Department of Transportation February 8, 2013 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Board is granting an exemption under 49 U.S.C. 10502 from the prior approval requirements at 49 U.S.C. 11323-25 for Grand Trunk Western Railroad Company (GTW), an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of Canadian National Railway Company, to acquire from CSX Transportation, Inc. (CSXT) an exclusive, perpetual, non-assignable railroad operating easement over approximately 2.1 miles of CSXT's Memphis Terminal Subdivision, between Leewood, Tenn., milepost 00F371.4, and Aulon, Tenn., milepost 00F373.4 (Leewood-Aulon Line), subject to employee protective conditions. The Leewood-Aulon Line is currently owned by CSXT. Illinois Central Railroad Company, a GTW affiliate, operates over it via trackage rights. Along with the proposed easement acquisition by GTW, CSXT would retain local and overhead trackage rights over the Leewood-Aulon Line. GTW's easement acquisition is one part of an Agreement for Exchange of Perpetual Easements between GTW and CSXT. In exchange for GTW's acquiring an easement from CSXT over the Leewood-Aulon Line, GTW has agreed to grant CSXT an exclusive, perpetual, non-assignable railroad operating easement over 22.37 miles of GTW track on the Elsdon Subdivision between the connection with CSXT at Munster, Ind., milepost 31.07, and Elsdon, Ill., milepost 8.7, which connects to the southern end of the BNSF Railway Company's Corwith Yard. The Board is separately granting authority for CSXT's acquisition of this operating easement in the Chicago area in Docket Nos. FD 35522 et al.\1\

We propose to adopt a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain The Boeing Company Model 747-100, 747-100B, 747-100B SUD, 747-200B, 747-200C, 747-300, 747-400, 747-400D, and 747SP series airplanes. This proposed AD was prompted by reports of worn or incorrectly assembled latches on main deck escape slides installed on airplane doors. This proposed AD would require determining if the latches are correctly assembled; and corrective actions if necessary. This proposed AD also would require, for certain airplanes, modifications to the escape slide/rafts and escape slides. We are proposing this AD to prevent a latch hook moving from closed to open in an escape slide/raft or escape slide, which could result in the escape slide/raft or escape slide not deploying correctly in an emergency, or releasing/inflating into the passenger cabin and causing injury to passengers and crew.

On January 10, 2013, Academy Express, L.L.C. (Academy), a motor carrier of passengers, filed an application for authority under 49 U.S.C. 14303 to acquire the property of Golden Ring Travel & Transportation, Inc. (Golden Ring), also a motor carrier of passengers. The Board is tentatively approving and authorizing the transaction, and, if no opposing comments are timely filed, this notice will be the final Board action. Persons wishing to oppose the application must follow the rules set forth at 49 CFR 1182.5 and 1182.8.

We are adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for MD Helicopters, Inc. (MDHI) Model 500N, 600N and MD900 helicopters to require determining the cure date for each NOTAR fan blade tension- torsion strap (T-T strap), establishing a calendar-time retirement life for certain T-T straps, reducing the retirement life of certain T-T straps, marking each T-T strap with the expiration date, creating a component record card for each T-T strap, and revising the airworthiness limitations section of the maintenance manual to reflect the changes to the retirement life. This AD was prompted by a report from the T-T strap manufacturer that, over a period of time, moisture may reduce the strength of a T-T strap. The actions are intended to prevent failure of a T-T strap, loss of directional control and subsequent loss of control of the helicopter.