Department of Transportation May 10, 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is announcing the availability of Advisory Circular (AC) 90-109, which provides information and guidance to owners and pilots of experimental airplanes and to flight instructors who teach in these airplanes. This information and guidance contains recommendations for training experience for pilots of experimental airplanes in a variety of grouping based on performance and handling characteristics. This AC does not address the testing of newly built experimental airplanes. The current edition of AC 90-89, Amateur-Built and Ultralight Flight Testing Handbook, provides information on such testing. However, if a pilot is planning on participating in a flight-test program in an unfamiliar experimental airplane, this AC should be used to develop the skills and knowledge necessary to safely accomplish the test program using AC 90-89. This AC may also be useful in planning the transition to any unfamiliar fixed-wing airplanes, including type-certificated (TC) airplanes.

This action proposes special conditions for Boeing Model 747-8 series airplanes. These airplanes will have novel or unusual design features associated with the installation of an overhead flight attendant rest compartment. The applicable airworthiness regulations do not contain adequate or appropriate safety standards for these design features. 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 Boeing 747-8 airplanes.

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:

This action proposes special conditions for the Boeing Model 747-8 airplane. This airplane will have a novel or unusual design feature(s) associated with an extendable length escape slide. The applicable airworthiness regulations do not contain adequate or appropriate safety standards for this design feature. 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.

Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), NHTSA plans to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to analyze the potential environmental impacts of the agency's Corporate Average Fuel Economy program for passenger automobiles (referred to herein as ``passenger cars'') and non-passenger automobiles (referred to herein as ``light trucks''). The EIS will consider the potential environmental impacts of new fuel economy standards for model years 2017-2025 passenger cars and light trucks that NHTSA will be proposing pursuant to the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. This notice initiates the NEPA scoping process by inviting comments from Federal, State, and local agencies, Indian tribes, and the public to help identify the environmental issues and reasonable alternatives to be examined in the EIS. This notice also provides guidance for participating in the scoping process and additional information about the alternatives NHTSA expects to consider in its NEPA analysis. In preparing this notice, NHTSA has shared the document with the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Department of Energy (DOE).

The FAA publishes a monthly notice, as appropriate, of PFC approvals and disapprovals under the provisions of the Aviation Safety and Capacity Expansion Act of 1990 (Title IX of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990) (Pub. L. 101-508) and Part 158 of the Federal Aviation Regulations (14 CFR part 158). This notice is published pursuant to paragraph d of Sec. 158.29.