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

FMCSA grants a petition submitted by the American Trucking Associations (ATA) requesting a determination that the State of Alabama's Metal Coil Securement Act (the Act) is preempted by Federal law. Federal law provides for preemption of State commercial motor vehicle (CMV) safety laws that are more stringent than Federal regulations and (1) Have no safety benefit; (2) are incompatible with Federal regulations; or (3) would cause an unreasonable burden on interstate commerce. FMCSA has determined that there is insufficient support for the claimed safety benefits and that the Act places an unreasonable burden on interstate commerce.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, FMCSA announces its plan to submit the Information Collection Request (ICR) described below to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for its review and approval, and invites public comment. The FMCSA provides an updated estimate of the number of CMV drivers who are required to provide information under the driver qualification (DQ) file regulations, and of the overall information collection burden imposed by those regulations.

FMCSA announces receipt of applications from 3 individuals for exemption from the vision requirement in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations. They are unable to meet the vision requirement in one eye for various reasons. The exemptions will enable these individuals to operate commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) in interstate commerce without meeting the prescribed vision requirement in one eye. If granted, the exemptions would enable these individuals to qualify as drivers of commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) in interstate commerce.

Pursuant to Section 10(a)(2) of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. 92-463, 5 U.S.C. App. 2), notice is hereby given of two teleconferences of the Systems Working Group of the Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee (COMSTAC).

In 1985, FRA implemented a post-accident toxicological testing (post-accident testing) program to test railroad employees who had been involved in serious train accidents for alcohol and certain controlled substances (marijuana, cocaine, phencyclidine (PCP), and selected opiates, amphetamines, barbiturates, and benzodiazepines). This final rule adds certain non-controlled substances with potentially impairing side effects to its standard post-accident testing panel. The non- controlled substances include tramadol and sedating antihistamines. This final rule makes clear that FRA intends to keep the post-accident test results for these non-controlled substances confidential while it continues to obtain and analyze data on the extent to which prescription and over-the-counter (OTC) drug use by railroad employees potentially affects rail safety.

These special conditions are issued for the Learjet Model LJ- 200-1A10 airplane. This airplane will have novel or unusual design features associated with utilizing go-around performance credit when using an automatic takeoff thrust control system. The applicable airworthiness regulations do not contain adequate or appropriate safety standards for this design feature. These special conditions contain the additional safety standards that the Administrator considers necessary to establish a level of safety equivalent to that established by the existing airworthiness standards.

We are adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain Airbus Model A310-203, -204, -222, -304, -322, and -324 airplanes. This AD was prompted by a design review of the fuel tank access covers and analyses comparing compliance of the access covers to different tire burst models. `Type 21' panels located within the debris zone revealed that they could not sustain the impact of the tire debris. This AD requires modifying the wing manhole surrounds and replacing certain fuel access panels. We are issuing this AD to prevent a possibility of a fire due to tire debris impact on the fuel access panels.

We are adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain Bombardier, Inc. Model DHC-8-102, -103, -106, -201, -202, -301, -311, and -315 airplanes. This AD was prompted by reports of the loss of the fixed frequency system, leading to the loss of power to the left and right buses and all systems serviced by these buses. This AD requires modification of the wiring and changes to existing airworthiness limitations. We are issuing this AD to prevent loss of the fixed frequency system, which could lead to loss of a number of the pilot's and co-pilot's flight instruments, in addition to other avionics systems.