Airbus Model A310-300 Airplanes

Comment on [Docket No. FAA-2006-25079; Directorate Identifier 2006-NM-065-AD] RIN 2120-AA64 This proposed action (NPRM) requires the replacement of a certain fuel valve on Airbus A310 aircraft with a "new and improved" valve. The defective valve is not identified in the NPRM except by reference to Airbus and Lucas service documents leaving us to infer the faulty valve was manufactured by Lucas Aerospace before its components were acquired by Goodrich and TRW. This commenter, Modification and Replacement Parts Association (MARPA) submits these remarks on several issues raised by the NPRM. (1) Service Information There is referenced in the NPRM two service documents that apparently are required in order to accomplish the contemplated work. Neither of these documents is incorporated by reference in the NPRM pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552(a) and 1 CFR part 51. Because the service information is not incorporated it enjoys copyright protection against duplication and distribution by anyone including the U.S. Government. [When an otherwise private document is incorporated by reference into a public document the private document sheds its protections and becomes itself a public document.]. We believe that mandatory reference to a private document in order to comply with a rule is fatally flawed unless the private document is incorporated thereby being made public since public laws must be, by definition, public. Therefore, we request that all service documents required for accomplishment of the mandated work be incorporated by reference. (2) Publication of Service Information Under the aforestated authorities, incorporation by reference is a technique used to reduce the size of the Federal Register when the information is already available to the affected individuals. Traditionally, "affected individuals" has meant aircraft owners and operators who are generally provided service information by the manufacturer. However, a new class of affected individuals has since emerged because the majority of aircraft maintenance is now performed by specialty shops instead of aircraft owners and operators. This new class includes maintenance and repair organizations (MRO), component servicing and repair shops, parts purveyors and distributors and organizations manufacturing or servicing alternatively certified parts under 14 CFR § 21.303 (PMA). Further, the concept of brevity, the underpinning of the practice, is now nearly archaic as documents exist more frequently in electronic format than on paper. We therefore request that mandated and incorporated by reference service information be published in the Federal Register or the Document Management System (DMS) keyed to the NPRM or AD to which they apply. (3) Consideration of Alternatively Certified Parts (PMA) Proposed FAA Order 8040.2 at paragraph 9. a. (4) is extracted and set forth below: (4) Parts Manufacturer Approval (PMA). MCAI that require replacement or installation of certain parts could have replacement parts approved under 14 CFR § 21.303 based on a finding of identicality. We have determined that any parts approved under this regulation and installed should be subject to the actions of our AD and included in the applicability of our AD. The instant NPRM does not appear to have considered this aspect and we request that it be adjusted to give due consideration before issuance to the possible existence of alternatively certified parts. (4) Allowance for PMA part installation We suspect that the service documents referred to above require the installation of a specific "new and improved" part to the exclusion of all other parts and our comments below are predicated upon that assumption. MARPA has, on numerous occasions, objected to the Transport Airplane Directorate's (TAD) practice of mandating the installation of a certain part numbered part as the sole method of compliance with an airworthiness directive. Our belief has been and remains that such practice violates 14 CFR…