Department of Transportation 2005 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Pursuant to FAA's rulemaking provisions governing the application, processing, and disposition of petitions for exemption part 11 of Title 14, Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR), this notice contains a summary of certain petitions seeking relief from specified requirements of 14 CFR, dispositions of certain petitions previously received, and corrections. The purpose of this notice is to improve the public's awareness of, and participation in, this aspect of FAA's regulatory activities. Neither publication of this notice nor the inclusion or omission of information in the summary is intended to affect the legal status of any petition or its final disposition.

Pursuant to FAA's rulemaking provisions governing the application, processing, and disposition of petitions for exemption part 11 of Title 14, Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR), this notice contains a summary of certain petitions seeking relief from specified requirements of 14 CFR. The purpose of this notice is to improve the public's awareness of, and participation in, this aspect of FAA's regulatory activities. Neither publication of this notice nor the inclusion or omission of information in the summary is intended to affect the legal status of any petition or its final disposition.

This document responds to petitions for reconsideration of the October 1, 2004 final rule (69 FR 58843), which was in response to the initial petitions for reconsideration of the December 27, 2002 final rule (67 FR 79416) that established two new Federal motor vehicle safety standards (FMVSSs); FMVSS No. 403, Platform lift systems for motor vehicles, and FMVSS No. 404, Platform lift installations in motor vehicles. The purpose of these standards is to prevent injuries and fatalities during lift operation. In the October 2004 final rule the agency clarified the applicability of the standards as well as amended the definitions of certain operational functions, the requirements for lift lighting on public lifts, the interlock requirements, compliance procedures for lifts that manually deploy/stow, the environmental resistance requirements, the edge guard requirements, the wheelchair test device specifications, and the location requirements for public lift controls. The agency received petitions for reconsideration of the October 2004 final rule from a school bus manufacturer, a lift interlock/control manufacturer, a vehicle association, a school bus technical council and a dealer's association. The agency is denying the petitioners' request to require interlocks be designed to prevent ``malicious'' release and to place responsibility for lighting requirements under FMVSS No. 403. The request to amend the lighting intensity requirements under FMVSS No. 404 will be addressed in a separate notice as a petition for rulemaking.

In accordance with the procedures governing the application for, and the processing of, exemptions from the Department of Transportation's Hazardous Material Regulations (49 CFR part 107, subpart B), notice is hereby given that the Office of Hazardous Materials Safety has received the application described herein. This notice is abbreviated to expedite the docketing and public notice. Because the sections affected, modes of transportation, and the nature of application have been shown in earlier Federal Register publications, they are not repeated here. Request of modifications of exemptions (e.g. to provide for additional hazardous materials, packaging design changes, additional mode of transportation, etc.) are described in footnotes to the application number. Application numbers with the suffix ``M'' denote a modification request. Their applications have been separated from the new application for exemption to facilitate processing.

The Surface Transportation Board (STB) publishes the names of the persons selected to serve on its Senior Executive Service Performance Review Board (PRB).

FMCSA proposes to grant a 2-year exemption from the knowledge and skills tests required to obtain a school bus endorsement to a commercial driver's license (CDL) under 49 CFR 383.123. The exemption would be limited to school bus drivers from 11 States who passed equivalent tests before September 30, 2002.

BOC Gases (BOC) petitioned the PHMSA's Office of Pipeline Safety (OPS) for a waiver from the pipeline safety standards at 49 CFR 195.306(c)(5) to allow the use of inert gas or carbon dioxide as the test medium for pressure testing an existing carbon dioxide pipeline.

The FAA is adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for Hartzell Propeller Inc. models HC-B3TN-2, HC-B3TN-3, HC-B3TN-5, HC- B3MN-3, HC-B4TN-3, HC-B4TN-5, HC-B4MN-5, HC-B4MP-3, HC-B4MP-5, and HC- B5MP-3 propellers, installed with propeller mounting bolts, part number (P/N) B-3339. This AD requires initial and repetitive visual inspections and torque checks of certain manufacture lot numbers of propeller mounting bolts, P/N B-3339, and eventual removal from service of those bolts. This AD results from the discovery during routine propeller installation that a bolt from a certain manufacture lot did not properly absorb the installation torque. This AD also results from the discovery that other bolts of the same part number from a different manufacture lot had material surface pitting. We are issuing this AD to prevent propeller attaching bolt failures or improperly secured propellers, which could lead to separation of the propeller from the airplane.

The FAA is superseding an existing airworthiness directive (AD), which applies to certain McDonnell Douglas transport category airplanes. That AD currently requires implementation of a program of structural inspections to detect and correct fatigue cracking in order to ensure the continued airworthiness of these airplanes as they approach the manufacturer's original fatigue design life goal. This new AD requires implementation of a program of structural inspections of baseline structure to detect and correct fatigue cracking in order to ensure the continued airworthiness of these airplanes as they approach the manufacturer's original fatigue design life goal. This AD is prompted by a significant number of these airplanes approaching or exceeding the design service goal on which the initial type certification approval was predicated. We are issuing this AD to detect and correct fatigue cracking that could compromise the structural integrity of these airplanes.

The FAA is issuing this notice to advise the public of a meeting of the RTCA Program Management Committee.

NHTSA received a letter asking us to extend the comment period for the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to amend the Federal motor vehicle safety standard (FMVSS) for occupant crash protection. The agency has proposed to amend FMVSS No. 208, Occupant crash protection, by establishing a test procedure applicable to vehicles equipped with a child restraint anchorage system, commonly referred to as a ``LATCH'' system, in a front passenger seating position and that comply with advanced air bag requirements through the use of a suppression system. The proposed procedures specify a repeatable, reproducible, and realistic method of attaching child restraints to the LATCH system for the suppression test. To provide interested persons additional time to prepare comments, we are extending the end of the comment period from July 18, 2005, to August 17, 2005. This 30-day extension will allow vehicle manufacturers the appropriate opportunity to review a technical report cited in the NPRM in support of the agency's proposal, and provide more meaningful comments.

This notice announces NHTSA's publication of a technical report evaluating the changes over time in static stability factor in passenger vehicles. The report's title is: Trends in the Static Stability Factor of Passenger Cars, Light Trucks, and Vans.

Under the provisions of Title 49, U.S.C. Section 47153(d), notice is being given that the FAA is considering a request from the City of Monroe to waive the requirement that a 8.7 acre parcel of surplus property, located at the Monroe Regional Airport, be used for aeronautical purposes.

This document sets forth the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) policy concerning the shared responsibility between design approval holders (DAHs) and operators in achieving certain types of safety objectives. It also provides guidance on the use of DAH requirements to support these safety objectives. This policy statement is intended to further clarify when and how the FAA will use DAH requirements in the future to address certain airworthiness issues for transport airplanes.

Pursuant to FAA's rulemaking provisions governing the application, processing, and disposition of petitions for exemption part 11 of Title 14, Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR), this notice contains a summary of certain petitions seeking relief from specified requirements of 14 CFR. The purpose of this notice is to improve the public's awareness of, and participation in, this aspect of FAA's regulatory activities. Neither publication of this notice nor the inclusion or omission of information in the summary is intended to affect the legal status of any petition or its final disposition.

This notice announces the extension of the comment period for the notice of availability of and request for comments on a proposed advisory circular, Advisory Circular (AC) 23-13A, Fatigue, Fail-Safe, and Damage Tolerance Evaluation of Metallic Structure for Part 23 Airplanes. The FAA is extending the comment period to allow companies and individuals adequate time to complete their comments to the proposed AC.

This proposal would revise Class E airspace at Herlong, CA. Additional controlled airspace is necessary to contain Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) aircraft during airborne holding at Amedee Army Air Field (AAF) due to weather below landing minimums, traffic congestion, or other operational reasons. Holding airspace is designated at specific altitudes and lateral boundaries within controlled airspace to provide a safe environment above obstacles. This holding pattern is an integral part of the new Area Navigation (RNAV) Global Positioning System (GPS) Standard Instrument Approach Procedures (SIAPs) at the Amedee AAF.

These special conditions are issued for Dassault Model Fan Jet Falcon, Fan Jet Falcon Series C, D, E, and F airplanes; Model Mystere- Falcon 200 airplanes; and Model Mystere-Falcon 20-C5, 20-D5, 20-E5, and 20-F5 airplanes modified by Royal Air, Inc. These modified airplanes will have a novel or unusual design feature when compared to the state of technology envisioned in the airworthiness standards for transport category airplanes. The modification is the installation of new air data display units (ADDU) and a new air data sensor, which perform critical functions. The applicable airworthiness regulations do not contain adequate or appropriate safety standards for the protection of these systems from the effects of high-intensity radiated fields (HIRF). These special conditions contain the additional safety standards that the Administrator considers necessary to establish a level of safety equivalent to that established by the existing airworthiness standards.

This document grants in full the petition of General Motors Corporation (GM) for an exemption of a high-theft line, the Chevrolet Cobalt, from the parts-marking requirements of the Federal Motor Vehicle Theft Prevention Standard. This petition is granted because the agency has determined that the antitheft device to be placed on the line as standard equipment is likely to be as effective in reducing and deterring motor vehicle theft as compliance with the parts-marking requirements of the Theft Prevention Standard.

On July 12, 1996, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) published a final rule that rescinded Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 126, Truck-camper loading, and combined its provisions with 49 CFR 575.103, Truck-camper loading. When combining these two regulations, NHTSA inadvertently changed a cross reference so that it refers to only one of five information requirements, instead of all five as it had previously. This document corrects that error.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), this notice announces that the Information Collection Request (ICR) abstracted below has been forwarded to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for approval. The Federal Register Notice with a 60-day comment period soliciting comments was published on April 11, 2005.

This final rule will establish Class E airspace at Aspen, CO. A reduction in operating hours of Class D airspace service at Aspen- Pitkin County/Sardy Field makes this action necessary. This Class E airspace extending upward from the surface of the earth will provide a controlled environment for the safety of aircraft executing Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) operations outside the hours of Class D airspace service.