DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Aviation Administration

14 CFR Part 39

[Docket No. FAA-2024-1010; Project Identifier MCAI-2024-00079-T]
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)
2023-18-09, which applies to certain Dassault Aviation Model FALCON
900EX airplanes. AD 2023-18-09 requires revising the existing
maintenance or inspection program, as applicable, to incorporate new or
more restrictive airworthiness limitations. Since the FAA issued AD
2023-18-09, the FAA has determined that new or more restrictive
airworthiness limitations are necessary. This proposed AD would
continue to require certain actions in AD 2023-18-09 and would require
revising the existing maintenance or inspection program, as applicable,
to incorporate new or more restrictive airworthiness limitations, as
specified in a European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) AD, which
is proposed for incorporation by reference (IBR). 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 June 10,
2024.

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 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: Deliver to Mail address above between 9
a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.
AD Docket: You may examine the AD docket at regulations.gov under
Docket No. FAA-2024-1010; 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, the mandatory continuing airworthiness
information (MCAI), any comments received, and other information. The
street address for Docket Operations is listed above.
Material Incorporated by Reference:
For the EASA ADs, contact EASA, Konrad-Adenauer-Ufer 3,
50668 Cologne, Germany; telephone +49 221 8999 000; email
ADs@easa.europa.eu; website easa.europa.eu. You may find this material
on the EASA website at ad.easa.europa.eu. It is also available at
regulations.gov under Docket No. FAA-2024-1010.
You may view this material at the FAA, Airworthiness
Products Section, Operational Safety Branch, 2200 South 216th Street,
Des Moines, WA. For information on the availability of this material at
the FAA, call 206-231-3195.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tom Rodriguez, Aviation Safety
Engineer, FAA, 1600 Stewart Avenue, Suite 410, Westbury, NY 11590;
telephone 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. Send your comments to an address listed
under ADDRESSES. Include ``Docket No. FAA-2024-1010; Project Identifier
MCAI-2024-00079-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
regulations.gov, including any personal information you provide. The
agency will also post a report summarizing each substantive verbal
contact received about this NPRM.

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 Tom Rodriguez, Aviation Safety
Engineer, FAA, 1600 Stewart Avenue, Suite 410, Westbury, NY 11590;
telephone 206-231-3226; email tom.rodriguez@faa.gov. Any commentary
that the FAA receives which is not specifically designated as CBI will
be placed in the public docket for this rulemaking.

Background

The FAA issued AD 2023-18-09, Amendment 39-22550 (88 FR 66683,
September 28, 2023) (AD 2023-18-09), for certain Dassault Aviation
Model FALCON 900EX airplanes. AD 2023-18-09 was prompted by an MCAI
originated by EASA, which is the Technical Agent for the Member States
of the European Union. EASA issued AD 2023-0047, dated March 2, 2023
(EASA AD 2023-0047) (which corresponds to FAA AD 2023-18-09), to
correct an unsafe condition.
AD 2023-18-09 requires revising the existing maintenance or
inspection program, as applicable, to incorporate new or more
restrictive airworthiness limitations. The FAA issued AD 2023-18-09 to
address among other things, fatigue cracking and damage in principal
structural elements. The unsafe condition, if not addressed, could
result in reduced structural integrity of the airplane.

Actions Since AD 2023-18-09 Was Issued

Since the FAA issued AD 2023-18-09, EASA superseded EASA AD 2023-
0047, and issued EASA AD 2024-0034, dated January 31, 2024 (EASA AD
2024-0034) (also referred to as the MCAI), to correct an unsafe
condition for certain Dassault Aviation Model FALCON 900EX airplanes.
The MCAI states that new or more restrictive airworthiness limitations
have been developed.
Airplanes with an original airworthiness certificate or original
export certificate of airworthiness issued after November 15, 2023,
must comply with the airworthiness limitations specified as part of the
approved type design and referenced on the type certificate data sheet;
this proposed AD therefore does not include those airplanes in the
applicability.
The FAA is proposing this AD to address among other things, fatigue
cracking and damage in principal structural elements. The unsafe
condition, if not addressed, could result in reduced structural
integrity of the airplane. You may examine the MCAI in the AD docket at
regulations.gov under Docket No. FAA-2024-1010.

Related Service Information Under 1 CFR Part 51

The FAA reviewed EASA AD 2024-0034 which specifies new or more
restrictive airworthiness limitations for airplane structures and safe
life limits.
This proposed AD would also require EASA AD 2023-0047, which the
Director of the Federal Register approved for incorporation by
reference as of November 2, 2023 (88 FR 66683, September 28, 2023).
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 ADDRESSES.

FAA's Determination

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 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 NPRM after determining that
the unsafe condition described previously is likely to exist or develop
in other products of the same type design.

Proposed AD Requirements in This NPRM

This proposed AD would retain certain requirements of AD 2023-18-
09. This proposed AD would also require revising the existing
maintenance or inspection program, as applicable, to incorporate
additional new or more restrictive airworthiness limitations, which are
specified in EASA AD 2024-0034 described previously, except for any
differences identified as exceptions in the regulatory text of this
proposed 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 (AMOC) 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 developed a process to use some civil aviation
authority (CAA) ADs as the primary source of information for compliance
with requirements for corresponding FAA ADs. The FAA has been
coordinating this process with manufacturers and CAAs. As a result, the
FAA proposes to retain the IBR of EASA AD 2023-0047 and incorporate
EASA AD 2024-0034 by reference in the FAA final rule. This proposed AD
would, therefore, require compliance with EASA AD 2023-0047 and EASA AD
2024-0034 in their 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 EASA AD 2023-0047 or EASA AD 2024-0034 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
EASA AD 2023-0047 or EASA AD 2024-0034. Service information required by
EASA AD 2023-0047 and EASA AD 2024-0034 for compliance will be
available at regulations.gov under Docket No. FAA-2024-1010 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).
The previous format of the airworthiness limitation ADs included a
paragraph that specified that no alternative actions (e.g.,
inspections) or intervals may be used unless the actions and intervals
are approved as an AMOC in accordance with the procedures specified in
the AMOCs paragraph under ``Additional AD Provisions.'' This new format
includes a ``New Provisions for Alternative and Intervals'' paragraph
that does not specifically refer to AMOCs, but operators may still
request an AMOC to use an alternative action or interval.

Costs of Compliance

The FAA estimates that this AD, if adopted as proposed, would
affect 158 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 2023-18-09 to be $7,650 (90 work-hours x $85 per work-
hour).
The FAA has determined that revising the existing maintenance or
inspection program takes an average of 90 work-hours per operator,
although the agency recognizes that this number may vary from operator
to operator. 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.
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) Would not affect intrastate aviation in Alaska, and
(3) Would 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:

a. Removing airworthiness directive 2023-18-09, Amendment 39-22550 (88
FR 66683, September 28, 2023); and

b. Adding the following new airworthiness directive: