[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 60 (Wednesday, March 29, 2006)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 15643-15645]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-4509]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Aviation Administration

14 CFR Part 25

[Docket No. NM340; Notice No. 25-06-01-SC]


Special Conditions: Airbus Model A380-800 Airplane, Design Roll 
Maneuver

AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), DOT.

ACTION: Notice of proposed special conditions.

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SUMMARY: This notice proposes special conditions for the Airbus A380-
800 airplane. This airplane will have novel or unusual design features 
when compared to the state of technology envisioned in the 
airworthiness standards for transport category airplanes. Many of these 
novel or unusual design features are associated with the complex 
systems and the configuration of the airplane, including its full-
length double deck. For these design features, the applicable 
airworthiness regulations do not contain adequate or appropriate safety 
standards for design roll maneuvers. These proposed 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. Additional special 
conditions will be issued for other novel or unusual design features of 
the Airbus Model A380-800 airplane.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before May 15, 2006.

ADDRESSES: Comments on this proposal may be mailed in duplicate to: 
Federal Aviation Administration, Transport Airplane Directorate, 
Attention: Rules Docket (ANM-113), Docket No. NM340, 1601 Lind Avenue 
SW., Renton, Washington 98055-4056; or delivered in duplicate to the 
Transport Airplane Directorate at the above address. All comments must 
be marked: Docket No. NM340. Comments may be inspected in the Rules 
Docket weekdays, except Federal holidays, between 7:30 a.m. and 4 p.m.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Holly Thorson, FAA, International 
Branch, ANM-116, Transport Airplane Directorate, Aircraft Certification 
Service, 1601 Lind Avenue SW., Renton, Washington 98055-4056; telephone 
(425) 227-1357; facsimile (425) 227-1149.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Comments Invited

    The FAA invites interested persons to participate in this 
rulemaking by submitting written comments, data, or views. The most 
helpful comments reference a specific portion of the special 
conditions, explain the reason for any recommended change, and include 
supporting data. We ask that you send us two copies of written 
comments.
    We will file in the docket all comments we receive as well as a 
report summarizing each substantive public contact with FAA personnel 
concerning these proposed special conditions. The docket is available 
for public inspection before and after the comment closing date. If you 
wish to review the docket in person, go to the address in the ADDRESSES 
section of this notice between 7:30 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday through 
Friday, except Federal holidays.
    We will consider all comments we receive on or before the closing 
date for comments. We will consider comments filed late, if it is 
possible to do so without incurring expense or delay. We may change the 
proposed special conditions in light of the comments we receive.
    If you want the FAA to acknowledge receipt of your comments on this 
proposal, include with your comments a pre-addressed, stamped postcard 
on which the docket number appears. We will stamp the date on the 
postcard and mail it back to you.

Background

    Airbus applied for FAA certification/validation of the 
provisionally designated Model A3XX-100 in its letter AI/L 810.0223/98, 
dated August 12, 1998, to the FAA. Application for certification by the 
Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA) of Europe had been made on January 16, 
1998, reference AI/L 810.0019/98. In its letter to the FAA, Airbus 
requested an extension to the 5-year period for type certification in 
accordance with 14 CFR 21.17(c). The request was for an extension to a 
7-year period, using the date of the initial

[[Page 15644]]

application letter to the JAA as the reference date. The reason given 
by Airbus for the request for extension is related to the technical 
challenges, complexity, and the number of new and novel features on the 
airplane. On November 12, 1998, the Manager, Aircraft Engineering 
Division, AIR-100, granted Airbus' request for the 7-year period, based 
on the date of application to the JAA.
    In its letter AI/LE-A 828.0040/99 Issue 3, dated July 20, 2001, 
Airbus stated that its target date for type certification of the Model 
A380-800 had been moved from May 2005, to January 2006, to match the 
delivery date of the first production airplane. In a subsequent letter 
(AI/L 810.0223/98 issue 3, dated January 27, 2006), Airbus stated that 
its target date for type certification is October 2, 2006. In 
accordance with 14 CFR 21.17(d)(2), Airbus chose a new application date 
of December 20, 1999, and requested that the 7-year certification 
period which had already been approved be continued. The FAA has 
reviewed the part 25 certification basis for the Model A380-800 
airplane, and no changes are required based on the new application 
date.
    The Model A380-800 airplane will be an all-new, four-engine jet 
transport airplane with a full double-deck, two-aisle cabin. The 
maximum takeoff weight will be 1.235 million pounds with a typical 
three-class layout of 555 passengers.

Type Certification Basis

    Under the provisions of 14 CFR 21.17, Airbus must show that the 
Model A380-800 airplane meets the applicable provisions of 14 CFR part 
25, as amended by Amendments 25-1 through 25-98. If the Administrator 
finds that the applicable airworthiness regulations do not contain 
adequate or appropriate safety standards for the Airbus A380-800 
airplane because of novel or unusual design features, special 
conditions are prescribed under the provisions of 14 CFR 21.16.
    In addition to the applicable airworthiness regulations and special 
conditions, the Airbus Model A380-800 airplane must comply with the 
fuel vent and exhaust emission requirements of 14 CFR part 34 and the 
noise certification requirements of 14 CFR part 36. In addition, the 
FAA must issue a finding of regulatory adequacy pursuant to section 611 
of Public Law 93-574, the ``Noise Control Act of 1972.''
    Special conditions, as defined in 14 CFR 11.19, are issued in 
accordance with 14 CFR 11.38 and become part of the type certification 
basis in accordance with 14 CFR 21.17(a)(2).
    Special conditions are initially applicable to the model for which 
they are issued. Should the type certificate for that model be amended 
later to include any other model that incorporates the same novel or 
unusual design feature, the special conditions would also apply to the 
other model under the provisions of 14 CFR 21.101.

Discussion of Novel or Unusual Design Features

    The A380 is equipped with an electronic flight control system. In 
this system, there is not a direct mechanical link between the airplane 
flight control surface and the pilot's cockpit control device as there 
is on more conventional airplanes. Instead, a flight control computer 
commands the airplane flight control surfaces, based on input received 
from the cockpit control device. The pilot input is modified by the 
flight control computer--based on the current airplane flight 
parameters before the command is given to the flight control surface. 
Therefore, there is not a direct mechanical relationship between the 
pilot command and the command given to the control surface.
    The formulation of airplane design load conditions in 14 CFR part 
25 is based on the assumption that the airplane is equipped with a 
control system in which there is a direct mechanical linkage between 
the pilot's cockpit control and the control surface. Thus for roll 
maneuvers, the regulation specifies a displacement for the aileron 
itself, and does not envision any modification of the pilot's control 
input. Since such a system will affect the airplane flight loads and 
thus the structural strength of the airplane, special conditions 
appropriate for this type of control system are needed.
    In particular, the proposed special condition would adjust the 
design roll maneuver requirements specified in Sec.  25.349(a), so that 
they take into account the effect of the A380's electronic flight 
control computer on the control surface deflection. The proposed 
special condition would require that the roll maneuver be performed by 
deflection of the cockpit roll control, as opposed to specifying a 
deflection of the aileron itself as the current regulation does. The 
deflection of the control surface would then be determined from the 
cockpit input, based on the computer's flight control laws and the 
current airplane flight parameters.

Applicability

    As discussed above, these special conditions are applicable to the 
Airbus A380-800 airplane. Should Airbus apply at a later date for a 
change to the type certificate to include another model incorporating 
the same novel or unusual design features, these special conditions 
would apply to that model as well under the provisions of Sec.  21.101.

Conclusion

    This action affects only certain novel or unusual design features 
of the Airbus A380-800 airplane. It is not a rule of general 
applicability.

List of Subjects in 14 CFR Part 25

    Aircraft, Aviation safety, Reporting and recordkeeping 
requirements.
    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, pursuant to the authority delegated to me by the 
Administrator, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) proposes the 
following special condition as part of the type certification basis for 
the Airbus A380-800 airplane.
    In lieu of compliance with 14 CFR 25.349(a), the following special 
condition is proposed:
    The following conditions, speeds, and cockpit roll control motions 
(except as the motions may be limited by pilot effort) must be 
considered in combination with an airplane load factor of zero and two-
thirds of the positive maneuvering factor used in design. In 
determining the resulting control surface deflections, the torsional 
flexibility of the wing must be considered in accordance with Sec.  
25.301(b):
    a. Conditions corresponding to steady rolling velocities must be 
investigated. In addition, conditions corresponding to maximum angular 
acceleration must be investigated for airplanes with engines or other 
weight concentrations outboard of the fuselage. For the angular 
acceleration conditions, zero rolling velocity may be assumed in the 
absence of a rational time history investigation of the maneuver.
    b. At VA, sudden movement of the cockpit roll control up 
to the limit is assumed. The position of the cockpit roll control must 
be maintained, until a steady roll rate is achieved and then must be 
returned suddenly to the neutral position.
    c. At VC, the cockpit roll control must be moved 
suddenly and maintained so as to achieve a roll rate not less than that 
obtained in paragraph b. above.
    d. At VD, the cockpit roll control must be moved 
suddenly and maintained so

[[Page 15645]]

as to achieve a roll rate not less than one third of that obtained in 
paragraph b. above.

    Issued in Renton, Washington, on March 20, 2006.
Ali Bahrami,
Manager, Transport Airplane Directorate, Aircraft Certification 
Service.
 [FR Doc. E6-4509 Filed 3-28-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-13-P