[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 156 (Friday, August 13, 2004)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 50090-50091]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-18645]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Aviation Administration

14 CFR Parts 121, 125, 135

[Docket No. FAA-2004-18596; SFAR No. XX; Notice No. 04-10]
RIN 2120-AI30


Use of Certain Portable Oxygen Concentrator Devices Onboard 
Aircraft; Extension of Comment Period

AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), DOT.

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM); extension of comment 
period.

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SUMMARY: This action extends the comment period for an NPRM that was 
published on July 14, 2004. In that document, the FAA proposed to 
permit the use of certain portable oxygen devices onboard aircraft. 
This extension is a result of a request from the Air Transport 
Association (ATA) to extend the comment period to the proposal.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before August 30, 2004.

ADDRESSES: You may send comments to Docket No. FAA-2004-18596 using any 
of the following methods:
     DOT Docket Web site: Go to http://dms.dot.gov and follow 
the instructions for sending your comments electronically.
     Government-wide rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and follow the instructions for sending your 
comments electronically.
     Mail: Docket Management Facility; U.S. Department of 
Transportation, 400 Seventh Street, SW., Nassif Building, Room PL-401, 
Washington, DC 20590-001.
     Fax: 1-(202)-493-2251.
     Hand Delivery: Room PL-401 on the plaza level of the 
Nassif Building, 400 Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC, between 9 
a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.
    For more information on the rulemaking process, see the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.
    Privacy: We will post all comments we receive, without change, to 
http://dms.dot.gov, including any personal information you provide. For 
more information, see the Privacy Act discussion in the SUPPLEMENTARY 
INFORMATION section of this document.
    Docket: To read background documents or comments received, go to 
http://dms.dot.gov at any time or to Room PL-401 on the plaza level of 
the Nassif Building, 400 Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC, between 9 
a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: James Whitlow, Deputy Chief Counsel, 
Office of the Chief Counsel, Federal Aviation Administration, 800 
Independence Ave., SW., Washington, DC 20591; telephone: (202) 267-
3222, or facsimile (202) 267-3227.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Comments Invited

    The FAA invites interested persons to participate in this 
rulemaking by submitting written comments, data, or views. We also 
invite comments relating to the economic, environmental, energy, or 
federalism impacts that might result from adopting the proposals in 
this document. The most helpful comments reference a specific portion 
of the proposal, explain the reason for any recommended change, and 
include supporting data. We ask that you send us two copies of written 
comments.
    We will file in the docket all comments we receive, as well as a 
report summarizing each substantive public contact with FAA personnel 
concerning this proposed rulemaking. The docket is available for public 
inspection before and after the comment closing date. If you wish to 
review the docket in person, go to the address in the ADDRESSES section 
of this preamble between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, 
except Federal holidays. You may also review the docket using the 
Internet at the Web address in the ADDRESSES section.
    Privacy Act: Using the search function of our docket Web site, 
anyone can find and read the comments received into any of our dockets, 
including the name of the individual sending the comment (or signing 
the comment on behalf of an association, business, labor union, etc.). 
You may review DOT's complete Privacy Act Statement in the Federal 
Register published on April 11, 2000 (65 FR 19477-78) or you may visit 
http://dms.dot.gov.
    Before acting on this proposal, we will consider all comments we 
receive on or before the closing date for comments. We will consider 
comments filed late if it is possible to do so without incurring 
expense or delay. We may change this proposal in light of the comments 
we receive.
    If you want the FAA to acknowledge receipt of your comments on this 
proposal, include with your comments a pre-addressed, stamped postcard 
on which the docket number appears. We will stamp the date on the 
postcard and mail it to you.

[[Page 50091]]

Proprietary or Confidential Business Information

    Do not file in the docket information that you consider to be 
proprietary or confidential business information. Send or deliver this 
information directly to the person identified in the FOR FURTHER 
INFORMATION CONTACT section of this document. You must mark the 
information that you consider proprietary or confidential. If you send 
the information on a disk or CD ROM, mark the outside of the disk or CD 
ROM and also identify electronically within the disk or CD ROM the 
specific information that is proprietary or confidential.
    Under 14 CFR 11.35(b), when we are aware of proprietary information 
filed with a comment, we do not place it in the docket. We hold it in a 
separate file to which the public does not have access, and place a 
note in the docket that we have received it. If we receive a request to 
examine or copy this information, we treat it as any other request 
under the Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. 552). We process such a 
request under the DOT procedures found in 49 CFR part 7.

Background

    On July 14, 2004, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued 
Notice No. 04-10, Use of Certain Portable Oxygen Concentrator Devices 
Onboard Aircraft (69 FR 42324, 7/14/2004). Comments to that document 
were to be received on or before August 13, 2004.
    In a letter dated August 4, 2004, ATA requested that the FAA extend 
the comment period for Notice No. 04-10 for 60 days. ATA stated that 
the NPRM came as a surprise and that they had not completed testing the 
Airsep Lifestyle portable oxygen concentrator (POC). ATA also feels 
that the NPRM raises questions of important technical, operational, and 
legal issues, such as the potential impact of having to train employees 
on the operation of POC devices. On August 6, 2004, we received a 
letter from the Regional Airline Association (RAA) supporting ATA's 
request to extend the comment period for 60 days. RAA specifically 
cited the uncertainty that the Airsep device would not affect 
navigation or communication systems onboard regional aircraft.
    In response, two separate letters were received on August 5, 2004, 
objecting to ATA's request to extend the comment period on the NPRM. 
Gary Ewart, Director of the American Thoracic Society, wrote to inform 
the FAA that he had personally met with ATA and other concerned parties 
for over 3 years and that the NPRM was not unexpected in the physician, 
patient, oxygen device, or airline communities. Phillip Porte, 
Executive Director of the National Association for Medical Direction of 
Respiratory Care, and Jon Tiger, President of the National Home Oxygen 
Patients Association, jointly submitted their opposition to extending 
the comment period for the NPRM. They believe the 30 day comment period 
was enough time to develop comments and that any extension would 
unnecessarily delay promulgation of the final regulation.
    We have considered the request for extension presented by ATA and 
weighed that request against the work done by the Department of 
Transportation, the opposition referenced above, and the momentum of 
the rulemaking, and the specific proposal. We agree that it is 
important for ATA and its members to review and consider this rule, but 
we feel that a 60-day extension of the comment period would be 
excessive.
    Notice No. 04-10 makes very clear that this is an enabling 
proposal. No operator will be required to permit passengers to carry a 
POC device onboard an aircraft. If an operator decides to allow a 
passenger to use the Airsep (or any future approved device), it would 
have to determine if the device would interfere with the navigation or 
communication systems on its own. We also recognize that an operator 
would have to take several steps to train crewmembers and make 
appropriate administrative changes, but examining those potential 
actions is not necessary before our proposal is completed.
    We will extend the comment period for Notice No. 04-10 for an 
additional 15 days only. We believe the total of 45 days is adequate 
for all interested parties to comment on this proposal. Absent unusual 
circumstances, the FAA does not anticipate any further extension of the 
comment period for this rulemaking.

Extension of Comment Period

    In accordance with Sec.  11.29(c) of Title 14, Code of Federal 
Regulations, the FAA has reviewed the petitions made by the Air 
Transport Association for extension of the comment period to Notice No. 
04-10. The petitioner has a substantive interest in the proposed rule 
and the FAA has determined that a short extension of the comment period 
is consistent with the public interest.
    Accordingly, the comment period for Notice No. 04-10 is extended 
until August 30, 2004.

    Issued in Washington, DC, on August 10, 2004.
James W. Whitlow,
Deputy Chief Counsel.
[FR Doc. 04-18645 Filed 8-11-04; 11:50 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-13-P