Federal Aviation Administration April 9, 2007 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This notice proposes special conditions for the Boeing Model 787-8 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. These novel or unusual design features are associated with composite materials chosen for the construction of the fuel tank skin and structure. For these design features, the applicable airworthiness regulations do not contain adequate or appropriate safety standards for wing and fuel tank structure with respect to post-crash fire safety. 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 Boeing Model 787-8 airplanes.

The FAA is superseding an existing airworthiness directive (AD), which applies to certain Airbus Model A300 B4-600, B4-600R, C4- 605R Variant F, and F4-600R (collectively called A300-600) series airplanes; and Model A310 series airplanes. That AD currently requires a one-time inspection for damage of the integrated drive generator (IDG) electrical harness and pyramid arm, and repair if necessary. This new AD adds new repetitive inspections, which, when initiated, terminate the inspection required by the existing AD. This new AD also requires repairing damage and protecting the harness. This new AD also provides for optional terminating action for the repetitive inspections. This new AD also removes certain airplanes from the applicability of the existing AD. This AD results from a report of structural damage on the forward pyramid arm of an engine pylon due to chafing of the IDG electrical harness against the structure of the pyramid arm. We are issuing this AD to prevent electrical arcing in the engine pylon, which could result in loss of the relevant alternating current (AC) bus bar, reduced structural integrity of the engine pylon, and possible loss of control of the airplane.

The FAA's Aviation Safety, an organization responsible for the certification, production approval, and continued airworthiness of aircraft, and certification of pilots, mechanics, and others in safety related positions, publishes proposed non-regulatory documents that are available for public comment on the Internet at https://www.faa.gov/aircraft/draftdocs/.