Federal Aviation Administration February 4, 2015 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This action removes the prohibition against certain flights within the territory and airspace of Ethiopia contained in Special Federal Aviation Regulation (SFAR) No. 87 from the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). The prohibition only applied to flight operations within the territory and airspace of Ethiopia north of 12 degrees north latitude conducted by United States (U.S.) air carriers or commercial operators; persons exercising the privileges of an airman certificate issued by the FAA, unless that person was engaged in the operation of a U.S.-registered aircraft for a foreign air carrier; and operators using an aircraft registered in the United States, except where the operator of such aircraft was a foreign air carrier. The FAA has now determined that the safety and security situation that prompted the above flight prohibition has significantly improved, and that it is safe for U.S. civil flights to be operated within the entire territory and airspace of Ethiopia, subject to the approval of and in accordance with the conditions established by the appropriate authorities of Ethiopia.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, FAA invites public comments about our intention to request the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approval to renew an information collection. Federal Register Notices with 60-day and 30-day comment periods soliciting comments on the following collection of information were published on November 6, 2014 (79 FR 66828) and January 12, 2015 (80 FR 1579), respectively. This notice serves as a correction to those prior notices, to clarify that the information collection request has been revised to report an increase in current burden estimates. Aircraft operators seeking operational approval to conduct Reduced Vertical Separation Minimum (RVSM) operations within the 48 contiguous United States (U.S.), Alaska and a portion of the Gulf of Mexico must submit an application to the Certificate Holding District Office.

We propose to supersede airworthiness directive (AD) 2014-19- 05 that applies to all Turbomeca S.A. Arriel 1A1, 1A2, 1B, 1C, 1C1, 1C2, 1D, 1D1, 1E2, 1K1, 1S, 1S1, 2B, 2B1, 2C, 2C1, 2C2, 2S1, and 2S2 turboshaft engines. AD 2014-19-05 requires an initial one-time vibration check of the engine accessory gearbox (AGB) on certain higher risk Arriel 1 and Arriel 2 model engines and repetitive vibration checks for all Arriel 1 and Arriel 2 engines. Since we issued AD 2014- 19-05, we determined that a Technical Instruction (TI) number and a Test Bed Acceptance Test Specifications number in the Actions and Compliance and the Related Information sections are incorrect. This proposed AD would correct these numbers. We are proposing this AD to prevent failure of the engine AGB, which could lead to in-flight shutdown and damage to the engine, which may result in damage to the aircraft.

We are superseding airworthiness directive (AD) 2013-15-10 that applies to certain Rolls-Royce plc (RR) RB211 turbofan engines. AD 2013-15-10 required inspecting the intermediate-pressure compressor (IPC) rotor shaft rear balance land for cracks. This AD requires inspecting the IPC rotor shaft rear balance land for cracks, eliminates a terminating action, expands one inspection, and eliminates certain other inspections. We are issuing this AD to detect cracking on the IPC rotor shaft rear balance land, which could lead to uncontained engine failure and damage to the airplane.

We are adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain serial number (S/N) Lycoming Engines reciprocating engines. This AD was prompted by propeller governor shaft set screws coming loose due to improper installation. We are issuing this AD to prevent the propeller governor shaft set screw from coming loose, causing damage to the engine and damage to the airplane.

We are superseding Airworthiness Directive (AD) 95-24-04 for all Airbus Model A300 series airplanes; Model A300 B4-600, B4-600R, and F4-600R series airplanes; and Model A300 C4-605R Variant F airplanes. AD 95-24-04 required inspections to detect cracks at the aft spar web of the wings, and repair if necessary. This new AD reduces certain compliance times, and expands the applicability. This AD was prompted by a determination that the inspection threshold and interval must be reduced to allow timely detection of cracks and accomplishment of applicable repairs, because of cracking in the rear spar web of the wings between certain ribs due to fatigue-related high shear stress. We are issuing this AD to detect and correct fatigue-related cracking, which could result in reduced structural integrity of the wing.