Department of Transportation January 12, 2016 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This notice concerns two petitions for waiver submitted to the FAA by Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX): (1) A petition to waive the requirement that a waiver request be submitted at least 60 days before the effective date of the waiver unless good cause for later submission is shown in the petition; and (2) a petition to waive the requirement that analysis must establish designated impact limit lines to bound the area where debris with a ballistic coefficient of three or more pounds per square foot is allowed to impact if the flight safety system (FSS) functions properly.

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.

By this notice, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) is establishing an Emergency Relief Docket for calendar year 2016 so grantees and subgrantees affected by national or regional emergencies may request temporary relief from FTA administrative and statutory requirements.

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 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 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 requires applicants to apply for a student pilot certificate through a Flight Standards District Office, designated pilot examiner, airman certification representative associated with a pilot school, or certified flight instructor. Aviation Medical Examiners will no longer issue a combination medical certificate and student pilot certificate. Student pilot certificates will be issued on the same medium as other pilot certificates and will have no expiration date. All student pilot certificates issued before the effective date of this final rule will expire according to their terms unless they are replaced by another pilot certificate. This final rule responds to section 4012 of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act and facilitates security vetting by the Transportation Security Administration of student pilot applicants prior to certificate issuance. This action withdraws the proposal for pilot certificates to include a photograph of the individual pilot. Section 321 of the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 supersedes section 4022 of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act, which provided the basis for the proposed rule. The FAA intends to publish in the future a proposed rule that would implement section 321. Additionally, this action withdraws the proposal to implement fees for pilot certificates.

We propose to supersede Airworthiness Directive (AD) 2008-05- 06, which applies to certain The Boeing Company Model 737-100, -200, - 300, -400, and -500 series airplanes. AD 2008-05-06 currently requires repetitive inspections for fatigue cracking in the longitudinal floor beam web, upper chord, and lower chord located at certain body stations, and repair if necessary. Since we issued AD 2008-05-06, we have determined that certain repairs and preventive modifications of certain longitudinal floor beam webs inadvertently omitted installation of tapered fillers. Omission of the tapered fillers creates a preload condition that may promote undetected fatigue cracking and subsequent failure of certain longitudinal floor beams. For certain airplanes, this proposed AD would require an inspection to determine if tapered fillers are installed, and related investigative and corrective actions if necessary. We are proposing this AD to detect and correct fatigue cracking of the upper and lower chords and web of the longitudinal floor beams, which could result in rapid loss of cabin pressure.