[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 76 (Tuesday, April 20, 2004)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 21073-21075]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-8965]


 ========================================================================
 Proposed Rules
                                                 Federal Register
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
 This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains notices to the public of 
 the proposed issuance of rules and regulations. The purpose of these 
 notices is to give interested persons an opportunity to participate in 
 the rule making prior to the adoption of the final rules.
 
 ========================================================================
 

  Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 76 / Tuesday, April 20, 2004 / 
Proposed Rules  

[[Page 21073]]



DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Aviation Administration

14 CFR Parts 61, 91, 119, 121, 135, and 136

[Docket No. FAA-1998-4521; Notice No. 04-06]
RIN 2120-AF07


National Air Tour Safety Standards

AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), DOT.

ACTION: Notice of public meetings and extension of the comment period.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: On October 22, 2003, the FAA published a notice of proposed 
rulemaking (NPRM) that proposes regulations to govern commercial air 
tours throughout the United States. We are announcing two public 
meetings and are extending the comment period for the proposed rule. 
The public meetings and additional time for the public to comment will 
help us consider the concerns of those who may be most affected by the 
proposed rule.

DATES: The comment period for Notice No. 03-10, published on October 
22, 2003 at 68 FR 60572, is extended until June 18, 2004. The FAA will 
hold public meetings in Washington, DC on May 11, 2004 and in Las 
Vegas, Nevada on May 21, 2004.

ADDRESSES: The meetings will be held at the following locations:
    May 11--Holiday Inn on the Hill, 415 New Jersey Avenue, NW., 
Washington, DC 20001.
    May 21--Clark County Government Center, Commission Chambers, 500 
South Grand Central Parkway, Las Vegas, Nevada 89155.
    You may continue to submit written comments to the docket, whether 
or not you participate in the public meetings. Address your comments to 
the Docket Management System, U.S. Department of Transportation, Room 
Plaza 401, 400 Seventh St., SW., Washington, DC 20590-0001. You must 
identify the docket number FAA-1998-4521 at the beginning of your 
comments, and you should submit two copies of your comments.
    You may also submit comments through the Internet to http://dms/
dot.gov. You may review the public docket containing comments to these 
proposed regulations in person in the Dockets Office between 9 a.m. and 
5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. The Dockets 
Office is on the plaza level at the Department of Transportation 
building at the address above. Also, you may review public dockets on 
the Internet at http://dms.dot.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: If you wish to speak at the public 
meetings or if you have questions about the public meetings please 
contact: Mark Lawyer, Office of Rulemaking, Federal Aviation 
Administration, 800 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20591, 
Telephone: 202-493-4531, Fax: (202) 267-5075, Email: 
[email protected].
    If you have specific questions pertaining to the Notice of Proposed 
Rulemaking, please contact: Alberta Brown, Air Transportation Division, 
Flight Standards Service, AFS-200, Federal Aviation Administration, 800 
Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20591, Telephone (202) 267-
8166 ext. 78321, Email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    We published a notice of proposed rulemaking on October 22, 2003 
(68 FR 60572) that proposes to regulate commercial air tours throughout 
the United States. The notice provided a 90-day comment period that was 
to end on January 20, 2004. We received significant response to this 
NPRM, including numerous requests to extend the comment period and to 
conduct public meetings. On January 16, 2004, we published a notice to 
extend the comment period an additional 90 days to April 19, 2004 (69 
FR 2529). On February 10, 2004, we published a notice of public meeting 
on the Internet (69 FR 6218). We held a public meeting on the Internet 
from February 23, 2004 through March 5, 2004. Approximately 1,000 
persons participated in the public meeting on the Internet. Members of 
the public, aviation organizations, and some members of Congress have 
asked us to hold traditional public meetings, in addition to the public 
meeting we held on the Internet.

Public Meetings

    We have carefully considered the requests for traditional public 
meetings. The public meeting on the Internet was an effort to allow 
broad participation throughout the country. It accomplished this. The 
participation in the public meeting on the Internet significantly 
exceeded the participation we would expect to achieve at a typical face 
to face public meeting. Approximately 1,000 persons registered and many 
of them actively participated. Many who participated through the 
Internet were located in widely dispersed small communities throughout 
the country. Many of these persons would not have been able to 
participate in a traditional public meeting because of the time and 
expense of traveling to a fixed location. It would be impractical to 
conduct a public meeting in every community in America where someone 
could be affected by the proposed rule.
    Those who participated in the public meeting on the Internet 
provided us with much useful information about the industry and many 
suggestions that will help us develop a rule that will promote safety 
without imposing unnecessary burdens on the industry. We have also 
received positive comments about our efforts to broaden participation 
through use of the Internet. Many of you, however, including aviation 
organizations and some members of Congress, have asked us to also hold 
some face to face public meetings to allow you an opportunity to 
express your concerns directly to an FAA representative. We agree that 
this is appropriate because of the strong interest in this proposed 
rule.

Where and When we Will Hold Public Meetings

    We will hold public meetings at the following locations, dates, and 
times:

[[Page 21074]]



----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
               City                                Date                         Time               Location
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Washington, DC....................  May 11, 2004......................  Registration, 8:30   Holiday Inn on the
                                                                         a.m.-9 a.m.,         Hill, 415 New
                                                                         meeting begins 9     Jersey Avenue,
                                                                         a.m.                 NW., Washington,
                                                                                              DC 20001.
Las Vegas, Nevada.................  May 21, 2004......................  Session One:         Clark County
                                                                         Registration, 8:30   Government Center,
                                                                         a.m.-9 a.m.,         Commission
                                                                         meeting begins 9     Chambers, 500
                                                                         a.m.                 South Grand
                                                                        Session Two:          Central Parkway,
                                                                         Registration, 6      Las Vegas, Nevada
                                                                         p.m.-6:30 p.m.,      89155.
                                                                         meeting begins
                                                                         6:30 p.m..
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Participation at the Public Meetings

    We will explain the purpose and background of the NPRM at the 
beginning of each public meeting.
    If you wish to present oral statements at the meeting, you must 
contact the FAA no later than Tuesday, May 4, 2004 for the May 11, 2004 
meeting in Washington, DC and no later than Friday, May 14 for the May 
21, 2004 meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada. You should submit requests to 
participate to Mark Lawyer as listed above in the section titled FOR 
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT. You should include a summary of any oral 
comments you wish to present and an estimate of how much time you need. 
Requests that we receive after the dates shown above will be scheduled 
if time is available; however, the name of those individuals may not 
appear on the written agenda. We will prepare an agenda of speakers. 
This agenda will be available at each meeting. To accommodate as many 
speakers as possible, the amount of time allocated to each speaker may 
be less than the amount of time requested. If you need audiovisual 
equipment, please let us know at least 7 days before the meeting where 
you will use the equipment.

Public Meeting Procedures

    1. There will be no admission fee or other charge to attend or to 
participate in the public meetings. The meetings will be open to all 
persons who have requested in advance to present statements or who 
register during the registration period on the day of the meetings, 
subject to the availability of space in the meeting room.
    2. Representatives of the FAA will conduct the public meetings. A 
panel of experts will be present to briefly summarize the NPRM and 
receive information presented by participants. The FAA chairperson will 
explain procedural rules specific to the meetings at the beginning of 
each meeting.
    3. Participants must limit their presentations and submissions of 
data to the issues of the NPRM.
    4. One purpose of the meetings is to provide a forum to present 
information that is not currently available to the FAA.
    5. We will try to accommodate all speakers; therefore, it may be 
necessary to limit the time available for an individual or group. The 
meetings may be accelerated to enable adjournment in less than the time 
scheduled. Once all speakers have been called upon and all attendees 
have had an opportunity to comment, the meetings will adjourn.
    6. We can make sign and oral interpretation available at the 
meetings, as well as an assistive listening device, if requested 10 
calendar days before each meeting.
    7. We will arrange to have a court reporter record the meetings. A 
transcript of the meetings and all material accepted by the panel 
during the meetings will be included in the public docket, unless 
protected from disclosure. Each person interested in purchasing a copy 
of the transcript should contact the court reporter directly. We will 
provide this information at each meeting.
    8. We will review and consider all information presented at the 
public meetings. Position papers or materials presenting views or 
information related to the NPRM may be accepted at the discretion of 
the presiding officer. Please provide 10 copies of all material that 
you present at the public meetings so we will have copies for the panel 
members. You may provide additional copies for the audience at your 
discretion.
    9. Statements made by members of the panel are intended to 
facilitate discussions of the issues or clarify issues. We will 
consider all comments made at the public meetings before we make a 
final decision on any final rule.
    10. The meetings are designed to solicit public views and further 
information that is relevant to the NPRM. Therefore, we will conduct 
the meeting in an informal and nonadversarial manner.

The Purpose of the Public Meetings and What We Need From You

    The purpose of the public meetings is to obtain information from 
you that we do not already have. Some of you have said in comments that 
we do not have complete information on the air tour industry. We 
welcome information that will give us a better understanding of the 
industry. We also welcome comments that will help us develop a rule 
that will promote safety without imposing unnecessary burdens on the 
industry. Some of you have already provided useful suggestions. We 
welcome further suggestions.
    In addition to other information you may wish to provide, responses 
to the following questions, either from individual companies or data 
collected from industry groups, would give us information that may help 
us develop a final rule:
     Do you fly air tours under the 25-mile exception 
found in 14 CFR 119.1(e)(2)?
     How many air tour flight hours do you fly each 
year?
     How many air tours do you fly?
     How much revenue do you collect and what are 
your direct and indirect costs per air tour or per year?
     How many aircraft and what makes and models do 
you use to provide air tours?
     What percent of your aviation business is 
comprised of air tours?
     What are the sources of your other aviation 
revenues?
     How many pilots do you employ in air tours?
     If the pilots also fly for other purposes, what 
percentage of their time is spent flying air tours?
     Do you conduct air tours over national parks?
     What percent of your annual air tour flight 
hours are conducted over national parks?
     What percent of your total revenues are 
attributable to air tours?
     If the 25-mile exception is withdrawn, would you 
apply for a part 121 or 135 certificate?
     If you could no longer provide air tours, how 
would that affect your business?
     Are there ways we could achieve the results 
intended by the proposed rule that would impose fewer burdens on the 
industry?
     The NTSB has recommended that we eliminate the 
25-mile exception and establish a database of air tour operators. Are 
there other approaches we could take that would achieve an equivalent 
level of safety and impose fewer burdens on the industry?

[[Page 21075]]

    If you are unable to participate in the public meetings, you may 
continue to comment in the docket.

Extension of the Comment Period

    We are extending the comment period to June 18, 2004, to allow you 
opportunity to comment further after the public meetings.

    Issued in Washington, DC on April 15, 2004.
Anthony F. Fazio,
Director, Office of Rulemaking.
[FR Doc. 04-8965 Filed 4-15-04; 4:32 pm]
BILLING CODE 4910-13-P