Department of Transportation August 17, 2012 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This notice announces the publication of the Traffic Records Program Assessment Advisory, DOT HS 811 644, which provides guidance to States on the collection, management, and analysis of data used to inform highway and traffic safety decision-making. States need timely, accurate, complete, and uniform traffic records to identify and prioritize traffic safety issues and to choose appropriate countermeasures and evaluate their effectiveness. This document provides information on the contents, capabilities, and data quality attributes of an effective traffic records system, and includes assessment questions that qualified independent assessors can use to evaluate the capabilities of a State's traffic records system.

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and the Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority (Sound Transit) issue this early scoping notice to advise other agencies and the public that they intend to explore potential alternatives for expanding the existing Tacoma Link light rail transit system in Tacoma, Pierce County Washington, in order to improve connections to the regional transit system and major activity centers. This notice invites the public to help frame the upcoming alternatives analysis by commenting on: the project's purpose and need, the transportation problems to be addressed by the study, potential solutions to the problems, the relevant transportation and community impacts and benefits to be considered, the appropriate extent of the study area, and ways for the public to participate in the alternatives analysis process. The alternatives analysis is likely to conclude with the identification of a preferred mode and corridor. If preparation of an environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is warranted following completion of the planning alternatives analysis, FTA will publish a Notice of Intent to prepare an EIS. This early scoping process is intended to support the alternatives analysis and a future National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) scoping process, as appropriate. In addition, it supports FTA planning requirements associated with the New Starts (``Section 5309'') funding program for certain kinds of major capital investments. While recent legislation may lead to changes in the New Starts process, Sound Transit will comply with relevant FTA requirements relating to planning and project development to help it analyze and screen alternatives in preparation for NEPA. Public meetings are described immediately below. Following that is a more detailed discussion of the project and this early scoping process.

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.

This action amends Class D airspace at Sault Ste Marie, ON. Additional controlled airspace is necessary to coincide with the Canadian control zone over Sault Ste Marie Airport. The FAA is taking this action to enhance the safety and management of Instrument Flight Rule (IFR) operations at the airport.

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.

We are adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for all The Boeing Company Model 707 airplanes, and Model 720 and 720B series airplanes. This AD was prompted by reports of cracking of the midspar fittings, and of the engine and nacelle strut separating from the airplane. This AD requires performing a detailed inspection of the midspar fittings of the nacelle strut to confirm that the correct part number is installed, and installing the correct part number if necessary; performing repetitive high frequency eddy current (HFEC) inspections of the midspar fittings of the nacelle strut for cracks, and repair if necessary; and performing repetitive general visual inspections of the nacelle struts to verify that the nacelle strut has not drooped below its normal position, applying the droop stripe to the nacelle strut and sailboat fairing if necessary, and performing repair if necessary. We are issuing this AD to detect and correct cracking of the midspar fitting, which could result in separation of the nacelle strut and engine from the airplane while in flight, and consequent loss of controllability of the airplane.

This action modifies the Salt Lake City, UT, Class B airspace to contain aircraft conducting Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) instrument approach procedures to Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC), Salt Lake City, UT. The FAA is taking this action to improve the flow of air traffic, enhance safety, and reduce the potential for midair collision, while accommodating the concerns of airspace users. Further, this effort supports the FAA's national airspace redesign goal of optimizing terminal and en route airspace to reduce aircraft delays and improve system capacity. Minor corrections have been made to the geographic coordinates of the affected legal descriptions, as well as editorial corrections.

We are superseding two existing airworthiness directives (AD) for all Embraer S.A. Model ERJ 170 and ERJ 190 airplanes. Those ADs currently require revising the airplane flight manual (AFM) to introduce limitations for the use of auxiliary power unit (APU) bleed and to prohibit dispatch with a failed air management system (AMS) controller card. This new AD requires replacing the AMS controller processor module with one containing new software, and a new AFM revision. This AD was prompted by reports of the possible loss of automatic activation of the engine inlet ice protection system. We are issuing this AD to prevent the possibility of a right-hand (RH) engine compressor stall after the APU becomes the active bleed source for the left side, which may result in an engine failure; and to prevent the intermittent communication failure between the AMS controller cards and both secondary power distribution assemblies (SPDAs), which could lead to the loss of automatic activation of the engine inlet ice protection system when flying in icing conditions, which could result in ice accretion in the engine inlet and subsequent dual engine failure.