AD 2001-24-31

Effective January 16, 2002.

The incorporation by reference of certain publications listed in the regulations is approved by the Director of the Federal Register as of January 16, 2002.

The service information referenced in this AD may be obtained from Boeing Commercial Airplane Group, P.O. Box 3707, Seattle, Washington 98124-2207. This information may be examined at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Transport Airplane Directorate, Rules Docket, 1601 Lind Avenue, SW., Renton, Washington; or at the Office of the Federal Register, 800 North Capitol Street, NW., suite 700, Washington, DC.

Stephen Oshiro, Aerospace Engineer, Systems and Equipment Branch, ANM-130S, FAA, Seattle Aircraft Certification Office, 1601 Lind Avenue, SW., Renton, Washington 98055-4056; telephone (425) 227-2793; fax (425) 227-1181.

A proposal to amend part 39 of the Federal Aviation Regulations (14 CFR part 39) to include an airworthiness directive (AD) that is applicable to certain Boeing Model 747 series airplanes was published in the Federal Register on July 23, 2001 (66 FR 38211). That action proposed to require performing a one-time inspection for chafing of certain electrical wire bundles behind the flight engineer's panel in the cockpit; repairing any chafed wire bundles, if necessary; and installing Teflon sleeving over the inspected wire bundles and rerouting them.

Interested persons have been afforded an opportunity to participate in the making of this amendment. Due consideration has been given to the single comment received.

The commenter requests that the FAA revise the proposed AD to specify that accomplishment of the necessary actions according to Boeing Alert Service Bulletin 747-24A2118, Revision 3, dated June 24, 1999, OR EARLIER REVISIONS, is acceptable for compliance. The commenter states that it has done the actions on its airplanes according to revisions of the service bulletin prior to Revision 3 and believes that this meets the intent of the proposed AD.

The FAA concurs and has added Note 3 to this final rule (and reordered subsequent notes accordingly) to state that inspections and follow-on actions accomplished before the effective date of this AD according to Boeing Service Bulletin 747-24-2118, dated February 9, 1989; Revision 1, dated May 11, 1989; or Revision 2, dated December 21, 1989; are acceptable for compliance with the corresponding actions required by this AD.

After careful review of the available data, including the comment noted above, the FAA has determined that air safety and the public interest require the adoption of the rule with the changes previously described. The FAA has determined that these changes will neither increase the economic burden on any operator nor increase the scope of the AD.

There are approximately 443 Model 747 series airplanes of the affected design in the worldwide fleet. The FAA estimates that 164 airplanes of U.S. registry will be affected by this AD, that it will take approximately 3 work hours per airplane to accomplish the required actions, and that the average labor rate is $60 per work hour. The cost of required parts per airplane will be negligible. Based on these figures, the cost impact of this AD on U.S. operators is estimated to be $29,520, or $180 per airplane.

The cost impact figure discussed above is based on assumptions that no operator has yet accomplished any of the requirements of this AD action, and that no operator would accomplish those actions in the future if this AD were not adopted. The cost impact figures discussed in AD rulemaking actions represent only the time necessary to perform the specific actions actually required by the AD. These figures typically do not include incidental costs, such as the time required to gain access and close up, planning time, or time necessitated by other administrative actions.

The regulations adopted herein will 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. Therefore, it is determined that this final rule does not have federalism implications under Executive Order 13132.

For the reasons discussed above, I certify that this action (1) is not a “significant regulatory action” under Executive Order 12866; (2) is not a “significant rule” under DOT Regulatory Policies and Procedures (44 FR 11034, February 26, 1979); 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. A final evaluation has been prepared for this action and it is contained in the Rules Docket. A copy of it may be obtained from the Rules Docket at the location provided under the caption ADDRESSES.

Accordingly, pursuant to the authority delegated to me by the Administrator, the Federal Aviation Administration amends part 39 of the Federal Aviation Regulations (14 CFR part 39) as follows:

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

2. Section 39.13 is amended by adding the following new airworthiness directive: