[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 217 (Friday, November 7, 2008)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 66205-66207]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-26566]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Aviation Administration

14 CFR Parts 25, 121, and 129

[Docket No. FAA-2006-24281]


Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee Meeting on Transport 
Airplane and Engine Issues--Aging Aircraft Program: Widespread Fatigue 
Damage

AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), DOT.

ACTION: Notice of public meeting, reopening of comment period.

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SUMMARY: This notice announces a public meeting of the FAA's Aviation 
Rulemaking Advisory Committee (ARAC) to discuss transport airplane and 
engine (TAE) issues. The purpose of the meeting is to solicit comments 
and information on a technical document related to a notice of proposed 
rulemaking that the FAA published on April 18, 2006, on Widespread 
Fatigue Damage, and its accompanying initial regulatory evaluation. 
This notice also announces the opening of a period of public comment on 
that technical document, which has been posted in docket FAA-2006-
24281. Commenters may post their comments in the docket.

DATES: The meeting is scheduled for Thursday, December 11, 2008, 
starting at 9 a.m. Pacific Standard Time. Persons unable to attend the 
meeting are invited to provide written comments to the Federal Docket 
Management System, on or before December 22, 2008. Persons planning to 
make oral presentations at the meeting must request arrangements for 
that with the FAA by December 1, 2008 by contacting the appropriate 
person under the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section. We also ask 
those who are not planning to make a presentation but are planning to 
attend the meeting to inform us as well.

ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held at the Best Western Hotel, 15901 
West Valley Hwy., Tukwila, WA 98188. Attendance is open to the public, 
but will be limited to space available. Persons unable to attend the 
meeting may send comments identified by Docket Number FAA-2006-24281 
using any of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and follow the online instructions for sending your 
comments electronically.
     Mail: Send comments to Docket Operations, M-30; U.S. 
Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., Room W12-
140, West Building Ground Floor, Washington, DC 20590-0001.
     Hand Delivery or Courier: Bring comments to Docket 
Operations in Room W12-140 of the West Building Ground Floor at 1200 
New Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., 
Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.
     Fax: Fax comments to Docket Operations at 202-493-2251.
    Privacy: We will post all comments we receive, without change, to 
http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information you 
provide. Using the search function of our docket Web site, anyone can 
find and read the electronic form of all comments received into any of 
our dockets, including the name of the individual sending the comment 
(or signing the comment for 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://DocketsInfo.dot.gov.
    Docket: To read background documents or comments received, go to 
http://www.regulations.gov at any time and follow the online 
instructions for accessing the docket. Or, go to the Docket Operations 
in Room W12-140 of the West Building Ground Floor at 1200 New Jersey 
Avenue, SE., Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through 
Friday, except Federal holidays.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests to present a statement at the 
meeting or questions regarding the logistics of the meeting, as well as 
responses from persons planning to attend the meeting, should be 
directed to Annette Kovite, Federal Aviation Administration, Transport 
Airplane Directorate, Aircraft Certification Service, Standardization 
Branch, ANM-113, 1601 Lind Avenue, SW., Renton, WA 98057-3356; 
telephone (425) 227-1262; fax (425) 227-1320; e-mail: 
[email protected]. Please provide us with the following 
information: Full legal name, country of citizenship, and name of your 
industry association or applicable affiliation. If you are attending as 
a private citizen, please indicate that.
    Questions concerning this proposed rule should be directed to 
Walter Sippel, FAA, Transport Airplane Directorate, Aircraft 
Certification Service, Transport Airplane Airframe/Cabin Safety Branch, 
ANM-115, 1601 Lind Avenue, SW., Renton, WA 98057-3356; telephone (425) 
227-2774, fax (425) 227-1232, e-mail: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant to Section 10(a)(2) of the Federal 
Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. 92-463; 5 U.S.C. app. III), notice is 
given of an ARAC meeting to be held at the Best Western Hotel in 
Tukwila, WA on December 11, 2008. This ad hoc meeting is being held to 
review and receive public comments on changes made to the notice of 
proposed rulemaking and initial regulatory evaluation on Widespread 
Fatigue Damage published on April 18, 2006 (74 FR 19928).
    The agenda for the meeting is as follows:
     Opening remarks.
     Presentation and explanation of technical document related 
to notice of proposed rulemaking No. 06-04, Aging Aircraft Program: 
Widespread Fatigue Damage, published on April 18, 2006 (71 FR 19928), 
and its accompanying initial regulatory evaluation, which may be found 
in Docket FAA-2006-24281.
     Oral presentation of public comments.

Background

    The FAA received extensive comments on the Widespread Fatigue 
Damage (WFD) notice of proposed rulemaking (74 FR19928) and on the 
estimated costs and benefits of that proposed rule specified in its 
accompanying regulatory evaluation, which may be found in the docket. 
Based on those comments, and on our analysis of those comments, we have 
developed a technical document that suggests changes to both the 
proposed rule and to the assumptions made in our initial regulatory 
evaluation. Those changes could decrease the estimated cost of the 
proposed rule from $360 million to $4 million in present value.

Comment Period

    To allow the public to comment on the technical document we are 
reopening the comment period. We have posted it in the docket for the 
Widespread Fatigue Damage rulemaking (FAA-2006-24281) with the title 
``Technical Document--Aging Aircraft Program: Widespread Fatigue 
Damage.'' A period of public comment on that document begins with 
publication of this notice in the Federal Register and ends on December 
22, 2008. Public comments may be posted to the docket at any time 
during the comment period by following any of the means of posting 
comments listed in the ADDRESSES section of this document. In addition, 
as discussed below, we invite attendance at the public meeting of ARAC 
on Transport Airplane and Engine Issues on December 11, 2008, where 
people may make comments in person. If you are posting comments to the 
docket and would like us to address them at the meeting, it would help 
us if you would post those comments by December 1. All comments posted 
to the docket will be considered, but we may not be able to address 
late-posted comments at the meeting.

Participation at the Meeting

    The purpose of the meeting of the Transport Airplane and Engine 
Issues Group on December 11, 2008, is to discuss the technical document 
and the effect our analysis could have on the proposed rule and initial 
regulatory evaluation for Widespread Fatigue Damage. The public is 
invited to make oral presentations and comments on the

[[Page 66207]]

technical document at this meeting. To assist us in planning for this 
meeting, please notify us by December 1, 2008 if you are planning to 
attend. Persons who wish to present oral statements at the meeting 
should arrange with the FAA in advance for time to do this at the 
meeting. We should receive requests from persons who wish to present 
oral statements at the meeting no later than December 1, 2008. Requests 
to speak should include a written summary of oral remarks to be 
presented and an estimate of time needed for the presentation. An 
agenda of speakers will be available at the meeting. The names of those 
individuals who make their request to present oral statements after the 
date specified above may not appear on the written agenda. To 
accommodate as many speakers as possible, the amount of time allocated 
to each speaker may be less than the amount of time requested. Persons 
requiring audiovisual equipment should notify the FAA when requesting 
to be placed on the agenda.

Public Meeting Procedures

    The FAA will use the following procedures to facilitate the 
meeting:
    (1) There will be no admission fee or other charge to attend or to 
participate in the meeting. The meeting will be open to all persons who 
are scheduled to attend or present statements or who register between 8 
a.m. and 9 a.m. on the day of the meeting. While the FAA will make 
every effort to accommodate all persons wishing to participate, 
admission will be subject to availability of space in the meeting room. 
Advising us in advance if you're planning to attend the meeting will 
help us plan for adequate room to accommodate those who wish to attend. 
The meeting may adjourn early if scheduled speakers complete their 
statements in less time than is scheduled for the meeting.
    (2) An individual presenting oral remarks, whether speaking in a 
personal capacity or as a representative of an organization, may be 
limited to a 10-minute statement. If possible, we will notify the 
speaker if additional time is available.
    (3) We will try to accommodate all speakers. If the available time 
does not permit this, speakers generally will be scheduled on a first-
come-first-served basis. However, the FAA reserves the right to exclude 
some speakers if necessary to present a balance of viewpoints and 
issues.
    (4) If you need assistance or require a reasonable accommodation 
for the meeting or meeting documents, please contact Annette Kovite, 
listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section. Sign and oral 
interpretation can be made available at the meeting, as well as an 
assistive listening device, if requested by December 1, 2008.
    (5) The committee's Assistant Chair for Transport Airplane and 
Engine Issues will preside over the meeting. The Designated Federal 
Official and a panel of FAA personnel involved in this rulemaking will 
be present to address the technical document and questions and comments 
presented.
    (6) The meeting will be recorded by a court reporter. A transcript 
of the meeting and any material accepted by the FAA representatives 
during the meeting will be included in the public docket. Any person 
who is interested in purchasing a copy of the transcript should contact 
the court reporter directly. Additional transcript purchase information 
will be available at the meeting.
    (7) The FAA will review and consider all material presented by 
participants at the meeting. Position papers or material presenting 
views or arguments related to the rulemaking may be accepted at the 
discretion of the presiding officer and subsequently placed in the 
public docket. We request that persons participating in the meeting 
provide enough copies of all materials for distribution to the 
committee and FAA representatives; other copies may be provided to the 
audience at the discretion of the participant.
    (8) Statements made by FAA representatives are intended to 
facilitate discussion of the issues or to clarify issues. Any statement 
made during the meeting by an FAA representative is not intended to be, 
and should not be construed as, a position of the FAA.
    (9) The meeting is designed to solicit public views and gather 
additional information on the rulemaking. Therefore, the meeting will 
be conducted in an informal and non-adversarial manner. No individual 
will be subject to cross-examination by any other participant; however, 
FAA representatives may ask questions to clarify a statement and to 
ensure a complete and accurate record.

    Issued in Washington, DC, on November 3, 2008.
Pamela Hamilton-Powell,
Director, Office of Rulemaking.
 [FR Doc. E8-26566 Filed 11-6-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-13-P