AD 2007-13-07

This AD becomes effective July 25, 2007.

The Director of the Federal Register approved the incorporation by reference of certain publications listed in the AD as of July 25, 2007.

On September 12, 2005 (70 FR 50166, August 26, 2005), the Director of the Federal Register approved the incorporation by reference of certain other publications listed in the AD.

You may examine the AD docket on the Internet at http://dms.dot.gov or in person at the U.S. Department of Transportation, Docket Operations, M-30, West Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, DC.

Contact Airbus, 1 Rond Point Maurice Bellonte, 31707 Blagnac Cedex, France, for service information identified in this AD.

Tim Backman, Aerospace Engineer, International Branch, ANM-116, Transport Airplane Directorate, FAA, 1601 Lind Avenue, SW., Renton, Washington 98057-3356; telephone (425) 227-2797; fax (425) 227-1149.

You may examine the airworthiness directive (AD) docket on the Internet at http://dms.dot.gov or in person at the Docket Operations office between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. The Docket Operations office (telephone (800) 647-5527) is located on the ground floor of the West Building at the street address stated in the ADDRESSES section.

The FAA issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to amend 14 CFR part 39 to include an AD that supersedes AD 2005-17-18, amendment 39-14239 (70 FR 50166, August 26, 2005). The existing AD applies to certain Airbus Model A330-200, A330-300, A340-200, and A340-300 series airplanes; and Model A340-541 and -642 airplanes. That NPRM was published in the Federal Register on March 15, 2007 (72 FR 12127). That NPRM proposed to continue to require repetitively resetting the display units for the electronic instrument system, either by switching them off and back on again or by performing a complete electrical shutdown of the airplane. That NPRM also proposed to require installing new software, which would end the actions required by the existing AD. That NPRM also proposed to add additional airplanes that may be placed on the U.S. Register in the future.

We provided the public the opportunity to participate in the development of this AD. No comments have been received on the NPRM or on the determination of the cost to the public.

Since we issued the NPRM, we have received Revision 03 of Airbus Service Bulletin A330-31-3056, dated November 25, 2004. Airbus issued this service bulletin to add non-U.S.-registered airplanes to the effectivity. The service bulletin describes procedures for installing Thales display system standard L4 or L5 in the electronic instrument system 2. No additional work is required for airplanes on which the required actions have been done in accordance with Airbus Service Bulletin A330-31-3056, Revision 02, dated March 24, 2003, which was referred to as the appropriate source of service information for the actions specified in the NPRM. We have changed the reference to this service bulletin in paragraph (i)(1)(ii) of the AD, added a new paragraph (j) of this AD to give credit for actions done before the effective date of this AD according to Revision 02 of the service bulletin, and redesignated subsequent paragraphs of the AD accordingly.

We have revised this action to clarify the appropriate procedure for notifying the principal inspector before using any approved AMOC on any airplane to which the AMOC applies.

We have revised paragraph (h) of this AD to include certain paragraph identifiers in Table 2 that were unintentionally omitted from the NPRM.

We unintentionally included only the A340-200 of the Model A340 airplanes in the subject line on the first page of the NPRM. It should have read “Airbus Model A330 and A340 Airplanes.” The correct models appeared in all other sections of the NPRM. We have corrected the subject line in the heading of this final rule.

We have carefully reviewed the available data and determined that air safety and the public interest require adopting the AD with the changes described previously. We have determined that these changes will neither increase the economic burden on any operator nor increase the scope of the AD.

The following table provides the estimated costs for U.S. operators to comply with this AD. The average labor rate per work hour is $80.

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.

We are 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.

We have determined that this AD will not have federalism implications under Executive Order 13132. This AD 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.

For the reasons discussed above, I certify that this AD:

(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.

We prepared a regulatory evaluation of the estimated costs to comply with this AD and placed it in the AD docket. See the ADDRESSES section for a location to examine the regulatory evaluation.

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

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

2. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) amends § 39.13 by removing amendment 39-14239 (70 FR 50166, August 26, 2005) and by adding the following new airworthiness directive (AD):