Airworthiness Directives; GE Aviation Czech s.r.o. (Type Certificate Previously Held by WALTER Engines a.s., Walter a.s., and MOTORLET a.s.) Engines

<RULE> DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION <SUBAGY>Federal Aviation Administration</SUBAGY> <CFR>14 CFR Part 39</CFR> <DEPDOC>[Docket No. FAA-2024-0472; Project Identifier MCAI-2024-00095-E; Amendment 39-22707; AD 2024-06-02]</DEPDOC> <RIN>RIN 2120-AA64</RIN> <SUBJECT>Airworthiness Directives; GE Aviation Czech s.r.o. (Type Certificate Previously Held by WALTER Engines a.s., Walter a.s., and MOTORLET a.s.) Engines</SUBJECT> <HD SOURCE="HED">AGENCY:</HD> Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), DOT. <HD SOURCE="HED">ACTION:</HD> Final rule; request for comments. <SUM> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUMMARY:</HD> The FAA is adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for all GE Aviation Czech s.r.o. (GEAC) (type certificate previously held by WALTER Engines a.s., Walter a.s., and MOTORLET a.s.) Model M601D-11, M601E-11, M601E-11A, M601E-11AS, M601E-11S, and M601F engines. This AD was prompted by a report of a crack on the centrifugal compressor case mount pad weld area, caused by a non-conforming welding (lack of welding penetration). This AD requires a one-time detailed visual inspection of the compressor case pad welds for any crack, and replacement of the compressor case if necessary, as specified in a European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) AD, which is incorporated by reference (IBR). The FAA is issuing this AD to address the unsafe condition on these products. </SUM> <EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> This AD is effective April 11, 2024. The Director of the Federal Register approved the incorporation by reference of a certain publication listed in this AD as of April 11, 2024. The FAA must receive comments on this AD by May 13, 2024. </EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">ADDRESSES:</HD> You may send comments, using the procedures found in 14 CFR 11.43 and 11.45, by any of the following methods: • <E T="03">Federal eRulemaking Portal:</E> Go to <E T="03">regulations.gov.</E> Follow the instructions for submitting comments. • <E T="03">Fax:</E> (202) 493-2251. • <E T="03">Mail:</E> U.S. Department of Transportation, Docket Operations, M-30, West Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590. • <E T="03">Hand Delivery:</E> Deliver to Mail address above between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. <E T="03">AD Docket:</E> You may examine the AD docket at <E T="03">regulations.gov</E> under Docket No. FAA-2024-0472; or in person at Docket Operations between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. The AD docket contains this final rule, the mandatory continuing airworthiness information (MCAI), any comments received, and other information. The street address for Docket Operations is listed above. <E T="03">Material Incorporated by Reference:</E> • For service information identified in this final rule, contact EASA, Konrad-Adenauer-Ufer 3, 50668 Cologne, Germany; phone: +49 221 8999 000; email: <E T="03">ADs@easa.europa.eu;</E> website: <E T="03">easa.europa.eu.</E> You may find this material on the EASA website at <E T="03">ad.easa.europa.eu.</E> • You may view this service information at the FAA, Airworthiness Products Section, Operational Safety Branch, 1200 District Avenue, Burlington, MA 01803. For information on the availability of this material at the FAA, call (817) 222-5110. It is also available at <E T="03">regulations.gov</E> under Docket No. FAA-2024-0472. <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> Barbara Caufield, Aviation Safety Engineer, FAA, 1600 Stewart Avenue, Suite 410, Westbury, NY 11590; phone: (781) 238-7146; email: <E T="03">barbara.caufield@faa.gov.</E> </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD1">Comments Invited</HD> The FAA invites you to send any written data, views, or arguments about this final rule. Send your comments to an address listed under <E T="02">ADDRESSES</E> . Include “Docket No. FAA-2024-0472; Project Identifier MCAI-2024-00095-E” at the beginning of your comments. The most helpful comments reference a specific portion of the final rule, explain the reason for any recommended change, and include supporting data. The FAA will consider all comments received by the closing date and may amend this final rule because of those comments. Except for Confidential Business Information (CBI) as described in the following paragraph, and other information as described in 14 CFR 11.35, the FAA will post all comments received, without change, to <E T="03">regulations.gov,</E> including any personal information you provide. The agency will also post a report summarizing each substantive verbal contact received about this final rule. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Confidential Business Information</HD> CBI is commercial or financial information that is both customarily and actually treated as private by its owner. Under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) (5 U.S.C. 552), CBI is exempt from public disclosure. If your comments responsive to this AD contain commercial or financial information that is customarily treated as private, that you actually treat as private, and that is relevant or responsive to this AD, it is important that you clearly designate the submitted comments as CBI. Please mark each page of your submission containing CBI as “PROPIN.” The FAA will treat such marked submissions as confidential under the FOIA, and they will not be placed in the public docket of this AD. Submissions containing CBI should be sent to Barbara Caufield, Aviation Safety Engineer, FAA, 1600 Stewart Avenue, Suite 410, Westbury, NY 11590. Any commentary that the FAA receives which is not specifically designated as CBI will be placed in the public docket for this rulemaking. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Background</HD> EASA, which is the Technical Agent for the Member States of the European Union, has issued EASA AD 2024-0040-E, dated February 8, 2024, (EASA AD 2024-0040-E) (also referred to as the MCAI), to correct an unsafe condition on GEAC Model M601D, M601D-1, M601D-2, M601D-11, M601D-11NZ, M601E, M601E-11, M601E-11A, M601E-11AS, M601E-11S, M601E-21, M601F, M601FS, and M601Z engines. The MCAI states that a crack was found on the centrifugal compressor case mount pad weld area of an engine, which led to an unscheduled engine removal. Further investigation identified a non-conforming welding in the location of the failure (lack of welding penetration). The manufacturer issued service information that provides instruction for a one-time detailed visual inspection of the compressor case for any crack in the location of the pad welds, and replacement of the compressor case if necessary. This condition, if not addressed, could lead to crack propagation, possibly resulting in engine separation and reduced control of the airplane. You may examine the MCAI in the AD docket at <E T="03">regulations.gov</E> under Docket No. FAA-2024-0472. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Related Service Information Under 1 CFR Part 51</HD> The FAA reviewed EASA AD 2024-0040-E which specifies procedures for performing a one-time detailed visual inspection of the compressor case pad welds for any crack, replacement of the compressor case if necessary, and sending certain inspection results to the manufacturer. This service information is reasonably available because the interested parties have access to it through their normal course of business or by the means identified in <E T="02">ADDRESSES</E> . <HD SOURCE="HD1">FAA's Determination</HD> These products have been approved by the aviation authority of another country and are approved for operation in the United States. Pursuant to the FAA's bilateral agreement with this State of Design Authority, it has notified the FAA of the unsafe condition described in the MCAI referenced above. The FAA is issuing this AD after determining that the unsafe condition described previously is likely to exist or develop on other products of the same type design. <HD SOURCE="HD1">AD Requirements</HD> This AD requires accomplishing the actions specified in the MCAI, except for any differences identified as exceptions in the regulatory text of this AD, and except as discussed under “Differences Between this AD and the MCAI.” <HD SOURCE="HD1">Differences Between This AD and the MCAI</HD> GEAC Model M601D, M601D-1, M601D-2, M601D-11NZ, M601E, M601E-21, M601FS, and M601Z engines do not have an FAA type certificate, therefore this AD does not include those engines in the applicability. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Justification for Immediate Adoption and Determination of the Effective Date</HD> Section 553(b)(3)(B) of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) (5 U.S.C. 551 <E T="03">et seq.</E> ) authorizes agencies to dispense with notice and comment procedures for rules when the agency, for “good cause,” finds that those procedures are “impracticable, unnecessary, or contrary to the public interest.” Under this section, an agency, upon finding good cause, may issue a final rule without providing notice and seeking comment prior to issuance. Further, section 553(d) of the APA authorizes agencies to make rules effective in less than thirty days, upon a finding of good cause. An unsafe condition exists that requires the immediate adoption of this AD without providing an opportunity for public comments prior to adoption. The FAA has found that the risk to the flying public justifies forgoing notice and comment prior to adoption of this rule. The presence of cracks on the compressor case pad weld area caused by non-conforming welding could lead to crack propagation, possibly resulting in engine separation and reduced control of the airplane, which indicates an immediate safety of flight problem. Accordingly, notice and opportunity for prior public comment are impracticable and contrary to the public interest pursuant to 5 U.S.C. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 20k characters. 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