Special Conditions: Northwest Aerospace Technologies, Inc (NAT), Boeing Model 787-9 Airplane; Installation of High Wall Suites, 63845-63847 [2024-17157]

Agencies

• Federal Aviation Administration
• DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 151 (Tuesday, August 6, 2024)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 63845-63847]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-17157]


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Proposed Rules
                                                Federal Register
________________________________________________________________________

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. 89, No. 151 / Tuesday, August 6, 2024 / 
Proposed Rules

[[Page 63845]]



DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Aviation Administration

14 CFR Part 25

[Docket No. FAA-2024-0988; Notice No. 25-24-03-SC]


Special Conditions: Northwest Aerospace Technologies, Inc (NAT), 
Boeing Model 787-9 Airplane; Installation of High Wall Suites

AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), DOT.

ACTION: Notice of proposed special conditions.

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SUMMARY: This action proposes special conditions for Boeing Model 787-9 
series airplanes. These airplanes, as modified by NAT, will have a 
novel or unusual design feature when compared to the state of 
technology envisioned in the airworthiness standards for transport 
category airplanes. This design feature is the installation of high 
wall suites in the passenger cabin. The applicable airworthiness 
regulations do not contain adequate or appropriate safety standards for 
this design feature. 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.

DATES: Send comments on or before August 26, 2024.

ADDRESSES: Send comments identified by Docket No. FAA-2024-0988 using 
any of the following methods:
    Federal eRegulations Portal: Go to www.regulations.gov and follow 
the online instructions for sending your comments electronically.
    Mail: Send comments to Docket Operations, M-30, U.S. Department of 
Transportation (DOT), 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Room W12-140, West 
Building Ground Floor, Washington, DC, 20590-0001.
    Hand Delivery or Courier: Take comments to Docket Operations in 
Room W12-140 of the West Building Ground Floor at 1200 New Jersey 
Avenue SE, Washington, DC between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through 
Friday, except Federal holidays.
    Fax: Fax comments to Docket Operations at 202-493-2251.
    Docket: Background documents or comments received may be read at 
www.regulations.gov at any time. Follow the online instructions for 
accessing the docket or go to Docket Operations in Room W12-140 of the 
West Building Ground Floor at 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, 
DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal 
holidays.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Artiom Kostiouk, Cabin Safety, AIR-
624, Technical Policy Branch, Policy and Standards Division, Aircraft 
Certification Service, Federal Aviation Administration, 800 
Independence Ave SW, Washington, DC 20591; telephone and fax (202) 267-
5446; email [email protected]@faa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Comments Invited

    The FAA invites interested people to take part in this rulemaking 
by sending written comments, data, or views. The most helpful comments 
reference a specific portion of the proposed special conditions, 
explain the reason for any recommended change, and include supporting 
data.
    On September 26, 2022, NAT applied for a Supplemental Type 
Certificate to install suites in the passenger cabin of Boeing Model 
787-9 series airplanes. While the comment period provided by the FAA 
for proposed special conditions has typically been thirty days, the FAA 
is providing twenty days in this instance, due to the pendency of the 
anticipated delivery date for the affected airplane models.
    The FAA will consider all comments received by the closing date for 
comments, and will consider comments filed late if it is possible to do 
so without incurring delay. The FAA may change these special conditions 
based on the comments received.

Privacy

    Except for Confidential Business Information (CBI) as described in 
the following paragraph, and other information as described in 14 CFR 
11.35, the FAA will post all comments received without change to 
www.regulations.gov, including any personal information you provide. 
The FAA will also post a report summarizing each substantive verbal 
contact received about these special conditions.

Confidential Business Information

    Confidential Business Information (CBI) is commercial or financial 
information that is both customarily and actually treated as private by 
its owner. Under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) (5 U.S.C. 552), 
CBI is exempt from public disclosure. If your comments responsive to 
these special conditions contain commercial or financial information 
that is customarily treated as private, that you actually treat as 
private, and that is relevant or responsive to these special 
conditions, it is important that you clearly designate the submitted 
comments as CBI. Please mark each page of your submission containing 
CBI as ``PROPIN.'' The FAA will treat such marked submissions as 
confidential under the FOIA, and the indicated comments will not be 
placed in the public docket of these proposed special conditions. Send 
submissions containing CBI to the individual listed in the For Further 
Information Contact section above. Comments the FAA receives, which are 
not specifically designated as CBI, will be placed in the public docket 
for these proposed special conditions.

Background

    As stated above, NAT applied for a supplemental type certificate 
for the installation of suites in the passenger cabin in Boeing Model 
787-9 series airplanes. The Boeing Model 787-9 airplane, currently 
approved under Type Certificate No. T00021SE, is a twin-engine 
transport category airplane, with a maximum seating capacity for 420 
passengers, and a maximum take-off weight of 553,000 pounds.

Type Certification Basis

    Under the provisions of 14 CFR 21.101, NAT must show that the 
Boeing Model 787-9 airplane, as changed, continues to meet the 
applicable provisions of the regulations listed in Type Certificate No. 
T00021SE or the applicable regulations in effect on the date of 
application for the change, except for earlier amendments as agreed 
upon by the FAA.

[[Page 63846]]

    If the Administrator finds that the applicable airworthiness 
regulations (i.e., 14 CFR part 25) do not contain adequate or 
appropriate safety standards for the Boeing Model 787-9 airplane 
because of a novel or unusual design feature, special conditions are 
prescribed under the provisions of Sec.  21.16.
    Special conditions are initially applicable to the model for which 
they are issued. Should the applicant apply for a supplemental type 
certificate to modify any other model included on the same type 
certificate to incorporate the same novel or unusual design feature, 
these special conditions would also apply to the other model under 
Sec.  21.101.
    In addition to the applicable airworthiness regulations and special 
conditions, the Boeing Model 787-9 airplane must comply with the 
exhaust-emission requirements of 14 CFR part 34, and the noise-
certification requirements of 14 CFR part 36.
    The FAA issues special conditions, as defined in 14 CFR 11.19, in 
accordance with Sec.  11.38, and they become part of the type-
certification basis under Sec.  21.101.

Novel or Unusual Design Features

    The Boeing Model 787-9 airplane will incorporate the following 
novel or unusual design feature:
    Single-passenger suites with high walls that diminish occupant 
awareness of their surroundings in emergency situations. These suites 
are considered a novel design for transport category airplanes and were 
not considered when applicable airworthiness standards were created.

Discussion

    For the Model 787-9 airplane, NAT has proposed a customer option 
for the installation of six high wall suites (HWS) arranged in two rows 
of three suites each in a 1-1-1 configuration. The characteristics of 
this HWS design are unique such that the suite walls are higher than 
conventional mini-suites with partial height surroundings. While the 
walls for these suites do not extend fully up from the floor to the 
ceiling, such as those found in traditional ``high wall'' suites, their 
wall height of 60 inches is greater than the eye level of a 5th 
percentile female, impeding visual awareness and egress. These suites 
are also not remote from the main cabin (such as overhead crew rests). 
Additionally, the design of these suites is novel in the inclusion of 
berths that are accessible to the occupant of the suite during flight, 
unlike previous high wall suite designs.
    Part 25 in its current form does not have regulations that address 
suite installations in the cabin with walls of height that reduce 
occupant visibility and situational awareness.
    Due to the novel design features of these HWS, suitable passenger 
alerting, supplemental oxygen, and firefighting equipment and 
procedures are needed for this configuration to ensure occupant 
awareness in emergency situations. Furthermore, the proposed suite 
design necessitates the development of additional special conditions, 
including, but not limited to crew procedures for managing hazards and 
suite occupants, as well as maintaining cabin-egress route dimensions 
after deformation of the walls and seats.
    The 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.

Applicability

    As discussed above, these proposed special conditions are 
applicable to Boeing Model 787-9 series airplanes. Should the applicant 
apply for a supplemental type certificate to modify any other model 
included on the same type certificate to incorporate the same novel or 
unusual design feature, these special conditions would apply to the 
other model as well.

Conclusion

    This action affects only a certain novel or unusual design feature 
on one model of airplane. It is not a rule of general applicability and 
affects only the applicant who applied to the FAA for approval of these 
features on the airplane.

List of Subjects in 14 CFR Part 25

    Aircraft, Aviation safety, Reporting and recordkeeping 
requirements.

Authority Citation

    The authority citation for these special conditions is as follows:

    Authority: 49 U.S.C. 106(f), 106(g), 40113, 44701, 44702, and 
44704.

The Proposed Special Conditions

    Accordingly, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) proposes the 
following special conditions as part of the type certification basis 
for Boeing Model 787-9 series airplanes, as modified by NAT.
    The suites must have the following features:
    1. A supplemental oxygen system with the following:
    a. Oxygen masks for each seat and berth installed in the suite that 
meets the same 14 CFR part 25 regulations as the supplemental oxygen 
system for the main passenger-cabin occupants.
    b. An aural and visual alert system to warn occupants and to 
indicate the need to don oxygen masks in the event of decompression. 
The aural alert must activate concurrently with the deployment of the 
oxygen masks in the main passenger cabin and must be loud enough to be 
heard and clearly understood from each suite berth and seat location.
    c. When an occupant needs to locate and don a deployed oxygen mask, 
sufficient levels of lighting to perform this task must be 
automatically activated within the suite.
    d. Automatic presentation of oxygen for occupants lying in the 
berth.
    e. If a chemical oxygen generator is used as the oxygen supply 
source, the suite oxygen installation must meet Sec. Sec.  25.795(d) 
and 25.1450 at amendment 25-138 or higher.
    2. The design approval holder must provide operating procedures to 
move suite occupants when smoke is present, or firefighting is 
occurring near or in the suites, for incorporation into the operator's 
training programs and appropriate operational manuals:
    a. A limitation must be included in the airplane flight manual 
(AFM) requiring that crewmembers be trained in the operating procedures 
related to the suites.
    3. The design of each suite, and the location of the firefighting 
equipment where suites are installed, must allow the crewmembers to 
conduct effective firefighting in the suite. For a manual, hand-held 
extinguishing system (designed as the sole means to fight a fire) for 
the suite:
    a. A limitation must be included in the AFM requiring that 
crewmembers be trained in the firefighting procedures.
    b. Each suite design must allow crewmembers equipped for 
firefighting to have unrestricted access to all parts of the suite 
compartment.
    4. Approved procedures describing the methods for searching the 
suite compartment for fire sources must be established. These 
procedures should include a drawing or photo clearly indicating the 
location of the stowage drawer and other potential sources of smoke 
(e.g., the monitor). They must be transmitted to the operator for 
incorporation into their training programs and appropriate operations 
manuals.
    5. If a berth is installed, occupancy of each suite is limited to a 
single passenger.

[[Page 63847]]

    a. Each berth installed in the suite must incorporate a safety belt 
that meets Sec.  25.785(f).
    b. Each berth must be placarded to indicate the appropriate 
orientation of the occupant's head direction.
    c. Each berth cushion must meet Sec.  25.853(c).
    6. If waste-disposal receptacles are fitted in the suite, the suite 
must be equipped with an automatic fire-extinguishing system that meets 
the performance requirements of Sec.  25.854(b).
    7. The design of each suite must:
    a. Maintain minimum main aisle(s), cross aisle(s), and 
passageway(s) required by 14 CFR part 25 requirements when subjected to 
the ultimate inertia forces listed in Sec.  25.561(d).
    b. Prevent structural failure or deformation of components that 
could block access to the available evacuation routes (e.g., seats, 
doors, contents of stowage compartments, etc.).
    8. In addition to the requirements of Sec.  25.562 for seat 
systems, which are occupiable during taxi, takeoff, and landing, the 
suite structure must be designed for the additional loads imposed by 
the seats as a result of the conditions specified in Sec.  25.562(b).

    Issued in in Kansas City, Missouri, on July 30, 2024.
Patrick R. Mullen,
Manager, Technical Policy Branch, Policy and Standards Division, 
Aircraft Certification Service.
[FR Doc. 2024-17157 Filed 8-5-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-13-P