Proposed Rules. Notification of availability; request for comments

Agency: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), DOT
Action: Notification of availability; request for comments
Citation: FR Doc. 2023-15853 · Docket No. FAA-2023-1383 · 14 CFR 21, 25

Summary

A draft policy statement would state that proposed type design changes that would materially alter safety critical information have the potential to affect airworthiness, and therefore do not qualify as minor design changes.

Dates

Comments on the draft policy statement must be received on or before August 25, 2023.

Supplementary Information

Discussion Section 105(a) of the Aircraft Certification, Safety, and Accountability Act, Public Law 116-260 (the Act), defines five categories of “safety critical information” and instructs the FAA to take a variety of actions related to the submittal of such information by applicants for, or holders of, type certificates for transport category airplanes. These five categories of information all relate to the airplane's airworthiness characteristics. A proposed design change that would have an appreciable effect on an airworthiness characteristic of a product must be evaluated as a major, rather than minor, change. 14 CFR 21.93, 21.95, and 21.97. Therefore, the FAA plans to issue a policy statement stating that a proposed design change to a transport category airplane that would materially alter safety critical information would have an appreciable affect on the airplane's airworthiness, and therefore would not qualify as a minor change. A draft of the policy statement may be examined in the docket and at https://www.faa.gov/aircraft/draft_docs . Comments Invited The FAA invites the public to submit comments on the draft policy statement, as specified in the ADDRESSES section of this notification. Commenters should include the subject line, “Classification of Type Design Changes That Would Materially Alter Safety Critical Information as Major Type Design Changes” and the docket number on all comments submitted to the FAA. The most helpful comments will reference a specific recommendation, explain the reason for any recommended change, and include supporting information. The FAA will consider all comments received on or before the closing date, before issuing the final policy statement. The FAA will also consider late-filed comments if it is possible to do so without incurring expense or delay. Issued in Washington, DC. Brian Cable, Manager, Organization and Systems Policy Branch, Policy and Standards Division, Aircraft Certification Service. [FR Doc. 2023-15853 Filed 7-25-23; 8:45 am]