[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 92 (Thursday, May 12, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 29609-29611]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-11104]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Aviation Administration


Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee--New Task

AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), DOT.

ACTION: Notice of a new task assignment for the Aviation Rulemaking 
Advisory Committee (ARAC).

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SUMMARY: The FAA has assigned the Aviation Rulemaking Advisory 
Committee (ARAC) a new task to provide recommendations regarding the 
certification of persons engaged in operations involving the loading of 
special cargo. Assignment of this task is in response to National 
Transportation Safety Board Recommendation A-15-014 which recommended 
that the FAA create a certification for personnel responsible for the 
loading, restraint, and documentation of special cargo loads on 
transport-category airplanes. This notice informs the public of the new 
ARAC activity and solicits membership for the new Loadmaster 
Certification Working Group.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Stephen Grota Cargo Focus Team, AFS-
340 Federal Aviation Administration, 950 L'Enfant Plaza SW., 5th Floor, 
Washington, DC 20024, [email protected], phone number (781) 238-
7528.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

ARAC Acceptance of Task

    As a result of its March 23, 2016, ARAC meeting, the ARAC accepted 
this tasking to establish the Loadmaster Certification Working Group. 
The Loadmaster Certification Working Group will serve as staff to the 
ARAC and provide advice and recommendations on the assigned task. The 
ARAC will review and accept the recommendation report and will submit 
it to the FAA.

Background

    The FAA established the ARAC to provide information, advice, and 
recommendations on aviation related

[[Page 29610]]

issues that could result in rulemaking to the FAA Administrator, 
through the Associate Administrator for Aviation Safety.
    On April 29, 2013, a Boeing 747-400 BCF operated by an air carrier 
conducting all-cargo operations crashed shortly after takeoff from 
Bagram Air Base, Bagram, Afghanistan. The airplane was destroyed from 
impact forces and post-crash fire. The flight was a supplemental 
operation conducted under part 121 of Title 14, Code of Federal 
Regulations (14 CFR) and was being conducted under a multimodal 
contract with the US Transportation Command. The intended destination 
for the flight was Dubai World Central--Al Maktoum International 
Airport, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
    The airplane's cargo included five mine-resistant ambush-protected 
(MRAP) vehicles secured onto pallets with shoring. Two vehicles were 
12-ton MRAP all-terrain vehicles (M-ATVs) and three were 18-ton 
Cougars. These vehicles were considered special cargo because they 
could not be placed in unit load devices (ULDs) and restrained in the 
airplane using the locking capabilities of the airplane's main deck 
cargo handling system. Instead, the vehicles were secured to 
centerline-loaded floating pallets and restrained to the airplane's 
main deck using tie-down straps. Special cargo is defined in appendix C 
of AC 120-85A, Air Cargo Operations, as ``cargo not contained in a ULD 
certified for the airplane cargo loading system (CLS) or not enclosed 
in a cargo compartment certified for bulk loading. This type of cargo 
requires special handling and securing/restraining procedures.''
    During takeoff, the airplane immediately climbed steeply, then 
descended in a manner consistent with an aerodynamic stall. The 
National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation found strong 
evidence that at least one of the rear MRAP vehicles moved aft into the 
tail section of the airplane, damaging hydraulic systems and horizontal 
stabilizer components and making it impossible for the flightcrew to 
maintain pitch control of the airplane. The NTSB determined that the 
probable cause of this accident was the air carrier's inadequate 
procedures for restraining special cargo loads, which resulted in the 
loadmaster's improper restraint of the cargo, which moved aft and 
damaged hydraulic systems numbers 1 and 2 and horizontal stabilizer 
drive mechanism components, rendering the airplane uncontrollable (NTSB 
Aircraft Accident Report NTSB/AAR-15/01 PB2015-104951).
    As a result of this accident, the NTSB issued Safety Recommendation 
A-15-14 which recommended, in part, that the FAA ``[c]reate a 
certification for personnel responsible for the loading, restraint, and 
documentation of special cargo loads on transport-category airplanes.'' 
Currently, there is no certificated position for the loading of special 
cargo specified in the FAA's regulations. Therefore, there are no 
specific individual standards or training requirements to ensure 
adherence to operational limitations. Additionally, there is no 
specific FAA oversight of these personnel outside of that normally 
conducted of a certificate holder's operations. The FAA believes that 
such oversight is especially critical when special cargo is carried in 
an aircraft.
    Persons performing special cargo loading functions typically 
prepare and validate the accuracy of aircraft load manifests and ensure 
the aircraft is loaded according to an approved schedule that ensures 
the aircraft's center of gravity is within approved limits. Proper 
performance of these functions is critical to ensure the flight 
characteristics of an aircraft are not adversely affected and that its 
structural limitations are not exceeded.

The Task

    The Loadmaster Certification Working Group is tasked to:
    1. Provide advice and recommendations to the ARAC on whether safety 
would be enhanced if persons engaged in the loading and supervision of 
the loading of special cargo, to include the preparation and accuracy 
of special cargo load plans, be certificated. If the Working Group 
recommends certification of these persons, it should also provide 
recommendations regarding which specific operations should require the 
use of these certificated persons. Additionally, it should also 
recommend appropriate knowledge, experience, and skill requirements for 
the issuance of the certificates and appropriate privileges and 
limitations.
    2. Determine the effect of its recommendations on impacted parties.
    3. Develop a report containing recommendations based upon its 
analysis and findings. The report should document both majority and 
dissenting positions on its recommendations and findings and the 
rationale for each position. Any disagreements should be documented, 
including the rationale for each position and the reasons for the 
disagreement.
    In developing this report the Working Group shall familiarize 
itself with:
    1. NTSB Aircraft Accident Report NTSB/AAR-15/01 PB2015-104951NTSB, 
with particular attention provided to Safety Recommendation A-15-14.
    2. AC 120-85A, Air Cargo Operations.
    3. Minutes of the June 30, 2015 B747 Special Cargo Load Meeting.
    The working group may be reinstated to assist the ARAC by 
responding to FAA's questions or concerns after its recommendations 
have been submitted.

Schedule

    The recommendation report should be submitted to the FAA for review 
and acceptance no later than 24 months from the publication date of 
this notice in the Federal Register.

Working Group Activity

    The Loadmaster Certification Working Group must comply with the 
procedures adopted by the ARAC and:
    1. Conduct a review and analysis of the assigned tasks and any 
other related materials or documents.
    2. Draft and submit a work plan for completion of the task, 
including the rationale supporting such a plan, for consideration by 
the ARAC.
    3. Provide a status report at each ARAC meeting.
    4. Draft and submit the recommendation report based on the review 
and analysis of the assigned tasks.
    5. Present the recommendation report at the ARAC meeting.

Participation in the Working Group

    The Loadmaster Certification Working Group will be comprised of 
technical experts having an interest in the assigned task. A working 
group member need not be a member representative of the ARAC. The FAA 
would like a wide range of members to ensure all aspects of the tasks 
are considered in development of the recommendations. The provisions of 
the August 13, 2014, Office of Management and Budget guidance, 
``Revised Guidance on Appointment of Lobbyists to Federal Advisory 
Committees, Boards, and Commissions'' (79 FR 47482), continues the ban 
on registered lobbyists participating on Agency Boards and Commissions 
if participating in their ``individual capacity.'' The revised guidance 
now allows registered lobbyists to participate on Agency Boards and 
Commissions in a ``representative capacity'' for the ``express purpose 
of providing a committee with the views of a nongovernmental entity, a 
recognizable group of persons or nongovernmental entities (an industry, 
sector, labor

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unions, or environmental groups, etc.) or state or local government'' 
(For further information, see the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (LDA) 
as amended, 2 U.S.C. 1603, 1604, and 1605).
    If you wish to become a member of the Loadmaster Certification 
Working Group, contact the person listed under the caption FOR FURTHER 
INFORMATION CONTACT expressing that desire. Describe your interest in 
the task and state the expertise you would bring to the working group. 
The FAA must receive all requests by June 13, 2016. The ARAC and the 
FAA will review the requests and advise you whether or not your request 
is approved.
    If you are chosen for membership on the working group, you must 
actively participate in the working group, attend all meetings, and 
provide written comments when requested. You must devote the resources 
necessary to support the working group in meeting any assigned 
deadlines. You must keep your management and those you may represent 
advised of working group activities and decisions to ensure the 
proposed technical solutions do not conflict with the position of those 
you represent. Once the working group has begun deliberations, members 
will not be added or substituted without the approval of the ARAC 
Chair, the FAA, including the Designated Federal Officer, and the 
Working Group Chair.
    The Secretary of Transportation determined the formation and use of 
the ARAC is necessary and in the public interest in connection with the 
performance of duties imposed on the FAA by law. The ARAC meetings are 
open to the public. However, meetings of the Loadmaster Certification 
Working Group are not open to the public, except to the extent 
individuals with an interest and expertise are selected to participate. 
The FAA will make no public announcement of working group meetings.

    Issued in Washington, DC, on May 4, 2016.
Lirio Liu,
Designated Federal Officer, Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee.
[FR Doc. 2016-11104 Filed 5-11-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4910-13-P