[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 195 (Wednesday, October 11, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 47289-47290]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-21878]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Aviation Administration

[Docket No.: FAA-2017-0975]
RIN 2120-0768


Request for Emergency Processing of Collection of Information by 
the Office of Management and Budget; Emergency Clearance To Revise 
Information Collection 2120-0768, Part 107 Authorizations and Waivers

AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Department of 
Transportation (DOT).

ACTION: Notice of Agency request for OMB emergency information 
collection processing and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: FAA hereby gives notice it is submitting the following 
Information Collection request (ICR) to the Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB) for Emergency processing under the Paperwork Reduction Act 
of 1995 (PRA) and its implementing regulations. FAA requests that OMB 
authorize the proposed collection of information identified below on, 
or before October 16, 2017, for a period of 180 days.

ADDRESSES: A copy of this individual information collection request 
(ICR), with applicable supporting documentation, may be obtained by 
calling FAA's unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) Low Altitude 
Authorization and Notification Capability (LAANC) Program Manager: 
Casey Nair (tel. (202) 267-0369) or via email at [email protected]. 
Comments regarding these information collection requirements should 
include the title and OMB control number listed below and should be 
sent directly to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, 
Office of Management and Budget, 725 Seventeenth Street NW., 
Washington, DC 20503, Attention: FAA Desk Officer. Comments may also be 
sent via email to OMB at [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Casey Nair, FAA's unmanned aircraft 
systems (UAS) Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability 
(LAANC) Program Manager, tel. (202) 267-0369 or via email at 
[email protected].

[[Page 47290]]


SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Title: The FAA Seeks Emergency Clearance to Revise its Existing 
Information Collection 2120-0768, Part 107 Authorizations and Waivers 
under 14 CFR part 107.
    OMB Control Number: 2120-0768.
    Form Number(s): N/A.
    Affected Public: Businesses and Small UAS operators under 14 CFR 
part 107.
    Frequency of Submission: One submission per operation.
    Respondent Universe: small UAS operators under 14 CFR part 107.
    Reporting Burden:
    Total Estimated Responses: 124,000 authorization requests 2017 with 
a 35% increase per year every year after.
    Total Estimated Annual Burden: The FAA estimates that using the 
LAANC based method for authorizations will require five minutes per 
transaction. Therefore, the FAA estimates the total time burden using 
LAANC to be approximately 10,400 hours for authorizations. That number 
increases to 14,400 in 2018 and 18,954 in 2018 and 2019 respectively.
    Status: Emergency Review.
    Description: Under 14 CFR 107.41, ``no person may operate a small 
unmanned aircraft in Class B, Class C, or Class D airspace or within 
the lateral boundaries of the surface area of Class E airspace 
designated for an airport unless that person has prior authorization 
from Air Traffic Control (ATC).'' [14 CFR 107.41.] Since the 
promulgation of part 107, the FAA has received an extremely high volume 
of airspace authorization requests for UAS operations. From September 
2016 to July 2017 the Agency received 20,566 authorization requests. Of 
these, the Agency has processed 14,334 and continues to have over 6,000 
authorizations in the processing queue. Requests have steadily 
increased over time, and the FAA expects the queue will exceed 25,000 
pending authorizations within the next 6 months. The volume of these 
authorization requests has dramatically increased the time between 
submission and approval of those authorization requests. Currently, 
airspace authorization requests may be in queue sixty to ninety days 
before receiving a response. The time necessary to process these 
requests has resulted in an increase in safety reports due to non-
compliant operations. Today there are an average of 250 safety reports 
a month, or approximately 1,500 over a six-month period, associated 
with a potential risk of an incident between manned aircraft and a UAS. 
In addition, because of the lengthy queue for processing through the 
authorization Web site, Air Traffic Controllers routinely receive calls 
from UAS operators seeking approval to operate. These calls create 
distractions for Air Traffic Control management and in some cases can 
impact the controllers managing manned traffic creating a potential 
safety hazard. To mitigate these potential hazards, the FAA is seeking 
to implement the Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability 
(LAANC) system. Using the LAANC system, the FAA will be able to grant 
near-real time authorizations for the vast majority of operations. 
Implementation of the LAANC system is vital to the safety of the 
National Airspace System because it would (1) encourage compliance with 
14 CFR 107.41 by speeding up the time to process authorization requests 
(2) reduce distraction of controllers working in the Tower, and (3) 
increase public access and capacity of the system to grant 
authorizations. LAANC is expected to dramatically reduce the incidence 
of noncompliant operations. The FAA estimates a minimum of 30% 
reduction in noncompliant operations would result in 450 fewer safety 
reports over the next six months.
    As provided under 5 CFR 1320.13, Emergency Processing, DOT is 
requesting emergency processing for this new collection of information 
as specified in the PRA and its implementing regulations. DOT cannot 
reasonably comply with normal clearance procedures because the use of 
normal clearance procedures is reasonably likely to result in further 
distraction to Air Traffic Controllers and further non-compliant 
operations. Due to the pressing safety consideration of reducing safety 
reports due to non-compliant UAS operations, the FAA cannot wait the 
normal 90 days of public comment. Therefore, FAA is requesting OMB 
approval of this collection of information 7 days after publication of 
this Notice in the Federal Register. Upon OMB approval of its Emergency 
clearance request, FAA will follow the normal clearance procedures for 
the information collection associated with LAANC.
    Also included in the request for processing for the purposes of 
transparency are non-substantive changes to the Web site portal for 
requesting airspace authorizations. These changes include new branding 
of the Web site portal DroneZone and improvements to the external 
customer experience. It's expected that operations that are relatively 
simple will go through LAANC's automated approval process while more 
complex operations that require a more thorough review by FAA subject 
matter experts (SME) will go through the FAA's DroneZone electronic 
portal. Again, these changes will create greater access to airspace 
authorizations and decrease the number of non-compliant operations.
    Under 44 U.S.C. 3507(a) and 5 CFR 1320.5(b), 1320.8(b)(3)(vi), FAA 
informs all interested parties that it may not conduct or sponsor, and 
a respondent is not required to respond to, a collection of information 
unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number.

    Authority: 44 U.S.C. 3501-3520.

    Issued in Washington, DC, on October 4, 2017.
Casey Nair,
LAANC Program Manager.
[FR Doc. 2017-21878 Filed 10-10-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4910-13-P