Department of Transportation June 15, 2015 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This action reopens the comment period for the regulatory evaluation associated with the FAA's January 13, 2015 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), Reciprocal Waivers of Claims for Licensed or Permitted Launch and Reentry Activities. The FAA has discovered that this regulatory evaluation was not posted to the docket prior to the close of the NPRM's comment period. Therefore, the FAA is reopening the comment period to allow the public the opportunity to adequately analyze the full regulatory evaluation for the NPRM. The FAA will accept comment on the regulatory evaluation only, and not on the regulatory changes proposed in the NPRM.

This notice contains a summary of a petition seeking relief from specified requirements of Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations. The purpose of this notice is to improve the public's awareness of, and participation in, the FAA's exemption process. Neither publication of this notice nor the inclusion or omission of information in the summary is intended to affect the legal status of the petition or its final disposition.

This action withdraws the NPRM published in the Federal Register on May 6, 2014, proposing to amend Class E airspace in the State of South Dakota. The FAA has determined that withdrawal of the NPRM is warranted as additional analysis is needed.

We propose to adopt a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain The Boeing Company Model 777-200 and -300 series airplanes. This proposed AD was prompted by reports of fatigue cracking of a certain chord of the pivot bulkhead. This proposed AD would require repetitive inspections for cracking of the left side and right side forward outer chords of the pivot bulkhead, and related investigative and corrective actions if necessary. This proposed AD provides a modification of the pivot bulkhead, which would terminate the repetitive inspections. We are proposing this AD to detect and correct fatigue cracking of the outer flanges of the left and right side forward outer chords of the pivot bulkhead, which could result in a severed forward outer chord and consequent loss of horizontal stabilizer control.

We propose to adopt a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain Airbus Model A330-200 Freighter, A330-200, A330-300, A340-200, and A340-300 series airplanes. This proposed AD was prompted by reports that the inner bore of some main landing gear (MLG) unit bogie beams were insufficiently re-protected against corrosion after inspection or maintenance actions were accomplished. This proposed AD would require, for certain MLG units, determining which revision of the component maintenance manual (CMM) was used to accomplish the most recent MLG unit overhaul; a detailed inspection for missing or damaged paint, and if necessary, a detailed inspection of the cadmium plating for discrepancies, measurement of the depth of the cadmium plating, a general visual inspection of the base metal for corrosion or damage, a detailed inspection of repaired areas for cracking or corrosion; and corrective actions if necessary. We are proposing this AD to detect and correct corrosion in the bore of each MLG unit bogie beam, which could result in collapse of a MLG unit, and subsequent damage to the airplane and injury to occupants.