AD 2007-26-05

This AD becomes effective January 22, 2008.

The Director of the Federal Register approved the incorporation by reference of a certain publication listed in the AD as of January 22, 2008.

For service information identified in this AD, contact Boeing Commercial Airplanes, P.O. Box 3707, Seattle, Washington 98124-2207.

Gary Oltman, Aerospace Engineer, Airframe Branch, ANM-120S, FAA, Seattle Aircraft Certification Office, 1601 Lind Avenue, SW., Renton, Washington 98057-3356; telephone (425) 917-6443; fax (425) 917-6590.

The FAA issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to amend 14 CFR part 39 to include an AD that would apply to all Boeing Model 777-200, -200LR, -300, and -300ER series airplanes. That NPRM was published in the Federal Register on August 2, 2007 (72 FR 42326). That NPRM proposed to require doing initial and repetitive inspections for cracking of the elevator actuator fittings, and replacing any cracked fitting with a new fitting.

We provided the public the opportunity to participate in the development of this AD. We have considered the comments received.

Two commenters, Boeing and Continental Airlines, request that we revise an incorrect word in the NPRM. The commenters state that, under the Relevant Service Information section of the NPRM, the third bulleted item, which reads, in part, “before the accumulation of 10,000 total flight cycles or within 12 months after the date on the service bulletin, whichever occurs first,” should actually read “* * * whichever occurs later.” The commenters request that we make this change so the NPRM will conform to the actual compliance time specified by Boeing Alert Service Bulletin 777-55A0015, dated April 19, 2007, which is cited as the appropriate source of service information for accomplishing the proposed requirements of the NPRM.

We partially agree with this request. We agree that the specified word “first” should be “later,” to conform to the service bulletin. However, the Relevant Service Information section of the NPRM is not carried forward in the final rule; therefore, it is not necessary to change the AD in this regard.

We have carefully reviewed the available data, including the comments received, and determined that air safety and the public interest require adopting the AD as proposed.

There are about 619 airplanes of the affected design in the worldwide fleet. This AD affects about 138 airplanes of U.S. registry. The required inspections take about 4 work hours per airplane, per inspection cycle, at an average labor rate of $80 per work hour. Based on these figures, the estimated cost of the AD for U.S. operators is $44,160, or $320 per airplane, per inspection cycle.

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 adding the following new airworthiness directive (AD):