Airworthiness Directives; Airbus SAS Airplanes

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION <SUBAGY>Federal Aviation Administration</SUBAGY> <CFR>14 CFR Part 39</CFR> <DEPDOC>[Docket No. FAA-2024-2556; Project Identifier MCAI-2024-00247-T]</DEPDOC> <RIN>RIN 2120-AA64</RIN> <SUBJECT>Airworthiness Directives; Airbus SAS Airplanes</SUBJECT> <HD SOURCE="HED">AGENCY:</HD> Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), DOT. <HD SOURCE="HED">ACTION:</HD> Supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking (SNPRM). <SUM> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUMMARY:</HD> The FAA is revising a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) that applied to certain Airbus SAS Model A300 series airplanes; Model A300 B4-600, B4-600R, and F4-600R series airplanes, and Model A300 C4-605R Variant F airplanes (collectively called Model A300-600 series airplanes); and Model A310 series airplanes. This action revises the NPRM by adding airplanes to the applicability. The FAA is proposing this airworthiness directive (AD) to address the unsafe condition on these products. Since this action would impose an additional burden over those in the NPRM, the FAA is requesting comments on this SNPRM. </SUM> <EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> The FAA must receive comments on this SNPRM by June 20, 2025. </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-2024-2556; or in person at Docket Operations between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. The AD docket contains the NPRM, this SNPRM, 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 European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) material identified in this proposed AD, contact EASA, Konrad-Adenauer-Ufer 3, 50668 Cologne, Germany; telephone +49 221 8999 000; email <E T="03">ADs@easa.europa.eu.</E> You may find this material on the EASA website at <E T="03">ad.easa.europa.eu.</E> It is also available at <E T="03">regulations.gov</E> under Docket No. FAA-2024-2556. • You may view this material at the FAA, Airworthiness Products Section, Operational Safety Branch, 2200 South 216th St., Des Moines, WA. For information on the availability of this material at the FAA, call 206-231-3195. <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> Courtney Tuck, Aviation Safety Engineer, FAA, 2200 South 216th St., Des Moines, WA 98198; phone: 206-231-3986; email: <E T="03">courtney.k.tuck@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 relevant data, views, or arguments about this proposal. Send your comments to an address listed under the <E T="02">ADDRESSES</E> section. Include “Docket No. FAA-2024-2556; Project Identifier MCAI-2024-00247-T” at the beginning of your comments. The most helpful comments reference a specific portion of the proposal, 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 proposal 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 SNPRM. <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 SNPRM 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 SNPRM, 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 SNPRM. Submissions containing CBI should be sent to Courtney Tuck, Aviation Safety Engineer, FAA, 2200 South 216th St., Des Moines, WA 98198; phone: 206-231-3986; email: <E T="03">courtney.k.tuck@faa.gov.</E> 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> The FAA issued an NPRM to amend 14 CFR part 39 by adding an AD that would apply to certain Airbus SAS Model A300 series airplanes; Model A300-600 series airplanes; and Model A310 series airplanes. The NPRM published in the <E T="04">Federal Register</E> on December 13, 2024 (89 FR 100926). The NPRM was prompted by AD 2024-0092R1, dated July 10, 2024 (EASA AD 2024-0092R1) (also referred to as the MCAI), issued by EASA, which is the Technical Agent for the Member States of the European Union. EASA AD 2024-0092R1 states that investigations found cracks on the main deck cargo door (MDCD) actuator bearing fitting caused by fatigue. There is no unsafe condition during flight when the cargo door is fully closed, latched, and locked. However, if not detected and corrected, this cracking could lead to MDCD undamped free fall from the open position during MDCD operations or during cargo loading/off-loading, resulting in injury to people on the ground. In the NPRM, the FAA proposed to require an operational limitation to the MDCD opening angle, repetitive detailed visual inspections of the MDCD actuator bearing fittings, and replacement if any cracks are found. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Actions Since the NPRM Was Issued</HD> Since the FAA issued the NPRM, the FAA has determined the applicability of the proposed AD must be revised to add airplanes. The applicability of EASA AD 2024-0092R1 includes airplanes modified in accordance with EASA supplemental type certificate (STC) 10014779 (any revision), EASA STC 10013945 (any revision), or EASA STC 10013960 (any revision). The FAA has determined those EASA STCs correspond to FAA STCs ST00177LA-D, STC ST00178LA-D, STC ST01431NY, and STC ST00100NY. Therefore, the FAA has revised paragraph (c) of the proposed AD to also include airplanes modified in accordance with the FAA STCs. The FAA is proposing this AD to address the unsafe condition on these products. You may examine the MCAI in the AD docket at <E T="03">regulations.gov</E> under Docket No. FAA-2024-2556. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Comments</HD> The FAA received comments from Air Line Pilots Association, International (ALPA), who supported the NPRM without change. The FAA also received comments from United Parcel Service (UPS Airlines), who supported the NPRM and had an additional comment. The FAA also received additional comments from FedEx Express. The following presents the comments received on the NPRM and the FAA's response to each comment. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Request To Withdraw the NPRM</HD> FedEx Express requested that the NPRM be withdrawn for several reasons. First, FedEx Express requested that the NPRM be withdrawn until Airbus has provided a modification to limit the MDCD operation to 70 degrees. FedEx Express stated the operational limitation requirement will be difficult to monitor because door operators will not be prohibited from opening the MDCD to 145 degrees as Airbus does not provide any MDCD modifications to keep its 70-degree limitation. FedEx Express stated it, and other airlines, do not monitor door positions for cargo loading/unloading operations, and cargo loading personnel are permitted to use both 70- and 145-degree positions. FedEx Express also suggested that Airbus Alert Operators Transmission (AOT) A52W016-24, Revision 01, dated July 1, 2024, be revised to include a modification to limit the MDCD to 70 degrees so that FedEx Express and other airlines would not mistakenly violate the proposed AD when released. Second, FedEx Express requested the NPRM be withdrawn until Airbus and the FAA provide a consistent wind speed operation for the MDCD. FedEx Express stated that Airbus AOT A52W016-24, Revision 01, dated July 1, 2024, specifies the MDCD cannot be operated at wind speeds equal to or greater than 40 knots. However, FedEx Express noted that Airbus aircraft maintenance manual (AMM) 52-36-00-00 permits the door to be operated at 40 knot wind speeds and furthermore, if the nose or tail of the airplane is put into the wind, the maximum wind speed can be 50 knots. FedEx Express stated the AMM specifies the door cannot be operated at wind speeds exceeding 60 knots, at which time the door must be closed immediately. Based on this information, FedEx Express concluded the documents have contradictory language and that differing wind speed limits could cause a regulatory burden on the airlines when following original equipment manufacturer standards. FedEx Express also suggested that the documents be revised to reflect a c ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 37k characters. 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