Department of Transportation July 28, 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This notice is a Request for Information (RFI) and comments that will be used to help identify focus areas for innovative techniques for delivering Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) learning. Feedback and comments on any aspect of the RFI are welcomed from all interested public, private, and academic entities. While all feedback is welcomed, USDOT is particularly interested in feedback on the questions provided in the last section of this RFI. RFI Guidelines: Responses to this RFI should be submitted by August 29, 2011. Responses to this RFI should be delivered electronically as an e-mail or as an attachment to an e-mail sent to pcbits@dot.gov. Responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract or issue a grant. Information obtained as a result of this RFI may be used by the government for program planning on a non-attribution basis. If you wish to submit any information under a claim of confidentiality, you should submit via e- mail to the address given below under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT, your complete submission, including the information you claim to be confidential commercial information. When you submit information containing information identified as confidential commercial information, you should include a cover letter setting forth the reasons you believe the information qualifies as ``confidential commercial information.'' (49 CFR 7.13(c)(4) and 7.17) If we receive a request to examine or copy this information, we treat it as any other request under the Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. 552), but we will process the request in accordance with the procedures found in 49 CFR 7.17.

This action withdraws a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) that proposed an airworthiness directive (AD) supersedure, applicable to Honeywell International Inc. TPE331-10 and TPE331-11 series turboprop engines. That action would have required adding 360 first stage turbine disk serial numbers (S/Ns) to the applicability. Since we issued that NPRM, we decided not to supersede AD 2009-17-05, but instead to issue a new NPRM for those additional 360 parts. Accordingly, we withdraw the proposed rule.

This action modifies Class E airspace at Alturas Municipal Airport, Alturas, CA. Controlled airspace is necessary to accommodate aircraft using Area Navigation (RNAV) Global Positioning System (GPS) standard instrument approach procedures at Alturas Municipal Airport. This improves the safety and management of Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) operations at the airport.

This action modifies Class E airspace at Wokal Field/Glasgow International Airport, Glasgow, MT. Controlled airspace is necessary to accommodate aircraft using Area Navigation (RNAV) Global Positioning System (GPS) standard instrument approach procedures at the airport. This improves the safety and management of Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) operations at the airport. This action also updates the airport name.

On May 23, 2011, Delta Air Lines, Inc. (Delta) and US Airways, Inc. (US Airways) (together, the Joint Applicants or the carriers) submitted a joint request for the Department of Transportation (the Department) to waive a prohibition on purchasing operating authorizations (slots) at LaGuardia Airport (LGA). The carriers requested the waiver to allow them to consummate a transaction in which US Airways would transfer to Delta 132 slot pairs (265 slots) at LGA. In exchange, Delta would transfer to US Airways 42 slot pairs (84 slots) at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA), convey route authority to operate certain flights to Sao Paulo, Brazil, and make a cash payment to US Airways. The Department (the Office of the Secretary and the Federal Aviation Administration, or FAA) has evaluated the proposed transaction and tentatively determined that it affords significant benefits to the public. At the same time, we recognize that the transaction will result in an increase in market concentration that could negatively impact consumers. As a result, we have tentatively determined that the divestiture of a number of slots by the carriers is necessary for us to allow the transaction to proceed. We have tentatively concluded that the divestiture of 32 slots at LGA and 16 slots at DCA will reduce adverse impacts on consumers at DCA and LGA to a degree sufficient for us to conclude that the requested waiver is in the public interest. This Notice prescribes rules and procedures for the divestiture of those slots by the carriers to new entrant and limited incumbent carriers.

In accordance with the procedures governing the application for, and the processing of, special permits 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 applications described herein. This notice is abbreviated to expedite 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. Requests for modification of special permits (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. These applications have been separated from the new application for special permits to facilitate processing.