Department of Transportation March 8, 2012 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This document delays the effective date of the final rule published November 30, 2011, and scheduled to take effect on May 1, 2012. The final rule mandates that roadway workers comply with specified on-track safety procedures that railroads must adopt to protect those workers from the movement of trains or other on-track equipment on ``adjacent controlled track,'' and requests comments on the petitions for reconsideration of the final rule that FRA has received. In response to the final rule, FRA received two petitions for reconsideration that raise a number of substantive issues requiring a detailed response. Accordingly, in order to respond fully to the petitions for reconsideration and for the reasons set forth below, this document delays the effective date of the final rule until July 1, 2013. FRA is establishing a 60-day comment period in order to permit interested parties an opportunity to respond to the submitted petitions for reconsideration.

The Federal Aviation Administration is providing public notice regarding its intent to discontinue use of the paper version of FAA Form 8500-8, the application form used to apply for FAA medical certification. Maintaining FAA Form 8500-8 for applicants to complete manually is burdensome not only in terms of the cost involved, but also in terms of the complex logistics and use of Agency resources involved. This burden becomes all the more compounded when the form must be revised, reprinted, and redistributed (worldwide). The FAA launched an on-line FAA Form 8500-8 application known as ``FAA MedXpress'' beginning in 2007. Since 2007, ``FAA MedXpress'' has evolved considerably, streamlining FAA medical certification into a much more efficient and seamless process, thereby rendering the paper process both redundant and obsolete. Discontinuing print of FAA Form 8500-8 will save considerable resources and improve the efficiency of the airman medical certification process.

We propose to adopt a new airworthiness directive (AD) for a certain Spectrolab Nightsun XP Searchlight Assembly (searchlight) installed on, but not limited to, Agusta S.p.A. (Agusta) Model AB139 and Model AW139 helicopters, Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation (Sikorsky) Model S-92A helicopters, and Eurocopter Deutschland GmbH (Eurocopter) Model EC135 and Model MBB-BK 117 C-2 helicopters. This proposed AD would require, before further flight, inserting information into the Normal Procedures section of the Rotorcraft Flight Manual (RFM), a daily check of the searchlight, and at a specified time interval or if you find certain conditions, modifying any affected searchlight gimbal assembly. This proposed AD is prompted by a report of a searchlight vibrating and an investigation that revealed that the gimbal azimuth top nut was loose. A loose nut, if not detected and corrected, could result in a gap between the rubber edging of the top shroud and the gimbal frame, leading to degredation of pointing accuracy and stability performance of the searchlight, and excessive vibration. If the nut were to entirely disengage, the searchlight could disconnect partially or totally from the helicopter, resulting in damage to the helicopter and injury to persons on the ground.

As authorized by 46 U.S.C. 12121, the Secretary of Transportation, as represented by the Maritime Administration (MARAD), is authorized to grant waivers of the U.S.-build requirement of the coastwise laws under certain circumstances. A request for such a waiver has been received by MARAD. The vessel, and a brief description of the proposed service, is listed below.