Department of Transportation March 30, 2020 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The FHWA, on behalf of Caltrans, is issuing this notice to announce actions taken by Caltrans that are final. The actions relate to a proposed highway project on Interstate 5 (Post Miles 21.3 to PM 30.3) in the Cities of Irvine and Tustin in Orange County, California. Those actions grant licenses, permits, and approvals for the project.

The FAA is adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain De Havilland Aircraft of Canada Limited Model DHC-8-400 series airplanes. This AD was prompted by reports of wear on fuel couplings, bonding springs, and sleeves as well as fuel tube end ferrules and fuel component end ferrules. This AD requires repetitive inspections of certain parts for discrepancies that meet specified criteria, and replacement as necessary; repetitive inspections of certain parts for damage and wear, and rework of parts; and electrical bonding checks of certain couplings. This AD also requires revising the existing maintenance or inspection program, as applicable, to incorporate new or more restrictive airworthiness limitations. For certain airplanes, this AD allows a modification that would terminate the repetitive inspections. The FAA is issuing this AD to address the unsafe condition on these products.

The FAA is withdrawing a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) that proposed to adopt a new airworthiness directive (AD) that would have applied to certain The Boeing Company Model 787-8 and 787-9 airplanes. The NPRM was prompted by a report that a passenger entry door assist handle became detached during use. The NPRM would have required a detailed inspection of all passenger and service entry door assist handles for correct installation and applicable on-condition actions. Since issuance of the NPRM, we determined that the service information is ineffective in addressing the unsafe condition and must be revised. Accordingly, the NPRM is withdrawn.

The FAA proposes to supersede Airworthiness Directive (AD) 2015-13-06, which applies to certain The Boeing Company Model 747-400 and 747-400F series airplanes. AD 2015-13-06 requires repetitive inspections of the longeron extension fittings for cracking, repetitive high frequency eddy current (HFEC) inspections of any modified, repaired, or replaced longeron extension fitting for cracking, and applicable on-condition actions. Since the FAA issued AD 2015-13-06, the FAA has determined that additional airplanes are affected by the identified unsafe condition. This proposed AD would retain the requirements of AD 2015-13-06 and include additional airplanes in the applicability. For those additional airplanes, this proposed AD would require only repetitive inspections of the longeron extension fittings for cracking and repair if necessary. The FAA is proposing this AD to address the unsafe condition on these products.

The FAA is adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for all Airbus SAS Model A350-941 and -1041 airplanes. This AD was prompted by reports of passenger door girt bar fitting assembly safety hooks being stuck in the upward position. This AD requires repetitive detailed inspections of girt bar fitting assemblies, repetitive greasing of girt bar fitting assembly bushes, and, depending on findings, accomplishment of applicable corrective actions, 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.

The FAA is adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain The Boeing Company Model 787-8 airplanes. This AD was prompted by a report of failure of a wing strut leak test due to a missing bolt on the firewall. This AD requires a one-time leak test of the strut upper spar areas for the left and right wing struts, and corrective action if necessary. The FAA is issuing this AD to address the unsafe condition on these products.

This proposal is one of a series of regulatory actions that NHTSA is considering to address the near- and long-term challenges of testing and verifying compliance with the Federal motor vehicle safety standards (FMVSS) for vehicles equipped with Automated Driving Systems (ADS) that lack the traditional manual controls necessary for human drivers, but that are otherwise traditional vehicles with typical seating configurations. This document seeks to clarify the ambiguities in applying current crashworthiness standards to ADS-equipped vehicles without traditional manual controls, while maintaining the regulatory text's application to more traditional vehicles and vehicles equipped with ADS that may have alternate modes. This proposal is limited to the crashworthiness standards and provides a unified set of proposed regulatory text applicable to vehicles with and without ADS functionality. This NPRM builds on NHTSA's efforts to identify and address regulatory barriers to vehicles with unique designs that are equipped with ADS technologies, including the advance notice of proposed rulemaking on removing barriers in the crash avoidance (100 Series) FMVSS in May 2019, the request for comments on this topic in January 2018, and the research that NHTSA is currently conducting. NHTSA also intends to issue a separate notice regarding removal of barriers in the FMVSS that pertain to telltales, indicators, alerts, and warnings in ADS-equipped vehicles.