Federal Aviation Administration December 13, 2016 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The FAA is considering a proposal to change 162.71 acres of airport land from aeronautical use to non-aeronautical use and to authorize the sale of airport property located at the former Bowman Municipal Airport, BPP, Bowman, ND. The aforementioned land is not needed for aeronautical use because the new Bowman Regional Airport, BWW, Bowman, ND is open and available for public aeronautical use. The former Bowman Airport BPP site is located one mile west of the City of Bowman, ND and parallel to the north of U.S. Highway 12. The airport's prior aeronautical use was for general aviation and recreational flying. The proposed non-aeronautical use of the property will be converted to industrial use by the local economic development group.

These special conditions are issued for the installation of an inflatable four-point restraint safety belt with an integrated airbag device at the pilot and copilot seats on the DAHER-SOCATA, Model TBM 700 airplane. These airplanes, as modified by the installation of these inflatable safety belts, will have novel and unusual design features associated with the upper-torso restraint portions of the four-point safety belts, which contain an integrated airbag device. 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.

The FAA is issuing this notice to advise the public of a meeting of Twenty Sixth RTCA SC-214 Standards for Air Traffic Data Communications Services Plenary.

Prior to this final rule, persons could only use an Enhanced Flight Vision System (EFVS) in lieu of natural vision to descend below the decision altitude, decision height, or minimum descent altitude (DA/DH or MDA) down to 100 feet above the touchdown zone elevation (TDZE) using certain straight-in landing instrument approach procedures (IAPs). This final rule permits operators to use an EFVS in lieu of natural vision to continue descending from 100 feet above the TDZE to the runway and to land on certain straight-in IAPs under instrument flight rules (IFR). This final rule also revises and relocates the regulations that permit operators to use an EFVS in lieu of natural vision to descend to 100 feet above the TDZE using certain straight-in IAPs. Additionally, this final rule addresses provisions that permit operators who conduct EFVS operations under parts 121, 125, or 135 to use EFVS-equipped aircraft to dispatch, release, or takeoff under IFR, and revises the regulations for those operators to initiate and continue an approach, when the destination airport weather is below authorized visibility minimums for the runway of intended landing. This final rule establishes pilot training and recent flight experience requirements for operators who use EFVS in lieu of natural vision to descend below the DA/DH or MDA. EFVS-equipped aircraft conducting operations to touchdown and rollout are required to meet additional airworthiness requirements. This final rule also revises pilot compartment view certification requirements for vision systems using a transparent display surface located in the pilot's outside field of view. The final rule takes advantage of advanced vision capabilities, thereby achieving the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) goals of increasing access, efficiency, and throughput at many airports when low visibility is the limiting factor. Additionally, it enables EFVS operations in reduced visibilities on a greater number of approach procedure types while maintaining an equivalent level of safety.

We are revising an earlier proposal to supersede Airworthiness Directive (AD) 2011-24-06. AD 2011-24-06 applies to all BAE Systems (Operations) Limited Model Bae 146-100A, -200A, and -300A airplanes; and Model Avro 146-RJ70A, 146-RJ85A, and 146-RJ100A airplanes. This action revises the NPRM by adding airplanes to the applicability. We are proposing this AD to address the unsafe condition on these products. Since these actions impose an additional burden over those proposed in the NPRM, we are reopening the comment period to allow the public the chance to comment on these proposed changes.