Federal Aviation Administration February 19, 2013 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This action proposes special conditions for the Embraer S.A. Model EMB-550 airplane. This airplane will have a novel or unusual design feature(s) associated with landing loads due to the automatic braking system. 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.

These special conditions are issued for the Embraer S.A. Model EMB-550 airplane. This airplane will have a novel or unusual design feature(s) associated with an electronic flight control system with respect to lateral-directional and longitudinal stability and low energy awareness. The applicable airworthiness regulations do not contain adequate or appropriate safety standards for this design feature. These 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.

These special conditions are issued for the Embraer S.A. Model EMB-550 airplane. This airplane will have a novel or unusual design feature(s) associated with the design roll maneuver for electronic flight controls, specifically an electronic flight control system that provides control of the aircraft through pilot inputs to the flight computer. The applicable airworthiness regulations do not contain adequate or appropriate safety standards for this design feature. These 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.

These special conditions are issued for the Embraer S.A. Model EMB-550 airplane. This airplane will have a novel or unusual design feature(s) associated with the control surface awareness and mode annunciation of the electronic flight control system. The applicable airworthiness regulations do not contain adequate or appropriate safety standards for this design feature. These 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.

We are superseding an existing airworthiness directive (AD) for all Pilatus Aircraft Ltd. Models PC-12, PC-12/45, PC-12/47, and PC- 12/47E airplanes. This AD results from mandatory continuing airworthiness information (MCAI) issued by an aviation authority of another country to identify and correct an unsafe condition on an aviation product. The MCAI describes the unsafe condition as a need to incorporate new revisions into the Limitations section, Chapter 4, of the FAA-approved maintenance program (e.g., maintenance manual). We are issuing this AD to require actions to address the unsafe condition on these products.

We are adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for all Gulfstream Aerospace LP (Type Certificate Previously Held by Israel Aircraft Industries, Ltd.) Model Gulfstream G150 airplanes. This AD was prompted by a review that determined that the runway slope and anti-ice corrections to V1 and take-off distances in the Gulfstream G150 Airplane Flight Manual (AFM) were presented in a non-conservative manner. This AD requires revising the performance section of the AFM to include procedures to advise the flightcrew of certain runway slope and anti-ice corrections and take-off distance values. We are issuing this AD to prevent the use of published non-conservative data, which could result in the inability to meet the required take-off performance, with consequent hazard to safe operation during performance-limited take-off operations.

We are adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain Pratt & Whitney Canada Corp. (P&WC) PT6C-67C turboshaft engines. This AD requires initial and repetitive borescope inspections to verify the presence of a retaining ring securing the power turbine (PT) baffle located near the second stage PT disk. If the engine fails the inspection, this AD also requires removing the engine from service before further flight. This AD was prompted by five reported incidents of second stage PT disk damage. We are issuing this AD to prevent damage to the PT disk which, if undetected, could cause uncontained PT disk failure and loss of control of the helicopter.