Department of Transportation September 9, 2021 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The FAA proposes to supersede Airworthiness Directive (AD) 2020-21-17, which applies to all The Boeing Company Model 757 airplanes. AD 2020-21-17 requires repetitive inspections for skin cracking and shim migration at the upper link drag fittings, diagonal brace cracking, and fastener looseness; and applicable on-condition actions. Since the FAA issued AD 2020-21-17, a determination has been made that the compliance times for certain groups are not adequate. This proposed AD would retain the requirements of AD 2020-21-17 with reduced compliance times for certain airplane groups. The FAA is proposing this AD to address the unsafe condition on these products.

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) announces the opportunity to apply for $2,207,561,294 in discretionary grants under the American Rescue Plan Act's Additional Assistance Funding (Additional Assistance Funding). As required by the American Rescue Plan Act, funds will be awarded to eligible recipients or eligible subrecipients of Urbanized Area Formula funds or Rural Area Formula funds that, as a result of the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), require additional assistance for costs related to operations, personnel, cleaning, and sanitization combating the spread of pathogens on transit systems, and debt service payments incurred to maintain operations and avoid layoffs and furloughs. FTA may award additional funding made available to the program prior to the announcement of project selections.

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, 787-9, and 787- 10 airplanes. The NPRM was prompted by reports that very high frequency (VHF) radio frequencies transfer between the active and standby windows of the tuning control panel (TCP) without flightcrew input. The NPRM would have required updating the TCP operational software (OPS) and performing a software configuration check. Since issuance of the NPRM, the FAA determined that the TCP OPS version specified in the NPRM does not correct the unsafe condition. The FAA intends to propose new rulemaking to require updated software. Accordingly, the NPRM is withdrawn.

The FAA proposes to supersede Airworthiness Directive (AD) 2020-12-08, which applies to all Embraer S.A. Model EMB-505 airplanes. AD 2020-12-08 requires inspections of the mass-balance weights of the elevators, ailerons, and rudder (flight control surfaces) and their attachment parts, and corrective actions if necessary, and revising the airworthiness limitation section of the maintenance manual or instructions for continued airworthiness to incorporate new airworthiness limitations. Since AD 2020-12-08 was issued, the FAA has determined that new applicable airplane serial numbers and new criteria for the replacement of affected parts must be required in order to address the unsafe condition. This proposed AD would retain the actions required by AD 2020-12-08 and would require, for certain airplanes, cleaning and weighing certain mass-balances and installation or replacement, as applicable; and for certain other mass-balances for certain airplanes, replacement of those mass-balances. The FAA is proposing this AD to address the unsafe condition on these products.

This action revokes the Class E surface airspace at St. Clair County International Airport, Port Huron, MI. This action is the result of an airspace review caused by the decommissioning of the Remote Communications Outlet (RCO) frequency at St. Clair County International Airport.