Department of Transportation September 4, 2009 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Federal Aviation Administration proposes to amend the airworthiness standards applicable to transport category airplanes to clarify that flying at or below the design maneuvering speed does not allow a pilot to make multiple large control inputs in one airplane axis or single full control inputs in more than one airplane axis at a time without endangering the airplane's structure. This proposed regulation is the result of an accident investigation and responds to a National Transportation Safety Board recommendation. The results of the accident investigation indicate that many pilots might have a general misunderstanding of what the design maneuvering speed (VA) is and the extent of structural protection that exists when an airplane is operated at speeds below its VA. This action is being taken to prevent this misunderstanding from causing or contributing to a future accident.

DOT publishes the names of the persons selected to serve on the various Departmental PRBs as required by 5 U.S.C. 4314(c)(4).

This notice announces the Eighteenth Public Meeting of members of the Crash Injury Research and Engineering Network. CIREN is a collaborative effort to conduct research on crashes and injuries at eight Level 1 Trauma Centers across the United States linked by a computer network. Researchers can review data and share expertise, which may lead to a better understanding of crash injury mechanisms and the design of safer vehicles. The eight centers will give presentations on current research based on CIREN data. The agenda will be posted to the CIREN Web site that can be accessed by going to the NHTSA homepage https://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/, click on Vehicle Safety Research on the right side of the top toolbar, then click on Crash Injury Research and Engineering Network (CIREN) in the box on the left. The agenda will be posted two weeks prior to the meeting.

Section 5207 of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) established the Surface Transportation Environment and Planning Cooperative Research Program (STEP). The FHWA anticipates that resources for STEP or a similar program to carry out national research on issues related to planning, environment, and realty are likely to be included in future surface transportation legislation even though SAFETEA-LU expires at the end of this fiscal year. Legislation preceding SAFETEA- LUthe Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA) and the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA- 21)provided resources for FHWA to carry out surface transportation research initiatives that included planning, environment, and realty research. SAFETEA-LU continued FHWA's research program funding and established STEP.

This notice contains a summary of a petition seeking relief from specified requirements of 14 CFR 21.151 and 21.153. 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 the petition or its final disposition.

We propose to adopt a new airworthiness directive (AD) for the products listed above that would supersede an existing AD. This proposed AD results from mandatory continuing airworthiness information (MCAI) originated by an aviation authority of another country to identify and correct an unsafe condition on an aviation product. The MCAI describes the unsafe condition as:

We propose to adopt a new airworthiness directive (AD) for the products listed above. This proposed AD results from mandatory continuing airworthiness information (MCAI) originated by an aviation authority of another country to identify and correct an unsafe condition on an aviation product. The MCAI describes the unsafe condition as:

We propose to adopt a new airworthiness directive (AD) for the products listed above. This proposed AD results from mandatory continuing airworthiness information (MCAI) originated by an aviation authority of another country to identify and correct an unsafe condition on an aviation product. The MCAI describes the unsafe condition as:

We are adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for the specified Agusta S.p.A. (Agusta) Model AB412 and AB412 EP helicopters. This AD results from mandatory continuing airworthiness information (MCAI) issued by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), which is the Technical Agent for the Member States of the European Community. The MCAI establishes a life limit for certain rescue hoist cable assemblies and introduces the term ``hoist lift'' for determining cable life instead of the term ``hoist cycle.'' The MCAI also establishes a replacement time for each affected rescue hoist cable assembly (hoist cable assembly) for which the accumulated number of ``hoist cycles'' cannot be determined. The actions are intended to prevent failure of a hoist cable and inadvertent loss of a load.