Department of Transportation February 5, 2013 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) proposes to rule and invites public comment on the application for a release of approximately 9.89 acres of airport property at Delano Municipal Airport, Delano, California from all conditions contained in the Quitclaim Deed and Grant Assurances since the parcels of land are not needed for airport purposes. The property will be conveyed at its fair market value for the benefit of the airport. The use of the land by the City of Delano will remain the same and represents a continued compatible land use that will not interfere with the airport or its operation, thereby protecting the interests of civil aviation.

We are revising an earlier proposed airworthiness directive (AD) for all Fokker Services B.V. Model F.27 Mark 050 airplanes, and Model F.28 Mark 0070 and 0100 airplanes. That NPRM proposed to require inspecting and, if necessary, adjusting, the torque values of nuts on circuit breakers, contactors, and terminal blocks of the electrical power center (EPC) and battery relay panel. This proposed AD would also require inspecting to determine if certain parts are installed, and installing the parts if necessary. This action revises that NPRM by adding a previously omitted terminal block to the required actions. We are proposing this AD to detect and correct loose nuts, which could result in arcing and potentially an onboard fire, possibly resulting in damage to the airplane and injury to occupants or maintenance personnel. Since these actions impose an additional burden over that proposed in the NPRM, we are reopening the comment period to allow the public the chance to comment on these proposed changes.

We propose to supersede an existing airworthiness directive (AD) that applies to certain Airbus Model A310 series airplanes. The existing AD currently requires repetitive inspections for fatigue cracking of the area around the fasteners of the landing plate of the aileron access doors of the bottom skin panel of the wings, and related corrective action. The existing AD provides for an optional terminating action, which ends the repetitive inspections. Since we issued that AD, a reassessment of the previous fatigue threshold and inspection interval resulted in a determination that reduced inspection thresholds and intervals for accomplishment of the tasks are necessary. This proposed AD would reduce the initial inspection compliance time and intervals and provide additional terminating action options. We are proposing this AD to detect and correct fatigue cracking of the area around the fasteners of the landing plate of the aileron access doors and the bottom skin panel of the wings, which could result in reduced structural integrity of the wings.