National Transportation Safety Board – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The NTSB is announcing its plan to submit a collection of information to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for approval, in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act. This information collection is necessary to obtain the contact information of family members and friends of those persons who have been involved in transportation accidents, as well as the survivors of those accidents, who seek to receive periodic updates from the NTSB's Office of Transportation Disaster Assistance. This Notice informs the public that it may submit comments concerning the proposed use of this form to the NTSB.

The NTSB is proposing to amend its regulations concerning notification and reporting requirements with regard to aircraft accidents or incidents, found at paragraph (a)(10) of section 830.5, entitled, ``Immediate notification.'' Currently, 49 CFR 830.5(a)(10) requires reports of Airborne Collision and Avoidance System (ACAS) advisories issued under certain specific circumstances. The NTSB now proposes to narrow the ACAS reporting requirement in section 830.5(a)(10).

The NTSB's regulations on Employee Responsibilities and Conduct, located at 49 CFR part 805 (part 805), have been superseded by regulations of the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) issued pursuant to the provisions of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978, as amended, and codified at 5 CFR parts 2634 and 2635. Accordingly, the NTSB is rescinding part 805 in its entirety.

Notice is hereby given of the appointment of members of the National Transportation Safety Board, Performance Review Board (PRB).

In accordance with Section 743 of Division C of the FY2010 Consolidated Appropriations Act, Public Law 111-175, the NTSB announces the availability of the FY2010 inventory of service contracts.

The NTSB seeks comments from the public regarding amendments to its regulations which set forth rules of procedure for the NTSB's review of certificate actions taken by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and those which set forth rules of procedure concerning applications for fees and expenses under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA). The NTSB is undertaking a review in an effort to respond to parties' suggestions for changing the rules, in order to update rules that may be outdated, in the interest of modernizing the rules to accommodate prospective electronic filing and document availability in case dockets.

The NTSB is amending its regulations on the notification and reporting of aircraft accidents or incidents by adding a definition of ``unmanned aircraft accident'' and requiring that operators notify the NTSB of accidents involving such aircraft. (Unmanned aircraft are often also called remotely piloted vehicles.)

The NTSB is announcing that it is submitting an Information Collection Request (ICR) to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for approval, in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act. This ICR describes a form that the NTSB proposes to use to obtain information from operators who need to report the occurrence of a resolution advisory (RA) in which an aircraft encountered a risk of collision with another aircraft. The proposed form is shorter than the form in which the NTSB currently receives reports of incidents under 49 CFR 830.5 (NTSB Form 6120.1). This Notice informs the public that they may submit comments concerning the proposed use of this new form to the NTSB Desk Officer at the OMB.

This notice is in accordance with OMB Circular A-11, Section 210.3 (b), Consultation and Outreach, which requires that the NTSB solicits comments on the proposed strategic plan to be published by December 2009. All interested parties are invited to submit comments regarding this proposed strategic plan. As background, NTSB's 2007-2012 strategic plan was published February 9, 2007. The proposed strategic plan updates the original plan, incorporating lessons learned from three years of performance management at the agency. The revised plan includes similar strategic goals as the original plan, plus 17 enhanced strategic objectives and 28 key performance indicators to measure overall success of agency objectives. In addition, the proposed strategic plan includes an updated analysis of environmental factors affecting the agency, and a discussion of data reliability and evaluation methodology. You can view a copy of the draft strategic plan on the NTSB Web site at: https://www.ntsb.gov/Abt_NTSB/Plans/Strategic- Plan_2010-2015.pdf.