Federal Aviation Administration October 2, 2019 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This notice contains a summary of a petition seeking relief from specified requirements of Federal Aviation Regulations. The purpose of this notice is to improve the public's awareness of, and participation in, the FAA's exemption process. Neither publication of this notice nor the inclusion or omission of information in the summary is intended to affect the legal status of the petition or its final disposition.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, FAA invites public comments about our intention to request the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approval to renew an information collection. The Federal Register Notice with a 60-day comment period soliciting comments on the following collection of information was published on May 13, 2019. The information to be collected is necessary to insure the safety of the flying public. Documentation of maintenance repair actions record who, what, when, where and how of the task performed. This collection focuses on the Form 337 which is collected by the FAA. Other records for preventative maintenance, and logbook entries are not collected by the FAA serve as a responsibility of the owner to maintain in case of verification of airworthiness when seeking approvals or sale of the aircraft. This insures proper certification of personnel; proper tooling is utilized and accurate measures to insure safety. Total form 337s submitted in 2017 is 54,237. Total aircraft registrations on file is 289,490. It is estimated by the numbers collected one in every five aircraft have a 337 form submitted for major alteration and repairs performed. Each 337 takes approximately 1 hour.

This action extends the comment period for an NPRM that was published in the Federal Register on July 3, 2019. In the NPRM, the FAA proposed to amend certain airworthiness regulations for fire protection of interior compartments on transport category airplanes. The proposal would convert those flammability regulations from detailed, prescriptive requirements into simpler, performance-based standards. The proposal would divide these standards into two categories: those designed to protect the airplane and its occupants from the hazards of in-flight fires, and those designed to protect the airplane and its occupants from the hazards caused by post-crash fires. In addition, the proposal would remove test methods from the regulations and allow applicants, in certain cases, to demonstrate compliance either without conducting tests or by providing independent substantiation of the flammability characteristics of a proposed material. The proposal includes conforming changes to various FAA regulations. The proposal is necessary to eliminate unnecessary testing, increase standardization, and improve safety. The FAA is extending the closing date of the comment period to allow commenters time to adequately analyze the proposal and prepare responses.