[Federal Register: June 4, 2009 (Volume 74, Number 106)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Page 26777-26778]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr04jn09-3]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Aviation Administration
14 CFR Part 23
[Docket No. CE297; Special Conditions No. 23-237-SC]
Special Conditions: Spectrum Aeronautical, LLC Model S-40; Full
Authority Digital Engine Control (FADEC) System
AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), DOT.
ACTION: Final special conditions; request for comments.
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SUMMARY: These special conditions are issued for the Spectrum
Aeronautical, LLC Model S-40 airplane. This airplane will have a novel
or unusual design feature(s) associated with the use of an electronic
engine control system instead of a traditional mechanical 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.
DATES: The effective date of these special conditions is May 26, 2009.
We must receive your comments by July 20, 2009.
ADDRESSES: Mail two copies of your comments to: Federal Aviation
Administration, Regional Counsel, ACE-7, Attention: Rules Docket CE297,
901 Locust, Room 506, Kansas City, Missouri 64106. You may deliver two
copies to the Rules Docket at the above address. You must mark your
comments Docket No. CE297. You may inspect comments in the Rules Docket
weekdays, except Federal holidays, between 7:30 a.m. and 4 p.m.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Peter L. Rouse, Federal Aviation
Administration, Aircraft Certification Service, Small Airplane
Directorate, ACE-111, 901 Locust, Room 301, Kansas City, Missouri
64106; 816-329-4135, fax 816-329-4090.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The FAA has determined that notice and
opportunity for prior public comment hereon are impracticable because
these procedures would significantly delay issuance of the design
approval and thus delivery of the affected aircraft. In addition, the
substance of these special conditions has been subject to the public
comment process in several prior instances with no substantive comments
received. The FAA, therefore, finds that good cause exists for making
these special conditions effective upon issuance.
Comments Invited
We invite interested persons to take part in this rulemaking by
sending written comments, data, or views. The most helpful comments
reference a specific portion of the special conditions, explain the
reason for any recommended change, and include supporting data. We ask
that you send us two copies of written comments.
We will file in the docket all comments we receive, as well as a
report summarizing each substantive public contact with FAA personnel
about these special conditions. You may inspect the docket before and
after the comment closing date. If you wish to review the docket in
person, go to the address in the ADDRESSES section of this preamble
between 7:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, except Federal
holidays.
We will consider all comments we receive by the closing date for
comments. We will consider comments filed late if it is possible to do
so without incurring expense or delay. We may change these special
conditions based on the comments we receive.
If you want us to let you know we received your comments on these
special conditions, send us a pre-addressed, stamped postcard on which
the docket number appears. We will stamp the date on the postcard and
mail it back to you.
Background
On November 21, 2007, Spectrum Aeronautical, LLC applied for a type
certificate for their new Model S-40. The Spectrum Model S-40 is a 2 +
9 seat (pilots + passengers) conventionally configured low wing normal
category jet airplane with a T-tail and tricycle landing gear. This
fiber-wound, all composite aircraft will be certified for day, night,
VFR, IFR, and flight into known icing operations with a planned maximum
operating altitude of 45,000 feet. The company seeks approval for
single pilot operations and will show compliance with Reduced Vertical
Separation Minimums (RVSM) requirements.
The Spectrum Model S-40 airplane is equipped with two GE Honda Aero
HF120 turbofan engines, each using an electronic engine control system
(FADEC) instead of a traditional mechanical control system. Even though
the engine control system will be certificated as part of the engine,
the installation of an engine with an electronic control system
requires evaluation due to critical environmental effects and possible
effects on or by other airplane systems. For example, indirect effects
of lightning, radio interference with other airplane electronic
systems, shared engine and airplane data and power sources.
The regulatory requirements in 14 CFR part 23 for evaluating the
installation of complex systems, including electronic systems and
critical environmental effects, are contained in Sec. 23.1309.
However, when Sec. 23.1309 was developed, the use of electronic
control systems for engines was not envisioned. Therefore, the Sec.
23.1309 requirements were not applicable to systems certificated as
part of the engine (reference Sec. 23.1309(f)(1)). Although the parts
of the system that are not certificated with the engine could be
[[Page 26778]]
evaluated using the criteria of Sec. 23.1309, the integral nature of
systems such as these makes it unfeasible to evaluate the airplane
portion of the system without including the engine portion of the
system.
In some cases, the airplane that the engine is used in will
determine a higher classification (Advisory Circular (AC) 23.1309) than
the engine controls are certificated for, which will require that the
FADEC/DEEC systems be analyzed at a higher classification. Since
November 2005, FADEC special conditions have mandated the
classification for Sec. 23.1309 analysis for loss of FADEC control as
catastrophic for any airplane. This is not to imply that an engine
failure is classified as catastrophic, but that the digital engine
control must provide an equivalent reliability to mechanical engine
controls.
Type Certification Basis
Under the provisions of 14 CFR 21.17, Spectrum Aeronautical, LLC
must show that the Model S-40 meets the applicable provisions of 14 CFR
part 23, as amended by Amendments 23-1 through 23-57, thereto.
If the Administrator finds that the applicable airworthiness
regulations (i.e., 14 CFR part 23) do not contain adequate or
appropriate safety standards for the Model S-40 because of a novel or
unusual design feature, special conditions are prescribed under the
provisions of Sec. 21.16.
In addition to the applicable airworthiness regulations and special
conditions, the Model S-40 must comply with the fuel vent and exhaust
emission requirements of 14 CFR part 34 and the noise certification
requirements of 14 CFR part 36, and the FAA must issue a finding of
regulatory adequacy under Sec. 611 of Public Law 92-574, the ``Noise
Control Act of 1972.''
The FAA issues special conditions, as appropriate, as defined in
Sec. 11.19, under Sec. 11.38, and they become part of the type
certification basis under Sec. 21.17(a)(2).
Special conditions are initially applicable to the model for which
they are issued. Should the type certificate for that model be amended
later to include any other model that incorporates the same novel or
unusual design feature, the special conditions would also apply to the
other model.
Novel or Unusual Design Features
The Spectrum Aeronautical, LLC Model S-40 will incorporate the
following novel or unusual design features: Electronic engine control
system.
Applicability
As discussed above, these special conditions are applicable to the
Model S-40. Should Spectrum Aeronautical, LLC apply at a later date for
a change to the type certificate to include another model incorporating
the same novel or unusual design feature, the special conditions would
apply to that model as well.
Under standard practice, the effective date of final special
conditions would be 30 days after the date of publication in the
Federal Register; however, as the certification date for the Spectrum
Aeronautical, LLC Model S-40 is imminent, the FAA finds that good cause
exists to make these special conditions effective upon issuance.
Conclusion
This action affects only certain novel or unusual design features
on one model, Model S-40, of airplane. It is not a rule of general
applicability, and it affects only the applicant who applied to the FAA
for approval of these features on the airplane.
List of Subjects in 14 CFR Part 23
Aircraft, Aviation safety, Signs and symbols.
Citation
0
The authority citation for these special conditions is as follows:
Authority: 49 U.S.C. 106(g), 40113 and 44701; 14 CFR 21.16 and
21.17; and 14 CFR 11.38 and 11.19.
The Special Conditions
0
Accordingly, pursuant to the authority delegated to me by the
Administrator, the following special conditions are issued as part of
the type certification basis for Spectrum Aeronautical, LLC Model S-40
airplanes.
1. Electronic Engine Control
The installation of the electronic engine control system must
comply with the requirements of Sec. 23.1309(a) through (e) at
Amendment 23-49. The intent of this requirement is not to re-evaluate
the inherent hardware reliability of the control itself, but rather to
determine the effects, including environmental effects addressed in
Sec. 23.1309(e), on the airplane systems and engine control system
when installing the control on the airplane. When appropriate, engine
certification data may be used when showing compliance with this
requirement; however, the effects of the installation on this data must
be addressed.
For these evaluations, the loss of FADEC control will be analyzed
utilizing the threat levels associated with a catastrophic failure.
Issued in Kansas City, Missouri on May 26, 2009.
John Colomy,
Acting Manager, Small Airplane Directorate, Aircraft Certification
Service.
[FR Doc. E9-12992 Filed 6-3-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-13-P