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| Personnel and Cargo Accommodations | 27.771 – 27.833 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Docket No. 5074, 29 FR 15695, Nov. 24, 1964, unless otherwise noted.
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Subscribe to: 14 CFR Part 27 Subpart D - Personnel and Cargo Accommodations
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For each pilot compartment—
(a) The compartment and its equipment must allow each pilot to perform his duties without unreasonable concentration or fatigue;
(b) If there is provision for a second pilot, the rotorcraft must be controllable with equal safety from either pilot seat; and
(c) The vibration and noise characteristics of cockpit appurtenances may not interfere with safe operation.
(a) Each pilot compartment must be free from glare and reflections that could interfere with the pilot's view, and designed so that—
(1) Each pilot's view is sufficiently extensive, clear, and undistorted for safe operation; and
(2) Each pilot is protected from the elements so that moderate rain conditions do not unduly impair his view of the flight path in normal flight and while landing.
(b) If certification for night operation is requested, compliance with paragraph (a) of this section must be shown by ground or night flight tests.
(c) A vision system with a transparent display surface located in the pilot's outside field of view, such as a head up-display, head mounted display, or other equivalent display, must meet the following requirements:
(1) While the vision system display is in operation, it must compensate for interference with the pilot's outside field of view such that the combination of what is visible in the display and what remains visible through and around it, allows the pilot compartment to satisfy the requirements of paragraphs (a)(1) and (b) of this section.
(2) The pilot's view of the external scene may not be distorted by the transparent display surface or by the vision system imagery. When the vision system displays imagery or any symbology that is referenced to the imagery and outside scene topography, including attitude symbology, flight path vector, and flight path angle reference cue, that imagery and symbology must be aligned with, and scaled to, the external scene.
(3) The vision system must provide a means to allow the pilot using the display to immediately deactivate and reactivate the vision system imagery, on demand, without removing the pilot's hands from the primary flight and power controls, or their equivalent.
(4) When the vision system is not in operation it must permit the pilot compartment to satisfy the requirements of paragraphs (a)(1) and (b) of this section.
[Doc. No. 5074, 29 FR 15695, Nov. 24, 1964, as amended by Docket FAA-2013-0485, Amdt. 27-48, 81 FR 90170, Dec. 13, 2016; Docket FAA-2016-9275, Amdt. 27-50, 83 FR 9423, Mar. 6, 2018]
Windshields and windows must be made of material that will not break into dangerous fragments.
[Amdt. 27-27, 55 FR 38966, Sept. 21, 1990]
Cockpit controls must be—
(a) Located to provide convenient operation and to prevent confusion and inadvertent operation; and
(b) Located and arranged with respect to the pilots' seats so that there is full and unrestricted movement of each control without interference from the cockpit structure or the pilot's clothing when pilots from 5′2″ to 6′0″ in height are seated.
Cockpit controls must be designed so that they operate in accordance with the following movements and actuation:
(a) Flight controls, including the collective pitch control, must operate with a sense of motion which corresponds to the effect on the rotorcraft.
(b) Twist-grip engine power controls must be designed so that, for lefthand operation, the motion of the pilot's hand is clockwise to increase power when the hand is viewed from the edge containing the index finger. Other engine power controls, excluding the collective control, must operate with a forward motion to increase power.
(c) Normal landing gear controls must operate downward to extend the landing gear.
[Amdt. 27-21, 49 FR 44434, Nov. 6, 1984]
(a) Each closed cabin must have at least one adequate and easily accessible external door.
(b) Each external door must be located where persons using it will not be endangered by the rotors, propellers, engine intakes, and exhausts when appropriate operating procedures are used. If opening procedures are required, they must be marked inside, on or adjacent to the door opening device.
[Doc. No. 5074, 29 FR 15695, Nov. 24, 1964, as amended by Amdt. 27-26, 55 FR 8001, Mar. 6, 1990]
(a) Each seat, safety belt, harness, and adjacent part of the rotorcraft at each station designated for occupancy during takeoff and landing must be free of potentially injurious objects, sharp edges, protuberances, and hard surfaces and must be designed so that a person making proper use of these facilities will not suffer serious injury in an emergency landing as a result of the static inertial load factors specified in § 27.561(b) and dynamic conditions specified in § 27.562.
(b) Each occupant must be protected from serious head injury by a safety belt plus a shoulder harness that will prevent the head from contacting any injurious object except as provided for in § 27.562(c)(5). A shoulder harness (upper torso restraint), in combination with the safety belt, constitutes a torso restraint system as described in TSO-C114.
(c) Each occupant's seat must have a combined safety belt and shoulder harness with a single-point release. Each pilot's combined safety belt and shoulder harness must allow each pilot when seated with safety belt and shoulder harness fastened to perform all functions necessary for flight operations. There must be a means to secure belts and harnesses, when not in use, to prevent interference with the operation of the rotorcraft and with rapid egress in an emergency.
(d) If seat backs do not have a firm handhold, there must be hand grips or rails along each aisle to enable the occupants to steady themselves while using the aisle in moderately rough air.
(e) Each projecting object that could injure persons seated or moving about in the rotorcraft in normal flight must be padded.
(f) Each seat and its supporting structure must be designed for an occupant weight of at least 170 pounds considering the maximum load factors, inertial forces, and reactions between occupant, seat, and safety belt or harness corresponding with the applicable flight and ground load conditions, including the emergency landing conditions of § 27.561(b). In addition—
(1) Each pilot seat must be designed for the reactions resulting from the application of the pilot forces prescribed in § 27.397; and
(2) The inertial forces prescribed in § 27.561(b) must be multiplied by a factor of 1.33 in determining the strength of the attachment of—
(i) Each seat to the structure; and
(ii) Each safety belt or harness to the seat or structure.
(g) When the safety belt and shoulder harness are combined, the rated strength of the safety belt and shoulder harness may not be less than that corresponding to the inertial forces specified in § 27.561(b), considering the occupant weight of at least 170 pounds, considering the dimensional characteristics of the restraint system installation, and using a distribution of at least a 60-percent load to the safety belt and at least a 40-percent load to the shoulder harness. If the safety belt is capable of being used without the shoulder harness, the inertial forces specified must be met by the safety belt alone.
(h) When a headrest is used, the headrest and its supporting structure must be designed to resist the inertia forces specified in § 27.561, with a 1.33 fitting factor and a head weight of at least 13 pounds.
(i) Each seating device system includes the device such as the seat, the cushions, the occupant restraint system, and attachment devices.
(j) Each seating device system may use design features such as crushing or separation of certain parts of the seats to reduce occupant loads for the emergency landing dynamic conditions of § 27.562; otherwise, the system must remain intact and must not interfere with rapid evacuation of the rotorcraft.
(k) For the purposes of this section, a litter is defined as a device designed to carry a nonambulatory person, primarily in a recumbent position, into and on the rotorcraft. Each berth or litter must be designed to withstand the load reaction of an occupant weight of at least 170 pounds when the occupant is subjected to the forward inertial factors specified in § 27.561(b). A berth or litter installed within 15° or less of the longitudinal axis of the rotorcraft must be provided with a padded end-board, cloth diaphram, or equivalent means that can withstand the forward load reaction. A berth or litter oriented greater than 15° with the longitudinal axis of the rotorcraft must be equipped with appropriate restraints, such as straps or safety belts, to withstand the forward load reaction. In addition—
(1) The berth or litter must have a restraint system and must not have corners or other protuberances likely to cause serious injury to a person occupying it during emergency landing conditions; and
(2) The berth or litter attachment and the occupant restraint system attachments to the structure must be designed to withstand the critical loads resulting from flight and ground load conditions and from the conditions prescribed in § 27.561(b). The fitting factor required by § 27.625(d) shall be applied.
[Amdt. 27-21, 49 FR 44434, Nov. 6, 1984, as amended by Amdt. 27-25, 54 FR 47319, Nov. 13, 1989; Amdt. 27-35, 63 FR 43285, Aug. 12, 1998]
(a) Each cargo and baggage compartment must be designed for its placarded maximum weight of contents and for the critical load distributions at the appropriate maximum load factors corresponding to the specified flight and ground load conditions, except the emergency landing conditions of § 27.561.
(b) There must be means to prevent the contents of any compartment from becoming a hazard by shifting under the loads specified in paragraph (a) of this section.
(c) Under the emergency landing conditions of § 27.561, cargo and baggage compartments must—
(1) Be positioned so that if the contents break loose they are unlikely to cause injury to the occupants or restrict any of the escape facilities provided for use after an emergency landing; or
(2) Have sufficient strength to withstand the conditions specified in § 27.561 including the means of restraint, and their attachments, required by paragraph (b) of this section. Sufficient strength must be provided for the maximum authorized weight of cargo and baggage at the critical loading distribution.
(d) If cargo compartment lamps are installed, each lamp must be installed so as to prevent contact between lamp bulb and cargo.
[Doc. No. 5074, 29 FR 15695, Nov. 24, 1964, as amended by Amdt. 27-11, 41 FR 55469, Dec. 20, 1976; Amdt. 27-27, 55 FR 38966, Sept. 21, 1990]
(a) If certification with ditching provisions is requested, the rotorcraft must meet the requirements of this section and §§ 27.807(d), 27.1411 and 27.1415.
(b) Each practicable design measure, compatible with the general characteristics of the rotorcraft, must be taken to minimize the probability that in an emergency landing on water, the behavior of the rotorcraft would cause immediate injury to the occupants or would make it impossible for them to escape.
(c) The probable behavior of the rotorcraft in a water landing must be investigated by model tests or by comparison with rotorcraft of similar configuration for which the ditching characteristics are known. Scoops, flaps, projections, and any other factor likely to affect the hydrodynamic characteristics of the rotorcraft must be considered.
(d) It must be shown that, under reasonably probable water conditions, the flotation time and trim of the rotorcraft will allow the occupants to leave the rotorcraft and enter the life rafts required by § 27.1415. If compliance with this provision is shown by buoyancy and trim computations, appropriate allowances must be made for probable structural damage and leakage. If the rotorcraft has fuel tanks (with fuel jettisoning provisions) that can reasonably be expected to withstand a ditching without leakage, the jettisonable volume of fuel may be considered as buoyancy volume.
(e) Unless the effects of the collapse of external doors and windows are accounted for in the investigation of the probable behavior of the rotorcraft in a water landing (as prescribed in paragraphs (c) and (d) of this section), the external doors and windows must be designed to withstand the probable maximum local pressures.
[Amdt. 27-11, 41 FR 55469, Dec. 20, 1976]
(a) For rotorcraft with passenger emergency exits that are not convenient to the flight crew, there must be flight crew emergency exits, on both sides of the rotorcraft or as a top hatch in the flight crew area.
(b) Each flight crew emergency exit must be of sufficient size and must be located so as to allow rapid evacuation of the flight crew. This must be shown by test.
(c) Each flight crew emergency exit must not be obstructed by water or flotation devices after an emergency landing on water. This must be shown by test, demonstration, or analysis.
[Doc. No. 29247, 64 FR 45094, Aug. 18, 1999]
(a) Number and location.
(1) There must be at least one emergency exit on each side of the cabin readily accessible to each passenger. One of these exits must be usable in any probable attitude that may result from a crash;
(2) Doors intended for normal use may also serve as emergency exits, provided that they meet the requirements of this section; and
(3) If emergency flotation devices are installed, there must be an emergency exit accessible to each passenger on each side of the cabin that is shown by test, demonstration, or analysis to;
(i) Be above the waterline; and
(ii) Open without interference from flotation devices, whether stowed or deployed.
(b) Type and operation. Each emergency exit prescribed by paragraph (a) of this section must—
(1) Consist of a movable window or panel, or additional external door, providing an unobstructed opening that will admit a 19-by 26-inch ellipse;
(2) Have simple and obvious methods of opening, from the inside and from the outside, which do not require exceptional effort;
(3) Be arranged and marked so as to be readily located and opened even in darkness; and
(4) Be reasonably protected from jamming by fuselage deformation.
(c) Tests. The proper functioning of each emergency exit must be shown by test.
(d) Ditching emergency exits for passengers. If certification with ditching provisions is requested, the markings required by paragraph (b)(3) of this section must be designed to remain visible if the rotorcraft is capsized and the cabin is submerged.
[Doc. No. 29247, 64 FR 45094, Aug. 18, 1999]
(a) The ventilating system for the pilot and passenger compartments must be designed to prevent the presence of excessive quantities of fuel fumes and carbon monoxide.
(b) The concentration of carbon monoxide may not exceed one part in 20,000 parts of air during forward flight or hovering in still air. If the concentration exceeds this value under other conditions, there must be suitable operating restrictions.
Each combustion heater must be approved.
[Amdt. 27-23, 53 FR 34210, Sept. 2, 1988]