[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 30 (Tuesday, February 16, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 7886-7887]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-03003]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Aviation Administration

[Docket No. FAA-2016-2612]


Petition for Authorization To Exceed Mach 1; Summary of Petition 
Received; The Boeing Company

AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), DOT.

ACTION: Notice of request for an authorization to exceed Mach 1.

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SUMMARY: This notice summarizes a petition received by the FAA 
requesting a special flight authorization as described in FAA 
regulations. The FAA is not requesting comments because a special 
flight authorization petition to exceed Mach 1 follows a separate 
regulatory process.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Rebecca Cointin, Office of Environment 
and Energy, Noise Division (AEE-100), Federal Aviation Administration, 
800 Independence Avenue SW., Washington, DC 20591. Telephone: (202) 
267-4770.
    This notice is published pursuant to 14 CFR 91.817.

    Issued in Washington, DC, on February 3, 2016.
Curtis Holsclaw.
Deputy Director, Office of Environment and Energy.

Petition for Authorization To Exceed Mach 1

    Docket No.: FAA-2016-2612.
    Petitioner: The Boeing Company.
    Section of 14 CFR Affected: 91.817, and Appendix B to Part 91.
    Description of Authorization Sought: The requested authorization 
seeks to allow the petitioner time-limited and conditional flight 
operations that exceed Mach 1 for a specified duration and location. 
Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR) part 91, Subpart 
I--Operating Noise Limits, addresses civil aircraft-generated sonic 
boom in Sec.  91.817. An operator must comply with the flight 
conditions and limitations designated by the FAA in any authorization 
to exceed Mach 1 issued under appendix B to part 91. The petitioner is 
requesting that it be allowed to conduct flight test operations of 
civil F-15 fighter aircraft over a portion of the Kansas City Air Route 
Traffic Control Center (ARTCC) airspace that it has used when it 
operated supersonic aircraft in support of U.S. Department of Defense 
flights (conducted as public aircraft operations). The region of 
operation proposed by the petitioner extends approximately 200 miles 
west from St. Louis, Missouri (excluding the airspace within 50 
nautical miles of St. Louis airport) and terminates laterally to the 
north and south approximately 50 miles inside the Missouri border with 
neighboring states. Supersonic flight operations above Mach 1 are 
proposed to be limited to 5 minutes in duration and to occur above 
37,000 feet altitude. Proposed operations are for one airplane flown 
per month, with a total of 8 airplanes to be operated. The petitioner 
has requested that operations begin in

[[Page 7887]]

early 2016. The FAA is not requesting comments because Appendix B of 
Sec.  91.817 contains its own process to submit a special flight 
authorization petition to exceed Mach 1 which the FAA will follow. 
Neither publication of this notice nor the inclusion or omission of 
information in the summary is intended to affect the legal status of 
any petition or its final disposition.

[FR Doc. 2016-03003 Filed 2-12-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4910-13-P