC may be obtained by accessing the FAA's 
webpage at http://www.faa.gov/avr/arm/nprm/nprm.htm. Interested parties 
are invited to comment on the proposed AC, and to submit such written 
data, views, or arguments as they desire. Commenters must identify AC 
21-101-XX, Advisory Material for the Establishment of the Certification 
Basis of Changed Aeronautical Products, and submit comments to the 
address specified above. All communications received on or before the 
closing date for comments will be considered by the FAA before issuing 
the final AC.

Background

Final Rule

    The FAA amended and published in the Federal Register on June 7, 
2000 (65 FR 36244) new procedural regulations, titled ``Type 
Certification Procedures for Changed Products'' for the certification 
of changes to type certification products. This final rule was in 
response to a trend in the aviation industry towards fewer aviation 
type certification products that are of completely new design and more 
products with multiple changes to previously approved designs. The 
final rule set mandatory compliance dates of December 10, 2001, for 
transport category airplanes and restricted category airplanes that 
have been certified using transport category standards, and December 9, 
2002, for all other category aircraft and engines and propellers.
    The amended procedural regulations require that the starting point 
for determining the certification basis for an amended or supplemental 
type certificate 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 are provided to permit 
the applicant, under certain conditions, to comply with previous 
amendments to those regulations.

Advisory Circular (AC)

    This AC provides guidance for the applicant to comply with the 
amended regulations for the certification of changes to transport 
category airplanes and restricted category airplanes that have been 
certified using transport category regulations. Further guidance 
material related to other aeronautical products will be introduced and 
published as changes to the AC before the mandatory compliance dates 
for the amended procedural regulations become effective for those 
products.
    On May 2, 1997, the FAA published in the Federal Register (62 FR 
24152) a notice of availability and request for comments for a previous 
version of this proposed AC. The FAA determined that a new proposed AC 
is warranted due to the introduction of substantial changes,

[[Page 51053]]

particularly to Appendix 2 of the AC. Appendix 2 of the 1997 proposed 
AC contained a ``safety benefit-resource evaluation guide,'' 
recommended by the Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee (ARAC), as a 
means of compliance to the proposed rulemaking 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. The FAA 
declined to include this safety benefit-resource evaluation guide in 
this new proposed AC. Instead, the FAA has included ``Procedure for 
Evaluating Impracticality of Applying Latest Regulations to a Changed 
Product,'' as guidance material that can be used for evaluating the 
safety benefit and resource impact of implementing the latest 
airworthiness requirements in the certification basis of a changed 
product. This procedure is more generic in nature. It describes the 
steps and necessary inputs that any applicant can use on any project to 
develop a position or argument to show that compliance with a 
regulation in effect at the date of the application for the change 
would be impactical.

    Issued in Washington, DC, on August 15, 2000.
James C. Jones,
Manager, Aircraft Engineering Division.
[FR Doc. 00-21266 Filed 8-21-00; 8:45 am]
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