Department of Transportation February 9, 2016 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

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.

The FAA proposes to rule and invite public comment on the release of land at the Monroe Regional Airport at Monroe, Louisiana under the provisions of Section 125 of the Wendell H. Ford Aviation Investment Reform Act for the 21st Century (AIR 21).

The FAA is issuing this notice to advise the public of the Seventh RTCA Special Committee 229 meeting.

In this final rule, FRA is revising and clarifying existing regulations related to the use of glazing materials in the windows of locomotives, passenger cars, and cabooses. This final rule reduces paperwork and other economic burdens on the rail industry by removing a stenciling requirement for locomotives, passenger cars, and cabooses that are required to be equipped with glazing. This final rule also clarifies the application of the regulations to older equipment and to the end locations of all equipment to provide more certainty to the rail industry and more narrowly address FRA's safety concerns. In addition, this final rule clarifies the definition of passenger car, updates the rule by removing certain compliance dates that are no longer necessary, and, in response to comments on the proposed rule, modifies the application of the regulations to passenger cars and cabooses in a railroad's fleet that are used only for private transportation purposes and to older locomotives used in incidental freight service.

This request for comments is related to the implementation of a specific provision in section 32707 of the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) that requires an annual safety fitness assessment of certain motor carriers of passengers that serve primarily urban areas with high passenger loads. FMCSA requests comments about an appropriate definition of a ``curbside bus operator'' that will be subject to this annual safety fitness assessment and will be consistent with Congressional intent.

We are adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for all Turbomeca S.A. ARRIEL 2C, 2C1, 2C2, 2S1, and 2S2 turboshaft engines with modification TU34 or TU34A installed. This AD requires inspecting the torque conformation box (TCB) for correct resistance values and removing TCBs that fail inspection before further flight. This AD was prompted by TCB failures. We are issuing this AD to prevent failure of the TCB, loss of engine thrust control, and damage to the helicopter.

General Motors LLC, (GM) has determined that certain model year 2014 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra trucks manufactured between January 29, 2013, and October 28, 2013, do not fully comply with paragraph S5.3.1(e) of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 101, Controls and Displays, and paragraph S3.1.4.1 of FMVSS No. 102, Transmission Shift Position Sequence, Starter Interlock, and Transmission Braking Effect. GM filed a report dated October 31, 2013, pursuant to 49 CFR part 573, Defect and Noncompliance Responsibility and Reports. GM then petitioned NHTSA in accordance with 49 CFR part 556 requesting a decision that the subject noncompliance is inconsequential to motor vehicle safety.

We are superseding airworthiness directive (AD) 2014-13-01 for Airbus Helicopters Deutschland GmbH (Airbus Helicopters) Model MBB-BK 117 C-2 helicopters with a certain Goodrich rescue hoist damper unit (damper unit) installed. AD 2014-13-01 required repairing or replacing the damper unit or deactivating the rescue hoist. AD 2014-13-01 was prompted by a report of an uncommanded detachment of a damper unit from the cable. This new AD retains the optional requirement of deactivating the rescue hoist, expands the applicability, and requires either replacing or modifying the damper unit with a newly developed single- piece retainer. These actions are intended to prevent the hoist damper unit detaching from the cable resulting in loss of an external load or person from the helicopter hoist and injury to persons being lifted by the hoist.