Department of Transportation 2017 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This notice announces the first meeting of the Motorcycle Advisory Council (MAC) to the FHWA. The purpose of this meeting is to advise the Secretary of Transportation, through the Administrator of the FHWA, on infrastructure issues of concern to motorcyclists, including; barrier design, road design, construction and maintenance practices, and the architecture and implementation of intelligent transportation system technologies, pursuant to Section 1426 of the Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act.

This notice contains a summary of a petition seeking relief from specified requirements of Federal Aviation Regulations. The purpose of this notice is to improve the public's awareness of, and participation in, this aspect of the FAA's regulatory activities. 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.

We propose to adopt a new airworthiness directive (AD) for Agusta S.p.A. (Agusta) Model AW189 helicopters. This proposed AD would require inspecting and altering the emergency flotation system (EFS). This proposed AD is prompted by a report of punctured EFS kits. The actions of this proposed AD are intended to prevent an unsafe condition on these helicopters.

The FHWA invites public comments about our intention to request the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) approval for a new information collection, which is summarized below under SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION. We are required to publish this notice in the Federal Register by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces that the Information Collection Request (ICR) abstracted below is being forwarded to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and comments. A Federal Register Notice with a 60-day comment period soliciting comments on the following information collection was published on July 6, 2017 (Federal Register 31388, Vol. 82, No. 128).

These special conditions are issued for The Boeing Company (Boeing) Model 777-8 and 777-9 airplanes. These airplanes will have novel or unusual design features when compared to the state of technology envisioned in the airworthiness standards for transport- category airplanes. These design features include systems that, directly or as a result of failure or malfunction, affect airplane structural performance. The applicable airworthiness regulations do not contain adequate or appropriate safety standards for these design features. 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.

This document corrects an error that appeared in Docket No. FAA-2016-9403, Special Conditions No. 25-643-SC, which was published in the Federal Register on March 17, 2017 (82 FR 14117). The error is an incorrect citation of a section in a cited advisory circular.

This action modifies Class E airspace extending upward from 700 feet above the surface, and removes Class E airspace extending upward from 1,200 feet above the surface, at Prineville Airport, Prineville, OR, to accommodate airspace redesign for the safety and management of instrument flight rules (IFR) operations within the National Airspace System.

This action modifies Class E airspace extending upward from 700 feet above the surface at Stevens Point Municipal Airport, Stevens Point, WI. Airspace reconfiguration is necessary due to the decommissioning of the Stevens Point co-located VHF omnidirectional range tactical air navigation system (VORTAC) and cancellation of the VOR approaches. This action enhances the safety and management of standard instrument approach procedures for instrument flight rules (IFR) operations at the airport.

This action establishes Class E airspace extending upward from 700 feet above the surface in Deblois, ME, to accommodate new area navigation (RNAV) global positioning system (GPS) standard instrument approach procedures (SIAPs) serving Deblois Flight Strip. Controlled airspace is necessary for the safety and management of instrument flight rules (IFR) operations at the airport.

This action proposes to amend Class E surface airspace at Greenville, NC, by removing Pitt County Memorial Hospital Heliport from the Class E surface area airspace associated with Pitt-Greenville Airport. Helicopters departing from the heliport must now receive clearance. Consequently, the cut out from Class E surface airspace is no longer required. Controlled airspace is necessary for the safety and management of instrument flight rules (IFR) operations at the airport. This action also would update the geographic coordinates of the airport under Class E surface airspace and Class E airspace extending upward from 700 feet or more above the surface of the earth, to coincide with the FAAs aeronautical database.

This action amends Class E airspace at Scottsboro, AL, by updating the heliport name to Highland Medical Center Heliport, (formerly Jackson County Hospital), and updating the geographic coordinates of the heliport to coincide with the FAA's aeronautical database.

This action proposes to amend Class E airspace extending upward from 700 feet above the surface at Hanford Municipal Airport, Hanford, CA, by enlarging the airspace to accommodate area navigation (RNAV) procedures at the airport, removing the Visalia VHF omnidirectional range/distance measuring equipment (VOR/DME) from the airspace description, and amending the geographic coordinates of the airport. This action also would remove Blair Airport from the airport description as the airport no longer exists. This action is necessary for the safety and management of instrument flight rules (IFR) operations at the airport.

FMCSA announces that the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) has requested an exemption from the requirement that a motor carrier require each of its drivers to use an electronic logging device (ELD) no later than December 18, 2017, to record the driver's hours-of- service (HOS). NPPC states it requests the exemption for all livestock haulers as defined in the application (i.e., transporters of livestock, poultry, aquaculture, and insects) to address an incompatibility between the FMCSA's HOS rules and the current structure and realities of the U.S. livestock industry. NPPC states that the livestock haulers will not be prepared to meet the December 18, 2017, compliance date for installing ELDs. NPPC believes that the exemption, if granted, would achieve a level of safety that is equivalent to, or greater than, the level that would be achieved absent such exemption. FMCSA requests public comment on NPPC's application for exemption.

FMCSA announces that the Hub Group Trucking Inc. (HGT) has requested an exemption from the electronic logging device (ELD) requirements to permit an alternative grandfather period for any commercial motor vehicles added to HGT's fleet after the December 18, 2017, compliance date. HGT reports that all of its 2,700 trucks are equipped with automatic on-board recording devices (AOBRDs) and it expects to add at least 160 trucks to its fleet in 2018. If the exemption is granted it would allow HGT to equip the additional trucks with AOBRDs instead of the required ELDs until the company's full transition to ELDs can be accomplished. HGT is confident that its AOBRD-compliant approach between December 18, 2017, and its full transition to ELDs by the end of 2018, would achieve a level of safety that is at least equivalent to the level of safety that would be obtained by strict compliance with a mixed AOBRD-ELD fleet.

The FAA is issuing this notice to advise the public of a meeting of the Eighteenth TOC Meeting.

This final rule addresses a petition for reconsideration of the final rule for FMVSS No. 136, Electronic stability control systems for heavy vehicles. The petitioner, Truck and Engine Manufacturers Association (EMA), requested that NHTSA amend the test conditions for the agency's performance test by allowing a larger lane width for long wheelbase truck tractors. After a careful technical review of the petition and the issues raised by the petitioner, the agency has decided to grant the petition because there is sufficient evidence to indicate that a larger lane width is needed for testing of long wheelbase truck tractors.

This notice contains a summary of a petition seeking relief from specified requirements of Federal Aviation 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.

FMCSA announces that the Western Equipment Dealers Association (WEDA) has requested an exemption on behalf of several other organizations and their membership from the requirement that no later than December 18, 2017, a motor carrier require each of its drivers to use an electronic logging device (ELD) to record the driver's hours-of- service (HOS). WEDA states that equipment dealer operations in agriculture constitute unique circumstances that warrant the requested exemption, and not granting it will pose an undue burden on equipment dealers and their customers without any measurable safety benefit. In its application, WEDA seeks a five-year, renewable exemption from the ELD requirements which, the organization states, if granted will achieve a level of safety equivalent to, or greater than, the level that would be achieved absent the proposed exemption. FMCSA requests public comment on WEDA's application for exemption.

This notice provides information on proposed changes and clarifications to the National Transit Database (NTD) reporting requirements. All proposed changes and clarifications are proposed to be effective for report year 2017 (beginning in September 2017).