Federal Aviation Administration August 21, 2014 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Federal Aviation Administration is requesting public comment on a request by the Elizabeth City-Pasquotank County Airport Authority to change a portion of airport property from aeronautical to non-aeronautical use at the Elizabeth City Airport, Elizabeth City, North Carolina. The request consists of approximately 0.396 acres. This action is taken under the provisions of Section 125 of the Wendell H. Ford Aviation Investment Reform Act for the 21st Century (AIR 21).

These special conditions are issued for Airbus Model A350-900 series airplanes. These airplanes will have a novel or unusual design feature associated with the post-crash fire survivability of composite fuel tanks. 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 Airbus Model A350-900 airplanes. This airplane will have a novel or unusual design feature associated with permanently installed rechargeable lithium-ion batteries and battery systems. These batteries have certain failure, operational, and maintenance characteristics that differ significantly from those of the nickel-cadmium and lead-acid rechargeable batteries currently approved for installation on large transport-category airplanes. 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 adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for all Airbus Model A300 series airplanes. This AD was prompted by an analysis of the impacts of extended service goal activities on Airbus Model A300 series airplanes. This AD requires revising the maintenance or inspection program. We are issuing this AD to prevent failure of flight critical systems.

We are adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain Embraer S.A. Model EMB-500 airplanes. This AD was sent previously to all known U.S. owners and operators of these airplanes as an emergency AD. This AD requires an inspection and replacement as necessary of the barrel nuts at the horizontal stabilizer to vertical stabilizer attachment joint. This AD was prompted by mandatory continuing airworthiness information (MCAI) issued by the aviation authority of another country to identify and correct an unsafe condition on an aviation product. The MCAI describes the unsafe condition as cracking of the barrel nuts at the horizontal stabilizer to vertical stabilizer attachment joint. We are issuing this AD to correct the unsafe condition on these products.

We are superseding Airworthiness Directive (AD) 2005-15-04 for certain Bombardier, Inc. Model CL-600-1A11 (CL-600), CL-600-2A12 (CL- 601), and CL-600-2B16 (CL-601-3A, CL-601-3R, and CL-604 Variants) airplanes. AD 2005-15-04 required operators to assign serial numbers or part numbers to certain landing gear parts; establish the number of landings on the parts, if necessary; and revise the Airworthiness Limitations Section (ALS) of the Instructions for Continued Airworthiness (ICA) to reflect the new life limits of the landing gear parts. This new AD adds airplanes to the applicability, requires operators to assign serial numbers or part numbers to certain additional landing gear parts to establish the number of landings on the parts if necessary, and requires operators to record in all required airplane technical records and manuals the new part numbers, serial numbers, and landings assigned to these parts. This AD was prompted by reports that landing gear parts that have safe-life limits but do not have serial numbers or part numbers can be removed from one landing gear and re-installed on another, making tracking difficult. We are issuing this AD to prevent life-limited landing gear parts from being used beyond their safe-life limits, which could lead to collapse of the landing gear.