[Federal Register: December 30, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 250)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Page 77747-77752]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr30de05-17]
[[Page 77747]]
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Part IX
Department of Transportation
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Federal Aviation Administration
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14 CFR Parts 91, 121, et al.
Thermal/Acoustic Insulation Installed on Transport Category Airplanes;
Final Rule
[[Page 77748]]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Aviation Administration
14 CFR Parts 91, 121, 125 and 135
[Docket No.: FAA-2005-23462; Amendment Nos. 91-290, 121-320, 125-50,
and 135-103]
RIN 2120-AI64
Thermal/Acoustic Insulation Installed on Transport Category
Airplanes
AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), DOT.
ACTION: Final rule; request for comments.
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SUMMARY: This action modifies the requirements for improved
flammability characteristics of thermal/acoustic insulation used as
replacements on airplanes manufactured before September 2, 2005. The
FAA has recently been provided information that the rule will apply to
a much broader range of components in currently operating airplanes
than was originally intended. In addition, since publishing a final
rule on July 31, 2003, the FAA has learned that some requirements for
improved flammability covered materials do not have a significant
effect on airplane fire safety. Further, in many cases, compliant
replacements are not readily available. This action focuses the
requirements on replacement materials that have a greater effect on
safety and are readily available, and is necessary to avoid grounding
of airplanes.
DATES: This final rule is effective on January 30, 2006. Send your
comments by February 28, 2006.
ADDRESSES: Address your comments to the Docket Management System, U.S.
Department of Transportation, Room Plaza 401, 400 Seventh Street, SW.,
Washington, DC 20590-0001. You must identify the docket number FAA-
2005-23462 at the beginning of your comments, and you should submit two
copies of your comments.
You may also submit comments through the Internet to http://dms.dot.gov.
You may review the public docket containing comments to
these regulations in person in the Dockets Office between 9 a.m. and 5
p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. The Dockets
Office is on the plaza level of the NASSIF Building at the Department
of Transportation at the above address. Also, you may review public
dockets on the Internet at http://dms.dot.gov.
Privacy: We will post all comments we receive, without change, to
http://dms.dot.gov, including any personal information you provide. For
more information, see the Privacy Act discussion in the SUPPLEMENTARY
INFORMATION section of this document.
Docket: To read background documents or comments received, go to
http://dms.dot.gov at any time or to Room PL-401 on the plaza level of
the NASSIF Building, 400 Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC, between 9
a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jeff Gardlin, FAA Airframe and Cabin
Safety Branch, ANM-115, Transport Airplane Directorate, Aircraft
Certification Service, 1601 Lind Avenue, SW., Renton, Washington 98055-
4056; telephone (425) 227-2136, facsimile (425) 227-1149, e-mail:
jeff.gardlin@faa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Comments Invited
The FAA is adopting this final rule without prior notice and prior
public comment. The Regulatory Policies and Procedures of the
Department of Transportation (DOT) (44 FR 1134; February 26, 1979),
however, provide that, to the maximum extent possible, operating
administrations of the DOT should provide an opportunity for public
comment on regulations issued without prior notice. Accordingly, we
invite interested persons to participate in this rulemaking by
submitting such written data, views, or arguments, as they may desire.
We also invite comments relating to environmental, energy, federalism,
or international trade impacts that might result from this amendment.
Please include the regulatory docket or amendment number and send two
copies to the address above. We will file comments received, as well as
a report summarizing each substantive public contact with FAA personnel
on this rulemaking, in the public docket. The docket is available for
public inspection before and after the comment closing date.
Anyone is able to search the electronic form of all comments
received into any of our dockets by the name of the individual
submitting the comment (or signing the comment, if submitted on behalf
of an association, business, labor union, etc.). You may review DOT's
complete Privacy Act statement in the Federal Register published on
April 11, 2000 (65 FR 19477) or you may visit http://dms.dot.gov.
The FAA will consider all comments received on or before the
closing date for comments. We will consider late comments to the extent
practicable. We may amend this final rule because of the comments
received.
Commenters who want the FAA to acknowledge receipt of their
comments submitted in response to this final rule must include a
preaddressed, stamped postcard with those comments on which the
following statement is made: ``Comments to Docket No. FAA-2005-23462.''
The postcard will be date-stamped by the FAA and mailed to the
commenter.
Proprietary or Confidential Business Information
You should not file in the docket any information that you consider
to be proprietary or confidential business information. Instead, you
should send or deliver that information directly to the person
identified under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT. You must mark the
information that you consider proprietary or confidential. If you send
the information on a disk or CD ROM, mark the outside of the disk or CD
ROM and also identify electronically within the disk or CD ROM the
specific information that is proprietary or confidential.
Under Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 11.35(b), when we
are aware of proprietary information filed with a comment, we do not
place it in the docket. We hold it in a separate file to which the
public does not have access and place a note in the docket that we have
received it. If we receive a request to examine or copy this
information, we treat it as any other request under the Freedom of
Information Act (5 U.S.C. 552). We process such a request under the DOT
procedures found in 49 CFR part 7.
Availability of Final Rule
You can get an electronic copy using the Internet by:
(1) Searching the Department of Transportation's electronic Docket
Management System (DMS) Web page (http://dms.dot.gov/search); (2) Visiting the FAA's Regulations and Policies Web page at http://
http://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/; or
(3) Accessing the Government Printing Office's Web page at http://www.gpoaccess.gov/fr/index.html
.
You can also get a copy by sending a request to the Federal
Aviation Administration, Office of Rulemaking, ARM-1, 800 Independence
Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20591, or by calling (202) 267-9680. Make
sure to identify the docket number or amendment number of this
rulemaking.
[[Page 77749]]
Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act
The Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act (SBREFA) of
1996 requires FAA to comply with small entity requests for information
or advice about compliance with statutes and regulations within its
jurisdiction. Therefore, any small entity that has a question regarding
this document may contact their local FAA official, or the person
listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT. You can find out more
about SBREFA on the Internet at our site, http://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/rulemaking/sbre_act/
.
Authority for This Rulemaking
The FAA's authority to issue rules regarding aviation safety is
found in Title 49 of the United States Code. Subtitle I, Section 106
describes the authority of the FAA Administrator. Subtitle VII,
Aviation Programs, describes in more detail the scope of the agency's
authority.
This rulemaking is promulgated under the authority described in
Subtitle VII, Part A, Subpart III, Section 44701, ``General
requirements.'' Under that section, the FAA is charged with promoting
safe flight of civil aircraft in air commerce by prescribing minimum
standards required in the interest of safety for the design and
performance of aircraft. This regulation is within the scope of that
authority, because it prescribes new safety standards for the design of
transport category airplanes.
Background
Previous Rulemaking
On September 20, 2000, we published Notice No. 00-09, which
proposed to upgrade the flammability and fire protection standards for
thermal/acoustic insulation installed in transport category airplanes
(65 FR 56992). The notice contained a provision that would require
thermal/acoustic insulation to comply with the proposed new standards
when used as replacements on airplanes already in service, as well as
requirements relating to newly manufactured airplanes. Notice No. 00-09
stated:
Amendments to parts 91, 121, 125, and 135 are proposed to
require that insulation materials, when installed as replacements,
meet the new flame propagation test requirements of Sec. 25.856.
This proposal would provide for the gradual attrition of earlier
materials. Since there are existing materials that meet the proposed
standards, and since those materials cost and weigh no more than
other materials, this should result in no additional cost to
operators.
While some commenters questioned whether there was any safety
benefit in this provision, no commenters presented any information or
data to contradict the assumptions made in establishing the provision.
The requirement was adopted in the final rule, published on July 31,
2003, in Sec. Sec. 91.613(b)(1), 121.312(e)(1), 125.113(c)(1), and
135.170(c)(1) (68 FR 45046). Operators were required to use replacement
insulation materials meeting the requirements of Sec. 25.856 after
September 2, 2005. Our goal was to purge (operator and supplier) stocks
of materials not meeting the new standards and encourage production of
only those materials meeting the new standards. Because materials
meeting the new standards were already available, the rule attributed
no additional costs to this aspect of the requirements.
Basis of This Change
Following publication of the fnal rule, and the associated Advisory
Circular (AC) 25.856-1, and shortly before the September 2, 2005,
compliance date, industry representatives told us that some assumptions
in the regulation were not correct. This information was not provided
during the comment period for Notice No. 00-09, or during the 2-year
period after the rules were published. While we make every effort to
anticipate the complete impact of regulatory proposals, one of the
purposes of the ``notice and comment'' process is to get information
that we do not have. When affected parties do not comment on a
regulation, or when they do comment, but do not raise issues of
concern, we must assume the proposal is accurate. In this case, we did
not receive inputs during the rulemaking process that would have
alerted us to the issues. Nonetheless, now that we are aware of the
issues, we recognize that further rulemaking is needed for several
reasons.
First, thermal/acoustic insulation is used much more extensively in
the fuselage than we originally understood. We did not consider whether
compliant replacement parts could be efficiently produced for a
significant number of parts installed on airplane models that are no
longer in production. Unfortunately, no comments were received to
address this provision, and it was not until recently that the extent
of the difference between the actual situation and the assumed
situation came to light.
Second, some materials needed to comply with the new requirements
cost or weigh more than the materials they replace. This is
particularly true for materials that are used to insulate certain
equipment or provide acoustic attenuation in specialized applications.
These materials are not replaced often, but a significant redesign
would be required to adapt the associated parts to comply with the new
requirements. Usually, these parts and materials are not maintained in
large quantities of spares because they are not needed often. However,
spares might be procured years in advance of the actual need.
Third, some insulation is integral to another part, and is not
separately identified as ``insulation.'' Thus, an operator might
inadvertently replace insulation while replacing another component and
be out of compliance with the applicable rule. The affected component
would not be readily identified in the spares inventory as being
affected by the regulations because its primary function and
identification were based on something other than thermal/acoustic
insulation.
Lastly, certain types of insulation we thought were permanent are
occasionally replaced. Airframe manufacturers reported that their
records of supplying replacement insulation to operators showed they
had never provided replacements for certain parts. However, in actual
practice, many operators fabricate their own replacement insulation or
procure it from a third party, using data supplied by the airframe
manufacturer. All of these issues are complicated for airplane models
that are no longer in production and for which replacement parts are
not available from the original equipment manufacturer.
The issues discussed above do not apply to insulation ``blankets.''
Insulation blankets are defined as an encapsulated assembly consisting
of a core insulating material and a moisture barrier film or cover
surrounding the core. They represent the largest usage of thermal/
acoustic insulation in the airplane and are, therefore, the most
significant from a fire safety standpoint. Insulation blankets are most
often used against the airplane fuselage structure but are also used
around ducts and under floor panels. The materials used to construct
compliant insulation blankets are widely available and can be readily
adapted to different applications, even for airplane models no longer
in production. The flammability performance of insulation blankets was
the primary impetus behind development of the new test standards. The
materials in insulation blankets were one of the primary materials
intended to be covered by the
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``replacement'' provision in the regulation.
In addition, insulation around ducts is significant for its
potential fire safety ramifications. Ducts are intended to convey a
fluid medium from one point to others and, therefore, provide a
potential fire propagation path by their nature. Because air ducts are
the most significant and common, we are limiting the replacement
provision in this amendment to insulation air ducts only. Therefore,
other types of piping, or fluid lines are no longer covered by the
replacement provision. These items, which might otherwise be considered
ducts, are not included in this amendment because they have very
specialized insulation needs, and replacement parts are not readily
available. In addition, they tend to be much smaller than air ducts and
do not use the large quantity of insulation that was the target of the
original proposal.
While some ducts and insulation are integral, meaning that
replacement of the insulation includes the replacement of the duct,
many ducts are insulated with separate materials. The July 2003 rule
will continue to apply to those ducts insulated with separate material.
However, insulation that is integral to the duct and cannot be replaced
without replacing the duct, will no longer be covered by the
regulations for replacement. This includes insulation that is bonded or
laminated to the surface of the duct. Such insulation that is the
subject of airworthiness directives must still be replaced in
accordance with those airworthiness directives.
This amendment changes only the replacement portion of the July
2003 rule. This rule does not affect newly manufactured airplanes.
Airframe manufacturers have worked diligently to achieve compliance for
newly manufactured airplanes and all the affected parts have been
addressed. However, for the reasons noted above, a change is necessary
to address unforeseen issues with availability of replacement parts for
older airplanes.
Affect on Safety
This change does not have a significant affect on safety. The
original intent of the ``replacement'' provision in the regulations was
to promote the future production only of materials that comply with 14
CFR 25.856(a) as replacements. We understood that the primary thermal/
acoustic insulation subject to replacement was of blanket construction.
The regulation was worded generally however, and therefore covered any
type of thermal/acoustic insulation when it is replaced. As noted
earlier, the most significant insulation from a fire safety standpoint
is insulation in blanket form, and insulation on ducts. Replacement of
these materials with compliant materials will reduce the potential for
fire propagation. However, for other, less extensive materials, a
piecemeal replacement with compliant materials has very little, if any
safety benefit.
Paperwork Reduction Act
There are no new requirements for information collection associated
with this amendment.
International Compatibility
In keeping with U.S. obligations under the Convention on
International Civil Aviation, it is FAA policy to comply with
International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Standards and
Recommended Practices to the maximum extent practicable. The FAA
determined there are no ICAO Standards and Recommended Practices that
correspond to these regulations.
Good Cause for Immediate Adoption
Sections 553(b)(3)(B) and 553(d)(3) of the Administrative
Procedures Act (APA) (5 U.S.C. 553(b)(3)(B) and 553(d)(3)) authorize
agencies to dispense with certain notice procedures for rules when they
find ``good cause'' to do so. Under section 553(b)(3)(B), the
requirements of notice and opportunity for comment do not apply when
the agency for good cause finds those procedures are ``impracticable,
unnecessary, or contrary to the public interest.'' Section 553(d)(3)
allows an agency, upon finding good cause, to make a rule effective
immediately, thereby avoiding the 30-day effective date requirement in
section 553.
The FAA finds notice and public comment on this final rule are
impracticable. For the APA, ``impracticable'' means if notice and
comment procedures were followed, they would defeat the purpose of the
rule. This final rule must be adopted promptly to create the certainty
and the time needed by operators to schedule and conduct maintenance,
and to avoid grounding of airplanes. Coordinating and issuing
rulemaking documents will take time under current procedures. The delay
associated with notice and comment would negate the relief offered in
this final rule, since operators would have to incur great expense to
prepare for eventual replacement of thermal/acoustic insulation and
associated components for which no current design meeting the new
standards exists. Therefore, any delay in issuing this final rule would
subject affected operators to confusion and the expense of trying to
comply without the necessary design information and, in some cases,
availability of appropriate materials. Therefore, it is
``impracticable'' to provide notice and opportunity to comment.
Executive Order 12866 and DOT Regulatory Policies and Procedures
Executive Order 12866, Regulatory Planning and Review, directs the
FAA to assess both the costs and benefits of a regulatory change. We
are not allowed to propose or adopt a regulation unless we make a
reasoned determination that the benefits of the intended regulation
justify its costs. Our assessment of this rule indicates its economic
impact is minimal. Since its costs and benefits do not make it a
``significant regulatory action,'' as defined in the Order, we have not
prepared a ``regulatory impact analysis.'' Similarly, we have not
prepared a ``regulatory evaluation,'' which is the written cost/benefit
analysis ordinarily required for all rulemaking under the DOT
Regulatory and Policies and Procedures. We do not need to do the latter
analysis where the economic impact of a rule is minimal.
Regulatory Evaluation, Regulatory Flexibility Analysis, International
Trade Impact Assessment, and Unfunded Mandates Assessment
Changes to Federal regulations must undergo several economic
analyses. First, Executive Order 12866 directs that each Federal agency
shall propose or adopt a regulation only upon a reasoned determination
that the benefits of the intended regulation justify its costs. Second,
the Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980 requires agencies to analyze the
economic impact of regulatory changes on small entities. Third, the
Trade Agreements Act (19 U.S.C. 2531-2533) prohibits agencies from
setting standards that create unnecessary obstacles to the foreign
commerce of the United States. In developing U.S. standards, this Trade
Act requires agencies to consider international standards and, where
appropriate, to be the basis of U.S. standards. Fourth, the Unfunded
Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-4) requires agencies to
prepare a written assessment of the costs, benefits, and other effects
of proposed or final rules that include a Federal mandate likely to
result in the expenditure by State, local, or tribal governments, in
the aggregate, or by the private sector, of $100 million or more
annually (adjusted for inflation). This portion of the preamble
summarizes the FAA's analysis of the economic impacts of this final
rule.
[[Page 77751]]
DOT Order 2100.5 prescribes policies and procedures for
simplification, analysis, and review of regulations. If the expected
cost impact is so minimal that a proposal does not warrant a full
evaluation, this order permits a statement to that effect. The basis
for the minimal impact must be included in the preamble, if a full
regulatory evaluation of the cost and benefits is not prepared. Such a
determination has been made for this rule. The reasoning for that
determination follows.
This rule narrows the scope of the requirement to use only
replacement thermal/acoustic insulation meeting the standards adopted
in 14 CFR 25.856(a) for airplanes manufactured before September 2,
2005. The original requirement was sufficiently broad that operators
could have been out of compliance, even without realizing it. Those
operators would have been subject to fines and they would have
experienced maintenance schedule disruptions. By narrowing the scope of
the requirement, operators can comply with reasonable effort, and the
safety intent of the original rules is preserved. Although we cannot
provide a quantitative estimate of the losses resulting from the fines
and maintenance schedule disruptions, we believe these would have been
significant. Further, there will be a decrease in overall paperwork and
costs since fewer part numbers will have to be tracked and updated.
Finally operators will be able to focus on the most significant
thermal/acoustic insulation materials and ensure their inventories are
updated accordingly.
The FAA has, therefore, determined this rulemaking action is not a
``significant regulatory action'' as defined in section 3(f) of
Executive Order 12866, and is not ``significant'' as defined in DOT's
Regulatory Policies and Procedures. In addition, the FAA has determined
that this rulemaking action: (1) Will not have a significant economic
impact on a substantial number of small entities; (2) will not affect
international trade; and (3) will not impose an unfunded mandate on
State, local, or tribal governments, or on the private sector.
This rule simply focuses the compliance requirement for replacement
materials on those that have a significant safety impact and eliminates
a burdensome requirement on those replacement materials that do not.
Thus, this rule maintains the benefits of the existing rule and reduces
costs.
Regulatory Flexibility Analysis
The Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980 (RFA) establishes ``as a
principle of regulatory issuance that agencies shall endeavor,
consistent with the objective of the rule and of applicable statutes,
to fit regulatory and informational requirements to the scale of the
business, organizations, and governmental jurisdictions subject to
regulation.'' To achieve that principle, the RFA requires agencies to
consider flexible regulatory proposals, to explain the rationale for
their actions, and to solicit comments. The RFA covers a wide range of
small entities, including small businesses, not-for-profit
organizations and small governmental jurisdictions.
Agencies must perform a review to determine whether a proposed or
final rule will have a significant economic impact on a substantial
number of small entities. If the agency determines that it will, the
agency must prepare a regulatory flexibility analysis as described in
the RFA.
However, if an agency determines that a proposed or final rule is
not expected to have a significant economic impact on a substantial
number of small entities, section 605(b) of the RFA provides the head
of the agency may so certify and a regulatory flexibility analysis is
not required. The certification must include a statement providing the
factual basis for this determination, and the reasoning should be
clear.
This rule narrows the scope of the requirement to use only
replacement thermal/acoustic insulation meeting the standards adopted
in 14 CFR 25.856(a), for airplanes manufactured before September 2,
2005. As the rule narrows the scope of compliance, it provides cost
relief for airplane operators.
Therefore, as the FAA Administrator, I certify that the rulemaking
action will not have a significant economic impact on a substantial
number of small entities.
International Trade Impact Assessment
The Trade Agreements Act of 1979 prohibits Federal agencies from
establishing any standards or engaging in related activities that
create unnecessary obstacles to the foreign commerce of the United
States. Legitimate domestic objectives, such as safety, are not
considered unnecessary obstacles. The statute also requires
consideration of international standards and, where appropriate, that
these international standards be the basis for U.S. standards. The FAA
has assessed the potential effect of this rulemaking action and has
determined that it will provide cost relief for all United States and
foreign commercial operators of United States registered airplanes.
Thus this rule reduces costs to both domestic and international
entities and has a neutral trade impact.
Unfunded Mandates Assessment
The Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (the Act) is intended,
among other things, to curb the practice of imposing unfunded Federal
mandates on State, local, and tribal governments. Title II of the Act
requires each Federal agency to prepare a written statement assessing
the effects of any Federal mandate in a proposed or final agency rule
that may result in an expenditure of $100 million or more (adjusted
annually for inflation) in any one year by State, local, and tribal
governments, in the aggregate, or by the private sector. The FAA
currently uses an inflation-adjusted value of $120.7 million in lieu of
$100 million.
This final rule does not contain such a mandate. The requirements
of Title II do not apply.
Executive Order 13132, Federalism
The FAA has analyzed this final rule under the principles and
criteria of Executive Order 13132, Federalism. We determined that this
action will not have a substantial direct effect on the States, or the
relationship between the National Government and the States, or on the
distribution of power and responsibilities among the various levels of
government. We therefore determined that this final rule does not have
federalism implications.
Plain English
Executive Order 12866 (58 FR 51735, Oct. 4, 1993) requires each
agency to write regulations that are simple and easy to understand. We
invite your comments on how to make these regulations easier to
understand, including answers to questions such as the following:
Are the requirements in the regulation clearly stated?
Does the regulation contain technical language or jargon
that interferes with their clarity?
Would the regulation be easier to understand if it was
divided into more (but shorter) sections?
Is the description in the preamble helpful in
understanding the regulation?
Please send your comments to the address specified in the ADDRESSES
section.
[[Page 77752]]
Environmental Analysis
FAA Order 1050.1D defines FAA actions that may be categorically
excluded from preparation of a National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)
environmental impact statement. In accordance with FAA Order 1050.1D,
appendix 4, paragraph 4(j), this final rule qualifies for a categorical
exclusion.
Regulations That Significantly Affect Energy Supply, Distribution, or
Use
The FAA has analyzed this final rule under Executive Order 13211,
Actions Concerning Regulations that Significantly Affect Energy Supply,
Distribution, or Use (66 FR 28355, May 18, 2001). We have determined it
is not a ``significant energy action'' under the executive order
because it is not a ``significant regulatory action'' under Executive
Order 12866, and it is not likely to have a significant adverse effect
on the supply, distribution, or use of energy.
Lists of Subjects
14 CFR Part 91
Aircraft, Aviation safety, Reporting and recordkeeping
requirements.
14 CFR Part 121
Aircraft, Aviation safety, Reporting and recordkeeping
requirements, Safety, Transportation.
14 CFR Part 125
Aircraft, Aviation safety, Reporting and recordkeeping
requirements.
14 CFR Part 135
Aircraft, Aviation safety, Reporting and recordkeeping
requirements.
The Amendments
0
In consideration of the foregoing, the Federal Aviation Administration
amends Chapter 1 of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations, as follows:
PART 91--GENERAL OPERATING AND FLIGHT RULES
0
1. The authority citation for part 91 continues to read as follows:
Authority: 49 U.S.C. 106(g), 40103, 40113, 40120, 44101, 44111,
44701, 44709, 44711, 44712, 44715, 44716, 44717, 44722, 46306,
46315, 46316, 46502, 46504, 46506-46507, 47122, 47508, 47528-47531.
0
2. Amend Sec. 91.613 by revising paragraph (b)(1) to read as follows:
Sec. 91.613 Materials for compartment interiors.
* * * * *
(b) Thermal/acoustic insulation materials. For transport category
airplanes type certificated after January 1, 1958:
(1) For airplanes manufactured before September 2, 2005, when
thermal/acoustic insulation is installed in the fuselage as
replacements after September 2, 2005, the insulation must meet the
flame propagation requirements of Sec. 25.856 of this chapter,
effective September 2, 2003, if it is:
(i) Of a blanket construction or
(ii) Installed around air ducting.
* * * * *
PART 121--OPERATING REQUIREMENTS: DOMESTIC, FLAG, AND SUPPLEMENTAL
OPERATIONS
0
3. The authority citation for part 121 continues to read as follows:
Authority: 49 U.S.C. 106(g), 40113, 40119, 44101, 44701-44702,
44705, 44709-44711, 44713, 44716-44717, 44722, 44901, 44903-44904,
44912, 46105.
0
4. Amend Sec. 121.312 by revising paragraph (e)(1) to read as follows:
Sec. 121.312 Materials for compartment interiors.
* * * * *
(e) Thermal/acoustic insulation materials. For transport category
airplanes type certificated after January 1, 1958:
(1) For airplanes manufactured before September 2, 2005, when
thermal/acoustic insulation is installed in the fuselage as
replacements after September 2, 2005, the insulation must meet the
flame propagation requirements of Sec. 25.856 of this chapter,
effective September 2, 2003, if it is:
(i) Of a blanket construction or
(ii) Installed around air ducting.
* * * * *
PART 125--CERTIFICATION AND OPERATIONS: AIRPLANES HAVING A SEATING
CAPACITY OF 20 OR MORE PASSENGERS OR A MAXIMUM PAYLOAD CAPACITY OF
6,000 POUNDS OR MORE
0
5. The authority citation for part 125 continues to read as follows:
Authority: 49 U.S.C. 106(g), 40113, 44701-44702, 44705, 44710-
44711, 44713, 44716--44717, 44722.
0
6. Amend Sec. 125.113 by revising paragraph (c)(1) to read as follows:
Sec. 125.113 Cabin interiors.
* * * * *
(c) Thermal/acoustic insulation materials. For transport category
airplanes type certificated after January 1, 1958:
(1) For airplanes manufactured before September 2, 2005, when
thermal/acoustic insulation is installed in the fuselage as
replacements after September 2, 2005, the insulation must meet the
flame propagation requirements of Sec. 25.856 of this chapter,
effective September 2, 2003, if it is:
(i) of a blanket construction or
(ii) Installed around air ducting.
* * * * *
PART 135--OPERATING REQUIREMENTS: COMMUTER AND ON-DEMAND OPERATIONS
AND RULES GOVERNING PERSONS ON BOARD SUCH AIRCRAFT
0
7. The authority citation for part 135 continues to read as follows:
Authority: 49 U.S.C. 106(g), 40113, 44701-44702, 44705, 44709,
44711-44713, 44715-44717, 44722.
0
8. Amend Sec. 135.170 by revising paragraph (c)(1) to read as follows:
Sec. 135.170 Materials for compartment interiors.
* * * * *
(c) Thermal/acoustic insulation materials. For transport category
airplanes type certificated after January 1, 1958:
(1) For airplanes manufactured before September 2, 2005, when
thermal/acoustic insulation is installed in the fuselage as
replacements after September 2, 2005, the insulation must meet the
flame propagation requirements of Sec. 25.856 of this chapter,
effective September 2, 2003, if it is:
(i) Of a blanket construction, or
(ii) Installed around air ducting.
* * * * *
Issued in Washington, DC on December 22, 2005.
Marion C. Blakey,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. 05-24654 Filed 12-29-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-13-P