DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Aviation Administration

14 CFR Part 39

[Docket No. FAA-2020-0677; Product Identifier 2020-NM-099-AD]
RIN 2120-AA64

Airworthiness Directives; Dassault Aviation Airplanes

AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), DOT.

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM).

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SUMMARY: The FAA proposes to supersede Airworthiness Directive (AD)
2019-23-03, which applies to certain Dassault Aviation Model FALCON
900EX airplanes. AD 2019-23-03 requires revising the existing
maintenance or inspection program, as applicable, to incorporate new or
more restrictive maintenance requirements and/or airworthiness
limitations. Since the FAA issued AD 2019-23-03, the FAA has determined
that new or more restrictive airworthiness limitations are necessary.
This proposed AD would continue to require those maintenance or
inspection program revisions, and would also require revising the
existing maintenance or inspection program, as applicable, to
incorporate additional new or more restrictive airworthiness
limitations, as specified in a European Union Aviation Safety Agency
(EASA) AD, which will be incorporated by reference. The FAA is
proposing this AD to address the unsafe condition on these products.

DATES: The FAA must receive comments on this proposed AD by September
17, 2020.

ADDRESSES: You may send comments, using the procedures found in 14 CFR
11.43 and 11.45, by any of the following methods:

Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to https://www.regulations.gov. Follow the
instructions for submitting comments.

Fax: 202-493-2251.

Mail: U.S. Department of Transportation, Docket
Operations, M-30, West Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140, 1200 New
Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590.

Hand Delivery: U.S. Department of Transportation, Docket
Operations, M-30, West Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140, 1200 New
Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.,
Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.

For EASA material identified in this proposed AD that will be
incorporated by reference (IBR), contact the EASA, Konrad-Adenauer-Ufer
3, 50668 Cologne, Germany; telephone +49 221 8999 000; email
ADs@easa.europa.eu; internet www.easa.europa.eu. You may find this IBR
material on the EASA website at https://ad.easa.europa.eu.

For Dassault service information identified in the proposed AD,
contact Dassault Falcon Jet Corporation, Teterboro Airport, P.O. Box
2000, South Hackensack, NJ 07606; telephone 201-440-6700; internet
https://www.dassaultfalcon.com.

You may view this IBR 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. It is also available in the AD docket on the
internet at https://www.regulations.gov by searching for and locating
Docket No. FAA-2020-0677.

Examining the AD Docket

You may examine the AD docket on the internet at https://www.regulations.
gov by searching for and locating Docket No. FAA-2020-0677;
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 NPRM, any comments received, and other information. The street
address for Docket Operations is listed above. Comments will be
available in the AD docket shortly after receipt.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tom Rodriguez, Aerospace Engineer,
Large Aircraft Section, International Validation Branch, FAA, 2200
South 216th St., Des Moines, WA 98198; telephone and fax: 206-231-3226;
email: tom.rodriguez@faa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Comments Invited

The FAA invites you to send any written relevant data, views, or
arguments about this proposal. The most helpful comments reference a
specific portion of the proposal, explain the reason for any
recommended change, and include supporting data. To ensure the docket
does not contain duplicate comments, commenters should send only one
copy of written comments, or if comments are filed electronically,
commenters should submit only one time. Send your comments to an
address listed under the ADDRESSES section. Include "Docket No. FAA-
2020-0677; Product Identifier 2020-NM-099-AD" at the beginning of your
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, as well
as a report summarizing each substantive public contact with FAA
personnel concerning this proposed rulemaking. Before acting on this
proposal, the FAA will consider all comments received by the closing
date for comments. The FAA will consider comments filed after the
comment period has closed if it is possible to do so without incurring
expense or delay. The FAA may change this NPRM because of those
comments.

Confidential Business Information

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 NPRM 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 NPRM, 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 NPRM. Submissions containing CBI should be sent to the
person identified in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section. Any
commentary that the FAA receives which is not specifically designated
as CBI will be placed in the public docket for this rulemaking.

Discussion

The FAA issued AD 2019-23-03, Amendment 39-19796 (84 FR 67171,
December 9, 2019) ("AD 2019-23-03"), for certain Dassault Aviation
Model FALCON 900EX airplanes. AD 2019-23-03 requires revising the
existing maintenance or inspection program, as applicable, to
incorporate new or more restrictive airworthiness limitations. The FAA
issued AD 2019-23-03 to address, among other things, fatigue cracking
and damage in principal structural elements; such fatigue cracking and
damage could result in reduced structural integrity of the airplane.

AD 2019-23-03 specifies that accomplishing the actions required by
paragraph (g) or (i) of that AD terminates the requirements of
paragraph (g)(1) of AD 2010-26-05, Amendment 39-16544 (75 FR 79952,
December 21, 2010) for Dassault Aviation Model 900EX airplanes, serial
number (S/N) 97 and S/Ns 120 and higher.

Actions Since AD 2019-23-03 Was Issued

Since the FAA issued AD 2019-23-03, the FAA has determined that new
or more restrictive airworthiness limitations are necessary.

The EASA, which is the Technical Agent for the Member States of the
European Union, has issued EASA AD 2020-0117, dated May 20, 2020
("EASA AD 2020-0117") (also referred to as the Mandatory Continuing
Airworthiness Information, or "the MCAI"), to correct an unsafe
condition for certain Dassault Aviation Model FALCON 900EX airplanes.
EASA AD 2020-0117 superseded EASA AD 2019-0134 (which corresponds to
FAA AD 2019-23-03). Airplanes with an original airworthiness
certificate or original export certificate of airworthiness issued
after October 2, 2019 must comply with the airworthiness limitations
specified as part of the approved type design and referenced on the
type certificate data sheet; this AD therefore does not include those
airplanes in the applicability.

This proposed AD was prompted by a determination that new or more
restrictive airworthiness limitations are necessary. The FAA is
proposing this AD to address, among other things, fatigue cracking and
damage in principal structural elements; such fatigue cracking and
damage could result in reduced structural integrity of the airplane.
See the MCAI for additional background information.

Related IBR Material Under 1 CFR Part 51

EASA AD 2020-0117 describes procedures for maintenance tasks and
airworthiness limitations.

This proposed AD would also require Chapter 5-40, Airworthiness
Limitations, Revision 11, dated September 2018, of the Dassault Falcon
900EX EASy, Falcon 900LX, and Falcon 900DX Maintenance Manual, which
the Director of the Federal Register approved for incorporation by
reference as of January 13, 2020 (84 FR 67171, December 9, 2019).

This material is reasonably available because the interested
parties have access to it through their normal course of business or by
the means identified in the ADDRESSES section.

FAA's Determination and Requirements of This Proposed AD

This product has been approved by the aviation authority of another
country, and is approved for operation in the United States. Pursuant
to the FAA's bilateral agreement with the State of Design Authority,
the FAA has been notified of the unsafe condition described in the MCAI
and service information referenced above. The FAA is proposing this AD
because the FAA has evaluated all pertinent information and determined
an unsafe condition exists and is likely to exist or develop on other
products of the same type design.

Proposed AD Requirements

This proposed AD would retain the requirements of AD 2019-23-03.
This proposed AD would also require revising the existing maintenance
or inspection program, as applicable, to incorporate new or more
restrictive airworthiness limitations, which are specified in EASA AD
2020-0117 described previously, as incorporated by reference. Any
differences with EASA AD 2020-0117 are identified as exceptions in the
regulatory text of this AD.

This proposed AD would require revisions to certain operator
maintenance documents to include new actions (e.g., inspections).
Compliance with these actions is required by 14 CFR 91.403(c). For
airplanes that have been previously modified, altered, or repaired in
the areas addressed by this proposed AD, the operator may not be able
to accomplish the actions described in the revisions. In this
situation, to comply with 14 CFR 91.403(c), the operator must request
approval for an alternative method of compliance according to paragraph
(m)(1) of this proposed AD.

Explanation of Required Compliance Information

In the FAA's ongoing efforts to improve the efficiency of the AD
process, the FAA initially worked with Airbus and EASA to develop a
process to use certain EASA ADs as the primary source of information
for compliance with requirements for corresponding FAA ADs. The FAA has
since coordinated with other manufacturers and civil aviation
authorities (CAAs) to use this process. As a result, EASA AD 2020-0117
will be incorporated by reference in the FAA final rule. This proposed
AD would, therefore, require compliance with EASA AD 2020-0117 in its
entirety, through that incorporation, except for any differences
identified as exceptions in the regulatory text of this proposed AD.
Using common terms that are the same as the heading of a particular
section in the EASA AD does not mean that operators need comply only
with that section. For example, where the AD requirement refers to
"all required actions and compliance times," compliance with this AD
requirement is not limited to the section titled "Required Action(s)
and Compliance Time(s)" in the EASA AD.

Service information specified in EASA AD 2020-0117 that is required
for compliance with EASA AD 2020-0117 will be available on the internet
at https://www.regulations.gov by searching for and locating Docket No.
FAA-2020-0677 after the FAA final rule is published.

Airworthiness Limitation ADs Using the New Process

The FAA's process of incorporating by reference MCAI ADs as the
primary source of information for compliance with corresponding FAA ADs
has been limited to certain MCAI ADs (primarily those with service
bulletins as the primary source of information for accomplishing the
actions required by the FAA AD). However, the FAA is now expanding the
process to include MCAI ADs that require a change to airworthiness
limitation documents, such as airworthiness limitation sections.

For these ADs that incorporate by reference an MCAI AD that changes
airworthiness limitations, the FAA requirements are unchanged.
Operators must revise the existing maintenance or inspection program,
as applicable, to incorporate the information specified in the new
airworthiness limitation document. The airworthiness
limitations must be followed according to 14 CFR 91.403(c) and
91.409(e).

Costs of Compliance

The FAA estimates that this proposed AD affects 97 airplanes of
U.S. registry. The FAA estimates the following costs to comply with
this proposed AD:

The FAA estimates the total cost per operator for the retained
actions from AD 2019-23-03 to be $7,650 (90 work-hours x $85 per work-
hour).

The FAA has determined that revising the maintenance or inspection
program takes an average of 90 work-hours per operator, although the
FAA recognizes that this number may vary from operator to operator. In
the past, the FAA has estimated that this action takes 1 work-hour per
airplane. Since operators incorporate maintenance or inspection program
changes for their affected fleet(s), the FAA has determined that a per-
operator estimate is more accurate than a per-airplane estimate.
Therefore, the FAA estimates the total cost per operator for the new
proposed actions to be $7,650 (90 work-hours x $85 per work-hour).

Authority for This Rulemaking

Title 49 of the United States Code specifies the FAA's authority to
issue rules on aviation safety. Subtitle I, section 106, describes the
authority of the FAA Administrator. Subtitle VII: Aviation Programs,
describes in more detail the scope of the Agency's authority.

The FAA is issuing this rulemaking under the authority described in
Subtitle VII, Part A, Subpart III, Section 44701: General requirements.
Under that section, Congress charges the FAA with promoting safe flight
of civil aircraft in air commerce by prescribing regulations for
practices, methods, and procedures the Administrator finds necessary
for safety in air commerce. This regulation is within the scope of that
authority because it addresses an unsafe condition that is likely to
exist or develop on products identified in this rulemaking action.

Regulatory Findings

The FAA determined that this proposed AD would not have federalism
implications under Executive Order 13132. This proposed AD would not
have a substantial direct effect on the States, on the relationship
between the national Government and the States, or on the distribution
of power and responsibilities among the various levels of government.

For the reasons discussed above, I certify this proposed
regulation:

(1) Is not a "significant regulatory action" under Executive
Order 12866,

(2) Will not affect intrastate aviation in Alaska, and

(3) Will not have a significant economic impact, positive or
negative, on a substantial number of small entities under the criteria
of the Regulatory Flexibility Act.

List of Subjects in 14 CFR Part 39

Air transportation, Aircraft, Aviation safety, Incorporation by
reference, Safety.

The Proposed Amendment

Accordingly, under the authority delegated to me by the
Administrator, the FAA proposes to amend 14 CFR part 39 as follows:

PART 39--AIRWORTHINESS DIRECTIVES

1. The authority citation for part 39 continues to read as follows:

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

Sec. 39.13 [Amended]

2. The FAA amends Sec. 39.13 by removing Airworthiness Directive (AD)
2019-23-03, Amendment 39-19796 (84 FR 67171, December 9, 2019), and
adding the following new AD: