Department of Transportation August 22, 2019 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, FAA invites public comments about our intention to request Office of Management and Budget (OMB) renewal approval for information collection 2120-0765. Aircraft registration is necessary to ensure personal accountability among all users of the national airspace system. Aircraft registration also allows the FAA and law enforcement agencies to address non-compliance by providing the means for identifying an aircraft's owner and operator. This collection also permits individuals to de-register or update their record in the registration database.

This final rule implements Section 5516, ``Additional State Authority,'' of the Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act, which provides the State of South Dakota with the opportunity to update and revise the routes for Longer Combination Vehicles (LCV) and commercial motor vehicles (CMV) with two or more cargo-carrying units.

These amended special conditions are issued for the Airbus Model A380 airplane. By issuance of this amendment to the special condition, the FAA is correcting an error that appeared in the Federal Register on August 28, 2006, for Special Conditions No. 25-326-SC, Docket No. NM314. This airplane will have novel or unusual design features when compared to the state of technology envisioned in the airworthiness standards for transport category airplanes. This design feature is associated with the complex systems and the configuration of the airplane, including its full-length double deck. The applicable airworthiness regulations do not contain adequate or appropriate safety standards for this design feature. 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 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.

The FAA is adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for all Airbus SAS Model A321-251N, A321-252N, A321-253N, A321-271N, A321-272N, A321-251NX, A321-252NX, A321-253NX, A321-271NX, and A321-272NX airplanes. This AD was prompted by analysis of the behavior of the elevator aileron computer (ELAC) L102 that revealed that excessive pitch attitude can occur in certain conditions and during specific maneuvers. This AD requires revising the airplane flight manual (AFM) to incorporate updated procedures and operational limitations, as specified in a European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) AD, which is incorporated by reference. The FAA is issuing this AD to address the unsafe condition on these products.

FMCSA proposes amendments to its hours-of-service (HOS) requirements to provide greater flexibility for drivers subject to the HOS rules without adversely affecting safety. This would be accomplished by altering the short-haul exception to the record of duty status (RODS) requirement available to certain commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers, modifying the adverse driving conditions exception, increasing flexibility for the 30-minute break rule by requiring a break after 8 hours of driving time (instead of on-duty time) and allowing on-duty/not driving periods as qualifying breaks from driving, modifying the sleeper berth exception to allow a driver to spend a minimum of 7 hours in the berth combined with a minimum 2-hour off-duty period, provided the combined periods total 10 hours (rather than the current 8/2 split), and allowing one off-duty break that would pause a truck driver's 14-hour driving window.