AD 2009-08-01

This AD becomes effective May 14, 2009.

The Director of the Federal Register approved the incorporation by reference of certain publications listed in the AD as of May 14, 2009.

On April 18, 2007 (72 FR 15818, April 3, 2007), the Director of the Federal Register approved the incorporation by reference of Honeywell Technical Newsletter A23-6111-008, Revision 001, dated February 22, 2007.

For service information identified in this AD, contact Honeywell Technical Operations Center, 1944 East Sky Harbor Circle, Phoenix, Arizona 85034-3442; telephone (U.S. and Canada) 800-601-3099, (international) 602-365-3099; e-mail AeroTechSupport@Honeywell.com; Internet http://www.honeywell.com.

Daniel Bui, Aerospace Engineer, Systems and Equipment Branch, ANM-130L, FAA, Los Angeles Aircraft Certification Office, 3960 Paramount Boulevard, Lakewood, California 90712-4137; telephone (562) 627-5339; fax (562) 627-5210.

The FAA issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to amend 14 CFR part 39 to include an AD that supersedes AD 2007-07-12, amendment 39-15009 (72 FR 15818, April 3, 2007). The existing AD applies to all Honeywell FMSs served by Honeywell NZ-2000 navigation computers and IC-800 integrated avionics computers. That NPRM was published in the Federal Register on August 21, 2008 (73 FR 49368). That NPRM proposed to retain the existing requirements of identifying affected airplanes by part numbers/modification levels and revising the Limitations section of the airplane flight manual. That NPRM also proposed to require uploading new software, which would terminate the existing requirements.

Since we issued the NPRM, Honeywell has published Alert Service Bulletin 7017300-22-A6112, Revision 001, dated February 7, 2008. In the NPRM, we referred to Honeywell Alert Service Bulletin 7017300-22-A6112, dated June 22, 2007, as the appropriate source of service information for accomplishing the proposed actions. The procedures in Revision 001 of this service bulletin are essentially the same as those in the original issue of this service bulletin. Revision 001 of this service bulletin includes instructions to load software onboard as an alternative to sending the unit to a service center to have the software loaded.

Therefore, we have revised this AD to refer to Honeywell Alert Service Bulletin 7017300-22-A6112, Revision 001, dated February 7, 2008, as the appropriate source of service information. We have also added a new paragraph (i) to this AD that specifies that actions done before the effective date of this AD in accordance with Honeywell Alert Service Bulletin 7017300-22-A6112, dated June 22, 2007, are acceptable for compliance with the requirements of this AD and re-identified subsequent paragraphs.

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

Honeywell requests that we remove the references to Honeywell Service Bulletin 7018879-34-6061, Revision 001, dated January 21, 2008, from the NPRM because the service modifications identified in this service bulletin are not affected by the identified unsafe condition and the modification works correctly.

We agree that Honeywell Service Bulletin 7018879-34-6061, Revision 001, dated January 21, 2008, is unnecessary. This service bulletin, which includes Modifications A and B, did not exhibit the FMS position jump problem that this AD addresses. This problem started when Modification C was incorporated into the affected units. Since Modifications A and B did not exhibit the FMS position jump problem, operators of these units are not required to incorporate the AFM revision procedures. Therefore, we have removed references to Honeywell Service Bulletin 7018879-34-6061, Revision 001, dated January 21, 2008, from this AD.

Honeywell notes that the NPRM states that the new software should be “uploaded.” This term may cause some confusion as very few of the affected airplanes have the capability to field-load the software. Honeywell recommends replacing the term “upload” with “upgrade.”

We agree that this terminology may cause some confusion, and we have changed the “upload” terminology to “upgrade” throughout this AD.

The manufacturer, Honeywell, has requested that we change the contact information for service information to Honeywell Technical Operations Center, 1944 East Sky Harbor Circle, Phoenix, Arizona 85034-3442; telephone (U.S. and Canada) 800-601-3099; (international) 602-365-3099; e-mail AeroTechSupport@Honeywell.com.

We agree, and we have provided the specific contact information for the manufacturer as requested.

We have carefully reviewed the available data, including the comments that have been received, 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.

There are about 104 airplanes of the affected design in the worldwide fleet. The following table provides the estimated costs for U.S. operators to comply with this AD.

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 39-15009 (72 FR 15818, April 3, 2007) and by adding the following new airworthiness directive (AD):