Department of Transportation February 26, 2013 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Department of Transportation (DOT), Office of the Secretary (OST), Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU) announces the opportunity for; (1) Business centered community- based organizations; (2) transportation-related trade associations; (3) colleges and universities; (4) community colleges or; (5) chambers of commerce, registered with the Internal Revenue Service as 501 C (6) or 501 C (3) tax-exempt organizations, to compete for participation in OSDBU's Small Business Transportation Resource Center (SBTRC) program in the Mid-South Atlantic Region. OSDBU will enter into Cooperative Agreements with these organizations to provide outreach to the small business community in their designated region and provide financial and technical assistance, business training programs, business assessment, management training, counseling, marketing and outreach, and the dissemination of information, to encourage and assist small businesses to become better prepared to compete for, obtain, and manage DOT funded transportation- related contracts and subcontracts at the federal, state and local levels. Throughout this notice, the term ``small business'' will refer to: 8(a), small disadvantaged businesses (SDB), disadvantaged business enterprises (DBE), women owned small businesses (WOSB), HubZone, service disabled veteran owned businesses (SDVOB), and veteran owned small businesses (VOSB). Throughout this notice, ``transportation- related'' is defined as the maintenance, rehabilitation, restructuring, improvement, or revitalization of any of the nation's modes of transportation. Funding Opportunity Number: USDOT-OST-OSDBU-SBTRC2013-3. Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number: 20.910 Assistance to Small and Disadvantaged Businesses. Type of Award: Cooperative Agreement. Award Ceiling: $140,000. Award Floor: $120,000. Program Authority: DOT is authorized under 49 U.S.C. 332 (b) (4), (5) & (7) to design and carry out programs to assist small disadvantaged businesses in getting transportation-related contracts and subcontracts; develop support mechanisms, including management and technical services, that will enable small disadvantaged businesses to take advantage of those business opportunities; and to make arrangements to carry out the above purposes.

We propose to adopt a new airworthiness directive (AD) for all Airbus Model A318, A319, A320, and A321 series airplanes. This proposed AD was prompted by reports that certain trimmable horizontal stabilizer actuators (THSA) were found with corrosion that affected the ballscrew lower splines between the tie-bar and screw-jack. This proposed AD would require repetitive inspections of the THSA; ballscrew integrity tests, if necessary; and replacement of affected THSAs. We are proposing this AD to detect and correct corrosion in the ballscrew lower splines, which, if the ballscrew ruptured, could lead to transmission of THSA torque loads from the ballscrew to the tie-bar, prompting THSA blowback, and possible loss of control of the airplane.

We propose to supersede an existing airworthiness directive (AD) that applies to all Gulfstream Aerospace LP (Type Certificate Previously Held by Israel Aircraft Industries, Ltd.) Model Gulfstream 100 airplanes, and Model Astra SPX and 1125 Westwind Astra airplanes. The existing AD currently requires amending the airplane flight manuals (AFMs) to include additional procedures for verifying complete closure and locking of the main entry door (MED). The existing AD also currently requires modifying the warning and caution lights panel (WACLP), changing the WACLP and MED wiring, changing the wiring harness connecting the MED to the WACLP, and revising the log of modification of the AFM if necessary. Since we issued that AD, we have determined that the compliance time must be revised to ensure the unsafe condition is addressed on low utilization airplanes. We have also removed one airplane from the applicability. We are proposing this AD to prevent incomplete closure of the MED, which may result in the door opening in flight and possible separation of the door, causing damage to the airplane structure and left engine by flying debris and objects.