[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 90 (Wednesday, May 9, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 27269-27271]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-11251]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Aviation Administration

[Docket No. FAA-2011-0183]


Access to Aircraft Situation Display to Industry (ASDI) and 
National Airspace System Status Information (NASSI) Data

AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), DOT.

ACTION: Notice of proposed process for limiting aircraft data displayed 
via ASDI; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: On December 16, 2011, the FAA published a notice of an interim 
policy, instructing aircraft owners and operators on how they can limit 
the FAA's dissemination of their aircraft data via the FAA's ASDI 
program. The notice indicated that the FAA would later propose specific 
procedures by which aircraft owners and operators can in the future 
express their preference on the FAA's release of their aircraft data to 
the public via ASDI. This document is the FAA's proposal and the FAA's 
invitation to the public to comment on any aspect of it. Until the FAA 
publishes a document that sets forth the FAA's final decision on the 
ASDI blocking process, the FAA will continue to operate under the 
interim policy that the FAA described in the notice published in 
December 2011.

DATES: Any written information that responds to the FAA's proposed 
procedures must be submitted by June 8, 2012.

ADDRESSES: You may submit written information, identified by docket 
number FAA-2011-0183, by any of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://regulations.gov 
and follow the online instructions for sending your comments 
electronically.
     Mail: Send comments by mail to Docket Operations, U.S. 
Department of Transportation, M-30, Room W12-140, 1200 New Jersey 
Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20590-0001. Persons wishing to receive 
confirmation of receipt of their written submission should include a 
self-addressed stamped postcard.
     Hand Delivery: Deliver comments to Docket Operations in 
Room W12-140 on the ground floor of the West Building at 1200 New 
Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC, between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., 
Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.
     Facsimile: Fax comments to the docket operations personnel 
at 202-493-2251.
    Privacy: We will post all comments that we receive, without change, 
at http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information that 
you provide. Using the search function of the docket Web site, anyone 
can find and read the electronic form of all comments in 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, 
or other entity or organization. You may review the DOT's complete 
Privacy Act Statement in the Federal Register at 65 FR 19477-78 (April 
11, 2000), or you may find it at http://docketsinfo.dot.gov.
    Reviewing the 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 Docket 
Operations in Room W12-140 on the ground floor of the West Building at 
1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC, between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 
p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: You may direct any questions on adding 
aircraft to and removing aircraft from the ASDI block list to the FAA's 
ASDI program staff by telephone at (540) 422-4649 or by electronic mail 
at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On November 18, 2011, the President signed 
into law H.R. 2112, the ``Consolidated and Further Continuing 
Appropriations Act, 2012,'' which provides the U.S. Department of 
Transportation's appropriation for the balance of fiscal year 2012. 
Section 119A of that statute provides that:

[n]otwithstanding any other provision of law, none of the funds made 
available under this Act or any prior Act may be used to implement 
or to continue to implement any limitation on the ability of any 
owner or operator of a private aircraft to obtain, upon a request to 
the Administrator of the [FAA], a blocking of that owner's or 
operator's aircraft registration number from any display of the 
[FAA's ASDI] data that is made available to the public, except data 
made available to a Government agency, for the noncommercial flights 
of that owner or operator.

Public Law 112-55, Sec.  119A, 125 Stat. 552, 649.

    In light of this appropriation language, the FAA withdrew a prior 
policy that it published on June 3, 2011, which required owners or 
operators to submit a Certified Security Concern in order to have their 
aircraft blocked from the public's view on displays of ASDI 
information. In connection with its withdrawal of the June 3 policy, 
the FAA published interim procedures under which aircraft owners and 
operators can request that the FAA block their aircraft from release to 
the public via the FAA's ASDI data feed. 78 FR 78,328 (Dec. 16, 2011). 
At that time, the FAA noted that it would propose more detailed 
procedures for the ASDI blocking program and solicit public comment on 
the proposal. This notice is the FAA's proposal, and the FAA invites 
the public to comment on any aspect of it in any of the manners 
described in the ADDRESSES section of this notice. After the FAA 
publishes its final procedures with respect to blocking aircraft data 
from the public ASDI data feed, the FAA may amend its memoranda of 
agreement with the subscribers who receive the information to clarify 
the subscriber responsibilities.

Substance of Aircraft Owner or Operator Requests

    Consistent with Congress' recent appropriations directive, the FAA 
proposes to continue to honor all aircraft owner or operator requests 
that the FAA block their aircraft from appearing in the FAA's public 
ASDI data feed. Aircraft owners and operators can submit requests on 
their own behalf or may do so through their legally authorized agent. 
The FAA does not view associations to be agents on behalf of their 
members for this purpose.
    To assist the FAA in accurately and efficiently processing the 
number of requests that the FAA expects, the FAA intends to ask that 
all requests for ASDI blocking include specific information. The 
receipt of this information could influence whether the FAA can add or 
delete aircraft from the ASDI block list in a timely way. In 
particular, the FAA expects that its program staff will need:
     The name of the requestor;
     The registration number(s) of the aircraft to be blocked 
or unblocked;
     A certification that the requestor is the owner or 
operator of the specified aircraft;
     A telephone number and electronic mail address to which 
the FAA can direct questions about the request; and
     For a request to block one or more aircraft, a statement 
indicating whether

[[Page 27270]]

the requestor desires ASDI blocking at the FAA source or at the 
industry level.
    The distinction between blocking ASDI data at the FAA source and 
blocking it at the industry level warrants clarification. Blocking ASDI 
information at the FAA source results in the FAA filtering the blocked 
data before release to the public, although the FAA supplies unfiltered 
data to other Government agencies. If the owner or operator selects 
this level of blocking, however, the aircraft owner or operator who 
wants to track the aircraft or to grant that ability to anyone else 
will be unable to do so. Blocking ASDI information at the industry 
level allows owners or operators to contract with an ASDI data 
subscriber to reveal their aircraft whereabouts to those with whom the 
owner or operator wishes to share that information. Under this 
procedure, owners and operators should be aware that the FAA will 
provide unfiltered information to all subscribers who receive ASDI data 
directly from the FAA (direct subscribers), with the instruction that 
those subscribers are to block the designated aircraft unless the 
subscriber reaches a contrary agreement with a blocked aircraft's owner 
or operator. Furthermore, the direct subscribers may contract to share 
the FAA data with an additional level of subscribers (indirect 
subscribers). All subscriber use of the information is limited in that 
they must agree to shield the blocked aircraft data from further 
release, unless the subscriber enters into an agreement with the owner 
or operator that allows for the information's further use. If a 
requestor fails to specify whether the request is for blocking at the 
FAA source or at the industry level, the FAA will construe the request 
as seeking to block the information at the FAA source.

FAA Implementation of Requests

    The FAA intends to continue its current practice of implementing 
ASDI block list revisions on the first Thursday of each month. As a 
practical matter, requests that the FAA receives on or before the 15th 
of the preceding month are likely to be processed in time to take 
effect the following month. However, it is possible that the volume of 
requests in a given month, a requestor's timeliness, or the 
completeness and accuracy of the information that the FAA receives 
could preclude the FAA from processing some requests in time for them 
to take effect in the month following their submission. In that event, 
the FAA will process all requests in the order in which the FAA 
receives them to the extent that it is possible.

Process for Aircraft That Are Currently Blocked

    A number of aircraft are currently on the FAA's ASDI block lists, 
some of which are based on a certified security concern submitted after 
June 3, 2011, and some of which are based on requests under the FAA's 
interim policy of accepting all aircraft owner or operator requests to 
block their aircraft data from public display of ASDI and NASSI 
information. The FAA has tentatively determined that it is not 
necessary to require the owners or operators of these aircraft to 
submit their initial requests again, unless they wish to change the 
status of their aircraft or the level at which an aircraft is blocked.

Block Request Addresses

    Because the nature of the FAA's ASDI blocking program is changing, 
the FAA proposes to change the principal addresses where aircraft 
owners and operators can submit any information that the program 
requires. The FAA will still receive and accept information submitted 
at the previous addresses for this program. However, the FAA has 
established a new primary electronic mailbox for all aircraft blocking 
and unblocking requests and inquiries at [email protected]. The FAA 
also will accept information submitted by regular mail at: FAA ASDI 
Blocking Request; ATO System Operations Services, AJR-0; Wilbur Wright 
Building, Room 3E1500; 600 Independence Avenue SW., Washington, DC 
20597.

Paperwork Reduction Act

    This proposal contains the following new information collection 
requirements. As required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 
U.S.C. section 3507(d)), the FAA has submitted the information 
requirements associated with this proposal to the Office of Management 
and Budget (OMB) for its review.
    Title: ASDI Block Requests.
    Summary: The FAA makes air traffic flow management data available 
to aviation and other industries, consisting of near real-time position 
and other relevant flight data for civil aircraft receiving radar 
services within the National Air Space. Through a Policy Notice 
published in the Federal Register on June 3, 2011, the FAA undertook to 
formalize a process through which aircraft owners and operators could 
ask the FAA to block their aircraft identification information from 
appearing in the FAA's ASDI data feed. Section 119A of H.R. 2112, the 
``Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2012'' and 
the FAA's resulting policy adjustments expanded the aircraft blocking 
program to allow any interested aircraft owner or operator to simply 
opt out of the public ASDI data feed by submitting a written request to 
the FAA's ASDI Program Office. The FAA's implementation of the ASDI 
blocking program necessitates a paperwork burden related to the 
collection and processing of those block requests.
    Use of: The collected information will be used by the National Air 
Space Data Release Office to block aircraft flight data as requested by 
any interested aircraft owner or operator.
    Respondents (including number of): The FAA estimates that 
approximately 6,000 owners and operators will request ASDI blocks.
    Frequency: The information collection would occur one time per 
requesting owner/operator.
    Annual Burden Estimate: The burden estimate is approximately 500 
hours.
    The agency is soliciting comments related to: (1) Evaluating 
whether the proposed information requirement is necessary for the 
proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether 
the information will have practical utility; (2) evaluating the 
accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden; (3) enhancing the 
quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and 
(4) minimizing the burden of collecting information on those who are to 
respond, including by using appropriate automated, electronic, 
mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or other forms 
of information technology.
    Individuals and organizations may send comments on the information 
collection requirement to the address listed in the ADDRESS section in 
this notice. Comments also should be submitted to the Office of 
Management and Budget, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, 
Attention: Desk Officer for FAA, New Executive Building, Room 10202, 
725 17th Street NW., Washington, DC 20053.
    According to the 1995 amendments to the Paperwork Reduction Act (5 
CFR section 1320.8(b)(2)(vi)), an agency may not collect or sponsor the 
collection of information, nor may it impose an information collection 
requirement unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. 
The OMB control number for this information collection will be 
published in the Federal Register, after OMB approves it.


[[Page 27271]]


    Issued in Washington, DC, on May 4, 2012.
Nancy B. Kalinowski,
Vice President, ATO System Operations Service.
[FR Doc. 2012-11251 Filed 5-8-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-13-P