81 FR 35654 - Special Conditions: Bell Helicopter Textron, Inc. (BHTI), Model 525 Helicopters; Crew Alerting System (CAS)

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Aviation Administration

Federal Register Volume 81, Issue 107 (June 3, 2016)

We propose special conditions for the BHTI Model 525 helicopter. This helicopter will have a novel or unusual design feature associated with the electronic CAS. The applicable airworthiness regulations do not contain adequate or appropriate safety standards for this design feature. These proposed 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.

[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 107 (Friday, June 3, 2016)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 35654-35655]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2016-13148]


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Proposed Rules
                                                Federal Register
________________________________________________________________________

This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains notices to the public of 
the proposed issuance of rules and regulations. The purpose of these 
notices is to give interested persons an opportunity to participate in 
the rule making prior to the adoption of the final rules.

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Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 107 / Friday, June 3, 2016 / Proposed 
Rules

[[Page 35654]]



DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Aviation Administration

14 CFR Part 29

[Docket No. FAA-2016-6940; Notice No. 29-039-SW-SC]


Special Conditions: Bell Helicopter Textron, Inc. (BHTI), Model 
525 Helicopters; Crew Alerting System (CAS)

AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), DOT.

ACTION: Notice of proposed special conditions.

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SUMMARY: We propose special conditions for the BHTI Model 525 
helicopter. This helicopter will have a novel or unusual design feature 
associated with the electronic CAS. The applicable airworthiness 
regulations do not contain adequate or appropriate safety standards for 
this design feature. These proposed 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: Send your comments on or before July 18, 2016.

ADDRESSES: Send comments identified by docket number FAA-2016-6940 
using any of the following methods:
     Federal eRegulations Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and follow the online instructions for sending your 
comments electronically.
     Mail: Send comments to Docket Operations, M-30, U.S. 
Department of Transportation (DOT), 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., Room 
W12-140, West Building Ground Floor, Washington, DC, 20590-0001.
     Hand Delivery of Courier: Take comments to Docket 
Operations in Room W12-140 of the West Building Ground Floor at 1200 
New Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, DC, between 8 a.m., and 5 p.m., 
Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.
     Fax: Fax comments to Docket Operations at 202-493-2251.
    Privacy: The FAA will post all comments it receives, without 
change, to http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal 
information the commenter provides. Using the search function of the 
docket Web site, anyone can find and read the electronic form of all 
comments received into any FAA docket, including the name of the 
individual sending the comment (or signing the comment for an 
association, business, labor union, etc.). DOT's complete Privacy Act 
Statement can be found in the Federal Register published on April 11, 
2000 (65 FR 19477-19478), as well as at http://DocketsInfo.dot.gov.
    Docket: Background documents or comments received may be read at 
http://www.regulations.gov at any time. Follow the online instructions 
for accessing the docket or go to the Docket Operations in Room W12-140 
of the West Building Ground Floor at 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., 
Washington, DC, between 9 a.m., and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, 
except Federal holidays.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Martin R. Crane, Aviation Safety 
Engineer, Safety Management Group, Rotorcraft Directorate, FAA, 10101 
Hillwood Pkwy, Fort Worth, TX 76177; telephone (817) 222-5110; email 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Comments Invited

    We invite interested people 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 will consider all comments we receive on or before 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.

Background

    On December 15, 2011, BHTI applied for a type certificate for a new 
transport category helicopter designated as the Model 525. The aircraft 
is a medium twin-engine rotorcraft. The design maximum takeoff weight 
is 20,000 pounds, with a maximum capacity of 16 passengers and a crew 
of 2.
    BHTI proposes that the Model 525 use a novel and unusual design 
feature, which is an electronic CAS. Section 29.1322 of title 14, Code 
of Federal Regulations (14 CFR), prescribes discrete colored lights for 
warning, caution, and advisory alerts. In this regard, Sec.  29.1322 
lacks adequate airworthiness standards for alerting messages and 
displays that do not use discrete colored lights, that include non-
visual cues, that provide alerting information to the flightcrew, and 
that use integrated and multiple alerts concurrently.
    The Model 525 CAS will have more effective integrated visual, 
aural, tactile, and alert messaging that will require special 
airworthiness standards, known as special conditions, to address crew 
alerting of failures or malfunctions in critical systems. These special 
conditions will add requirements from the airworthiness standards in 
Sec.  25.1322 (Amendment 25-131) for advanced crew alerting systems in 
transport category aircraft.

Type Certification Basis

    Under the provisions of 14 CFR 21.17, BHTI must show that the Model 
525 meets the applicable provisions of part 29, as amended by 
Amendments 29-1 through 29-55 thereto. The BHTI Model 525 certification 
basis date is December 15, 2011, the date of application to the FAA.
    If the Administrator finds that the applicable airworthiness 
regulations (i.e., 14 CFR part 29) do not contain adequate or 
appropriate safety standards for the BHTI Model 525 because of a novel 
or unusual design feature, special conditions are prescribed under the 
provisions of Sec.  21.16.
    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 or similar 
novel or unusual design feature, the special conditions would also 
apply to the other model under Sec.  21.101.
    The FAA issues special conditions, as defined in 14 CFR 11.19, in 
accordance with Sec.  11.38, and they become part of the type-
certification basis under Sec.  21.17(a)(2).

[[Page 35655]]

Novel or Unusual Design Features

    The BHTI Model 525 helicopter will incorporate the following novel 
or unusual design features: an advanced CAS system. The novel design 
includes the integration of audio and visual alerts, tactical sensors, 
and CAS message consolidation. The new technologies associated with 
integrated visual, aural, tactile, and alert messaging are more 
effective in alerting the flightcrew and aiding them in decision-making 
than the discrete colored lights for warning, caution, and advisory 
alerts prescribed in Sec.  29.1322 alone.

Discussion

    The current 14 CFR part 29 standards do not provide adequate 
standards for the advanced CAS system of the Bell Model 525 helicopter 
due to the complexity of the aircraft systems and the modes of the fly 
by wire primary flight controls. The proposed special condition will 
update definitions, define a prioritization scheme, expand color 
requirements, and address performance for flightcrew alerting to 
reflect changes in technology and functionality.

Applicability

    As discussed above, these special conditions are applicable to the 
BHTI Model 525 helicopter. Should BHTI 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.

Conclusion

    This action affects only certain novel or unusual design features 
on one model of helicopter. It is not a rule of general applicability.

List of Subjects in 14 CFR Part 29

    Aircraft, Aviation safety, Reporting and recordkeeping 
requirements.

    The authority citation for these special conditions is as follows:

    Authority:  49 U.S.C. 106(g), 40113, 44701, 44702, 44704.

The Proposed Special Conditions

    Accordingly, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) proposes the 
following special conditions as part of the type certification basis 
for Bell Helicopter Textron, Inc., Model 525 helicopters.

Flightcrew Alerting

    (a) Flightcrew alerts must:
    (1) Provide the flightcrew with the information needed to:
    (i) Identify non-normal operation or aircraft system conditions, 
and
    (ii) Determine the appropriate actions, if any.
    (2) Be readily and easily detectable and intelligible by the 
flightcrew under all foreseeable operating conditions, including 
conditions where multiple alerts are provided.
    (3) Be removed when the alerting condition no longer exists.
    (b) Alerts must conform to the following prioritization hierarchy 
based on the urgency of flightcrew awareness and response.
    (1) Warning: For conditions that require immediate flightcrew 
awareness and immediate flightcrew response.
    (2) Caution: For conditions that require immediate flightcrew 
awareness and subsequent flightcrew response.
    (3) Advisory: For conditions that require flightcrew awareness and 
may require subsequent flightcrew response.
    (c) Warning and caution alerts must:
    (1) Be prioritized within each category, when necessary.
    (2) Provide timely attention-getting cues through at least two 
different senses by a combination of aural, visual, or tactile 
indications.
    (3) Permit each occurrence of the attention-getting cues required 
by paragraph (c)(2) of these special conditions to be acknowledged and 
suppressed, unless they are required to be continuous.
    (d) The alert function must be designed to minimize the effects of 
false and nuisance alerts. In particular, it must be designed to:
    (1) Prevent the presentation of an alert that is inappropriate or 
unnecessary.
    (2) Provide a means to suppress an attention-getting component of 
an alert caused by a failure of the alerting function that interferes 
with the flightcrew's ability to safely operate the helicopter. This 
means must not be readily available to the flightcrew so that it could 
be operated inadvertently or by habitual reflexive action. When an 
alert is suppressed, there must be a clear and unmistakable 
annunciation to the flightcrew that the alert has been suppressed.
    (e) Visual alert indications must:
    (1) Conform to the following color convention:
    (i) Red for warning alert indications.
    (ii) Amber or yellow for caution alert indications.
    (iii) Any color except red, amber, yellow, or green for advisory 
alert indications.
    (2) Use visual coding techniques, together with other alerting 
function elements in the cockpit, to distinguish between warning, 
caution, and advisory alert indications, if they are presented on 
monochromatic displays that are not capable of conforming to the color 
convention in paragraph (e)(1) of these special conditions.
    (f) Use of the colors red, amber, and yellow in the cockpit for 
functions other than flightcrew alerting must be limited and must not 
adversely affect flightcrew alerting.

    Issued in Fort Worth, Texas, on May 24, 2016.
Lance T. Gant
Manager, Rotorcraft Directorate, Aircraft Certification Service.
[FR Doc. 2016-13148 Filed 6-2-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4910-13-P