Department of Transportation May 3, 2013 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This rule amends design requirements in the airworthiness standards for transport category airplanes to minimize the occurrence of design-related flightcrew errors. The new design requirements will enable a flightcrew member to detect and manage his or her errors when the errors occur. Adopting this rule will eliminate regulatory differences between the airworthiness standards of the United States (U.S.) and those of the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) without affecting current industry design practices.

The FMCSA published a document in the Federal Register of April 24, 2013 concerning request for public comment on data and information concerning the Pre-Authorization Safety Audit (PASA) for RAM Trucking SA de CV (RAM) with U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) number 2063285. The notice is missing a date in Table 2, line one, column H.

FMCSA announces that Timberdoodle Company (Timberdoodle) has applied for an exemption from a provision of the ``Hours of Service [HOS] of Drivers'' regulations (49 CFR part 395). Timberdoodle seeks exemption from section 395.3(b)(1) which prohibits drivers of commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) from driving after accumulating 60 hours on duty in a period of 7 days. Timberdoodle asks that its drivers be exempted from including on-duty time that is not driving time in this calculation. Timberdoodle states that CMV operations under its proposed rules are likely to achieve a level of safety equivalent to or greater than the level of safety as would be obtained in the absence of the exemption.

FMCSA announces that 9 individuals have applied for a medical exemption from the hearing requirement in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs). In accordance with the statutory requirements concerning applications for exemptions, FMCSA requests public comments on these requests. The statute and implementing regulations concerning exemptions require that exemptions must provide an equivalent or greater level of safety than if they were not granted. If the Agency determines the exemptions would satisfy the statutory requirements and decides to grant theses requests after reviewing the public comments submitted in response to this notice, the exemptions would enable 9 individuals to operate CMVs in interstate commerce.

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) published a notice in the Federal Register on April 22, 2013, concerning a limitation on claims for certain specified public transportation projects. The notice contained an incorrect description of one project.

We propose to adopt a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain The Boeing Company Model 727 airplanes. This proposed AD was prompted by an evaluation by the design approval holder (DAH) indicating that the frame-to-floor beam attachment is subject to widespread fatigue damage (WFD). This proposed AD would require repetitive high frequency eddy current inspections for any crack of the frames at body station (STA) 188 through STA 344, and repair if necessary. We are proposing this AD to detect and correct fatigue cracking at the frame-to-floor beam attachment, on both the left- and right-sides, which could result in reduced structural integrity of the airplane, and decompression of the cabin.

We propose to supersede an existing airworthiness directive (AD) that applies to certain The Boeing Company Model 747 series airplanes. The existing AD currently requires inspection of the fuselage skin lap splice between body station (BS) 340 and BS 400 at stringers (S)-6L and S-6R, and repair, if necessary. Since we issued that AD, analysis results indicated that the protruding head fastener modification and related post-modification inspections currently required are not adequate to prevent cracking at the upper row of fasteners in the stringer 6 lap joint before the cracks reach a critical length. This proposed AD would add new repetitive inspections for cracking in the stringer 6 skin lap splice, which would terminate the existing inspections; and eventual modification of the lap splice, which would terminate the repetitive inspections; post-modification inspections; and corrective actions if necessary. This proposed AD would also add airplanes to the applicability. We are proposing this AD to detect and correct cracking at the upper row of fasteners in the stringer(s) 6 lap joint, which could result in a sudden loss of cabin pressurization and the inability of the fuselage to withstand failsafe loads.

This notice announces the availability of, and request for public comments on, the Aircraft Certification Service (AIR) standard operating procedure (SOP) describing the process used to prioritize certification projects and manage certification project resources when local resources are not available.