Department of Transportation September 7, 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This action corrects an error in the airspace description contained in a Final Rule that was published in the Federal Register on Wednesday, August 23, 2006 (71 FR 49343). Airspace Docket No. 06-AAL- 07.

This notice proposes special conditions for the Airbus A380- 800 airplane. This airplane will have novel or unusual design features when compared to the state of technology envisioned in the airworthiness standards for transport category airplanes. The Airbus A380-800 will incorporate the use of high capacity lithium ion battery technology in on-board systems. For this design feature, the applicable airworthiness regulations do not contain adequate or appropriate safety standards regarding lithium ion batteries. These proposed 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. Additional special conditions will be issued for other novel or unusual design features of the Airbus Model A380-800 airplane.

The U.S. Army will soon be changing the name of Fort (Ft.) Wainwright Army Airfield (AAF) to Ladd AAF. This action amends the airport name accordingly for each of the Class D and Class E airspace descriptions in FAA Order 7400.9N. This action also amends an altitude omission which currently does not exist in the FAA Order 7400.9N. This action also redefines the airspace description to account for recent updates to the airfield coordinates.

This final rule revises delegations of authority to carry out the Federal hazardous material transportation law, as amended by the Hazardous Materials Transportation Safety and Security Reauthorization Act of 2005 (Title VII of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users or ``SAFETEA-LU''), and in accordance with the Norman Y. Mineta Research and Special Programs Improvement Act, Public Law 108-426, 118 Stat. 2423 (November 30, 2004) (Mineta Act) that were previously published in 71 FR 30828 (May 31, 2006). This final rule also adds delegations of authority to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and the Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA) to carry out certain provisions of SAFETEA-LU.

This notice describes the terms and conditions on which the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) proposes to classify High- Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes that are converted to High-Occupancy/Toll (HOT) lanes as ``fixed guideway miles'' for purposes of the transit funding formulas administered by FTA. The notice also describes when HOT lanes would be ineligible for classification as fixed guideway miles in FTA's funding formulas, clarifies which HOT lanes shall not be eligible for reporting as fixed guideway miles in FTA's funding formulas, and seeks comment from interested parties. After consideration of the comments, FTA will issue a second Federal Register notice responding to comments received and noting any changes made to the policy statement as a result of comments received.

The FAA is issuing this notice to advise the public of a meeting of RTCA Special Committee 203, Minimum Performance Standards for Unmanned Aircraft Systems and Unmanned Aircraft and Working Groups 1-3.

This notice grants the Automobili Lamborghini SpA (``Lamborghini''); Bugatti Automobiles S.A.S. and Bugatti Engineering GmbH (collectively, ``Bugatti''); Group Lotus Plc (``Lotus''); Morgan Motor Company Limited (``Morgan''); and Maserati SpA (``Maserati'') applications for temporary exemption from certain advanced air bag requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 208, Occupant Crash Protection. The exemptions apply to the Lamborghini Murcielago, the Bugatti Veyron 16.4, the Lotus Elise, the Morgan Aero 8, and the Maserati Coupe/Spyder. In accordance with 49 CFR part 555, the basis for each grant is that compliance would cause substantial economic hardship to a manufacturer that has tried in good faith to comply with the standard, and the exemption would have a negligible impact on motor vehicle safety. The exemptions for the Lamborghini Murcielago, the Lotus Elise, and the Morgan Aero 8 are effective September 1, 2006 and will remain in effect until August 31, 2009. The exemption for the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 is effective from September 1, 2006 and will remain in effect until September 1, 2008. The exemption for the Maserati Coupe/Spyder is effective from September 1, 2006 and will remain in effect until December 31, 2007. In accordance with the requirements of 49 U.S.C. 30113(b)(2), we published a notice of receipt of the applications \1\ in the Federal Register and asked for public comments.\2\ We received comments from four of the petitioners (Lamborghini, Lotus, Morgan, and Maserati), one trade organization, and one individual. Please note that, as was done with the notice of receipt, we are publishing this decision notice for the five applications together to ensure efficient use of agency resources and to facilitate the timely processing of the applications. However, NHTSA considered each application individually, and our decision regarding the temporary exemption for each company is discussed separately below.