Department of Transportation December 12, 2022 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The FHWA, on behalf of Caltrans, is issuing this notice to announce actions taken by Caltrans, U.S Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) that are final. The actions relate to a proposed highway project on the Interstate 5 (I-5) and State Route 56 (SR 56) from postmile (PM) I-5: R32.7 to R34.8 and SR 56: 0.00 to 2.5 in the County of San Diego, State of California. The action is to provide the amended record of decision (ROD) identifying the Hybrid Alternative (Alternative 4) as the new Selected Alternative to move forward in construction. Alternative 4 is a different alternative than the preferred alternative identified in the Final Environmental Impact Report/Environmental Impact Statement (EIR/EIS) approved for the project on June 26th, 2017]. Those actions grant licenses, permits, and approvals for the project.

This action corrects a final rule published by the FAA in the Federal Register on October 24, 2022, that amends Area Navigation (RNAV) route T-266 in support of a large and comprehensive T-route modernization project for the state of Alaska. In the T-266 description in the final rule, the order of the listed route points was reversed in error. This action makes editorial corrections to list the T-266 route points to match the route data forms and the FAA National Airspace System Resource (NASR) database information.

This action amends Class D airspace, Class E surface airspace, and Class E airspace extending upward from 700 feet above the surface for East Hampton Town Airport, East Hampton, NY, by updating the airport name. In addition, this action makes an editorial change, removing the reference to Block Island, R.I., and East Hampton from the Class E airspace description of Montauk Airport, Montauk, NY, and updates the airport's geographic coordinates. This action does not change the airspace boundaries or operating requirements of either airport.

This action amends Jet Route J-64, VHF Omnidirectional Range (VOR) Federal airways V-50, V-71, V-216, and V-307, and Area Navigation (RNAV) route T-286; establishes RNAV route T-468; and revokes J-130, J- 192, V-553, and the Pawnee City, NE, low altitude reporting point. The FAA is taking this action due to the planned decommissioning of the VOR portion of the Pawnee City, NE, VOR/Tactical Air Navigation (VORTAC) navigational aid (NAVAID). The Pawnee City VOR is being decommissioned in support of the FAA's VOR Minimum Operational Network (MON) program.

The FAA is adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for all Airbus Canada Limited Partnership Model BD-500-1A10 and BD-500-1A11 airplanes. The FAA previously sent this AD as an emergency AD to all known U.S. owners and operators of these airplanes. This AD was prompted by reports of the autopilot/autothrottle system design resulting in inadvertent engagement of the autopilot when the flightcrew was attempting to engage the autothrottle late into the take-off phase or when attempting to re-engage the autothrottle during takeoff after uncommanded disconnect. This AD requires revising the Limitations section of the existing airplane flight manual (AFM) by revising the title of the existing autopilot AFM limitation, include a new warning prior to the existing autopilot engagement limitations, and include a new limitation prohibiting selecting or reselecting autothrottle during takeoff after thrust levers are advanced to the takeoff setting after the existing autopilot engagement limitations. The FAA is issuing this AD to address the unsafe condition on these products.

This notice announces a fact-finding informal airspace meeting regarding a plan to modify the Class C Airspace at Luis Munoz Marin International Airport (TJSJ), San Juan, PR. The meeting will be a virtual format via the Zoom platform. The purpose of the meeting is to solicit aeronautical comments on the proposal's effects on local aviation operations. All comments received during the meeting, and the subsequent comment period, will be considered prior to the issuance of a notice of proposed rulemaking.