Department of Transportation August 25, 2009 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) requests comment on the methods the Agency should consider implementing to provide further assurance that a new applicant carrier is knowledgeable about the applicable safety requirements before being granted New Entrant authority. We are considering whether to implement a proficiency examination as part of our revised New Entrant Safety Assurance Process and seek information concerning issues that should be considered in the development and use of such an examination. In addition, the Agency requests comments on other alternatives to a proficiency examination to complement the assurances already in place that new entrant carriers are knowledgeable about applicable safety requirements. This notice responds to issues raised by Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety (Advocates) regarding new entrant applicant knowledgeability.

This document makes permanent an existing requirement that trailers with antilock brake systems (ABS) be equipped with an external malfunction indicator lamp. The indicator lamp requirement, which is included in the Federal motor vehicle safety standard that governs air- braked vehicles, was originally scheduled to sunset on March 1, 2009, but had previously been extended to September 1, 2009. The agency had established a sunset date for this requirement in light of the increasing numbers of post-2001 tractors which have an in-cab trailer ABS malfunction lamp, making the external trailer lamp redundant. We are making the requirement permanent in light of additional safety purposes served by the external lamp, including: it not only warns the driver of a malfunctioning trailer ABS, but, unlike the in-cab lamps, indicates which trailer in double and trailer applications has a malfunction, and it assists Federal and State roadside inspectors and maintenance personnel in identifying a malfunctioning trailer ABS. This rulemaking was conducted in response to petitions from the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance.

We propose to adopt a new airworthiness directive (AD) for all Boeing Model 747 airplanes. This proposed AD would require one-time detailed and high frequency eddy current inspections for cracks in the wing and horizontal stabilizer side-of-body joints and the fuselage skin circumferential splices, and repair if necessary. This proposed AD would also require, for certain airplanes, repetitive detailed inspections for cracks of the fuselage skin circumferential splices, and repair if necessary. This proposed AD results from Boeing analysis indicating that the wing and horizontal stabilizer side-of-body joints, and the fuselage skin circumferential splices are susceptible to fatigue cracking due to high cyclic loads on the airplane. We are proposing this AD to detect and correct fatigue cracking at multiple adjacent locations in the subject areas, which could connect to form large cracks and result in reduced structural integrity leading to rapid decompression and consequent loss of control of the airplane.

PHMSA is authorizing persons who offer lithium metal and lithium ion cells and batteries for transportation in commerce, and persons who transport lithium metal and lithium ion cells and batteries in commerce, to describe those articles in the same manner as recently adopted in international regulations. PHMSA will consider adopting these alternate shipping descriptions into the Hazardous Materials Regulations at a future date.