Federal Aviation Administration November 7, 2024 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This action proposes to establish Area Navigation (RNAV) routes Q-162 and Q-166 in the Southwest United States. The proposed new RNAV routes would provide alternative routing for air traffic travelling between southwest Arizona and western Texas in response to severe weather events during the spring and summer months. Additionally, the new RNAV routes would expand the availability of RNAV routing in support of transitioning the National Airspace System (NAS) from a ground-based to satellite-based system for navigation.

The FAA is correcting an airworthiness directive (AD) that was published in the Federal Register. That AD applies to certain Safran Aerosystems oxygen cylinder and valve assemblies, and oxygen valve assemblies, installed on but not limited to various transport airplanes. As published, the AD number of the AD being removed in the amendatory language of AD 2024-19-15 is incorrect, and the manufacturer name in the applicability and material required to be followed for identification of affected serial numbers in one location contains a typographical error. This document corrects those errors. In all other respects, the original document remains the same.

This action proposes to amend Class E airspace extending upward from 700 feet above the surface for Kinston, NC, by adding airspace for Lenoir Regional Hospital Heliport, Kinston, NC. This action would also update the coordinates for Kinston Regional Jetport at Stallings Field, Kinston, NC. Controlled airspace is necessary for the safety and management of instrument flight rules (IFR) operations at this airport.

This notice concerns a petition for waiver submitted to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) by Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX) to waive the launch collective risk limit of 1 x 10-4 expected casualties (Ec) for Starship Super Heavy missions that utilize a near-orbital trajectory. The near-orbital Starship Super Heavy missions have been deemed suborbital such that a single launch collective risk limit of 1 x 10-4 Ec has been applied to cover the aggregate of the risks from the suborbital launch and suborbital reentry phases of each mission. The SpaceX petition requests an increase to the collective risk limit, to not exceed 2 x 10-4 Ec, with the condition that neither the suborbital launch nor suborbital reentry risks exceed 1 x 10-4 Ec individually. The FAA grants the petition for near-orbital Starship Super Heavy missions to allow a risk budget that parallels but remains consistent with an orbital mission profile that has a separate risk limit of 1 x 10-4 Ec for both the launch and reentry phases.

This document announces an extension of the comment period for the referenced NPRM, which proposed to supersede Airworthiness Directive (AD) 2020-26-16, which applies to certain Piper Aircraft, Inc. (Piper) Model PA-28-151, PA-28-161, PA-28-181, PA-28-235, PA-28R- 180, PA-28R-200, PA-28R-201, PA-28R-201T, PA-28RT-201, PA-28RT-201T, PA-32-260, PA-32-300, PA-32R-300, PA-32RT-300, and PA-32RT-300T airplanes. This NPRM invited comments concerning the proposed requirements for calculating the calculated service hours (CSH) to determine the times for required actions for each main wing spar; repetitively inspecting the lower main wing spar bolt holes for crack(s) and non-crack damage and taking corrective actions as needed; and replacing or modifying main wing spars at a specified time. This NPRM also invited comments concerning the proposal to revise the applicability by removing certain airplanes and adding a new airplane model. This extension of the comment period is necessary to provide all interested persons an opportunity to present their views on the proposed requirements of this NPRM.