[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 211 (Thursday, November 4, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 60961-60964]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-24083]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Aviation Administration

[Docket No. FAA-2020-1051]


Agency Information Collection Activities: Requests for Comments; 
Clearance of New Approval of Information Collection: Unmanned Aircraft 
Systems (UAS) BEYOND and Partnership for Safety Plan (PSP) Programs

AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), DOT.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, FAA 
invites public comments about our intention to request the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) approval for a new information collection. 
The Federal Register Notice with a 60-day comment period soliciting 
comments on the following collection of information was published on 
March 30, 2021. The collection involves data and report submissions by 
State, local and tribal participants in the UAS BEYOND program 
(BEYOND), and by industry participants in the Partnership for Safety 
Plan (PSP) program. BEYOND and PSP participants will also conduct 
qualitative, non-statistical surveys of the general public. The 
information to be collected will be used to inform FAA policy and 
decision-making regarding integrating UAS into the National Airspace 
System or to build FAA knowledge of best practices and lessons learned 
to share with UAS operators.

DATES: Written comments should be submitted by December 6, 2021.

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit written comments on 
the proposed information collection to the Office of Information and 
Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget. Comments should be 
addressed to the attention of the Desk Officer, Department of 
Transportation/FAA, and sent via electronic mail to 
[email protected], or faxed to (202) 395-6974, or mailed to 
the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management 
and Budget, Docket Library, Room 10102, 725 17th Street NW, Washington, 
DC 20503.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Corbin Jones by email at: 
[email protected]; phone: 202-641-8950.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Public Comments Invited: You are asked to comment on any aspect of 
this information collection, including (a) Whether the proposed 
collection of

[[Page 60962]]

information is necessary for FAA's performance; (b) the accuracy of the 
estimated burden; (c) ways for FAA to enhance the quality, utility and 
clarity of the information collection; and (d) ways that the burden 
could be minimized without reducing the quality of the collected 
information. The agency will summarize and/or include your comments in 
the request for OMB's clearance of this information collection.
    OMB Control Number: 2120-XXXX.
    Title: Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) BEYOND and Partnership for 
Safety Plan (PSP).
    Form Numbers:
    The data collection instruments to be used for the BEYOND and PSP 
programs are program specific, and will not include official form 
numbers. The instruments include:

 PSP Quarterly Reports
 BEYOND Semi-Annual Reports
 BEYOND Final Reports
 PSP Final Reports
 BEYOND Program Withdrawal Reports
 UAS Characteristics Reports
 UAS Monthly Operational Flight Reports
 UAS Maintenance Reports
 UAS Flight Anomaly Reports
 UAS Test Data Reports
 Legacy Societal and Economic Data Reports
 UAS Societal and Economic Data Reports
 Community Engagement Reports
 Community Engagement Tool

    Type of Review: New information collection.
    Background: The Federal Register Notice with a 60-day comment 
period soliciting comments on the following collection of information 
was published on March 30, 2021 (86 FR 16653). The background and 
burden information within this Federal Register Notice has been updated 
to reflect feedback received from the Bureau of Transportation 
Statistics and internal FAA reviewers in order to clarify information 
pertaining to the collections and to update burden estimations based 
upon expectations of the programs. The data collected during the BEYOND 
and PSP programs is delineated as part of the Memorandum of Agreement 
(MOA) or Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) each participant signs with 
the FAA, and entered into under the authority of 49 U.S.C. 106(l) and 
(m).
    The purpose of the BEYOND and PSP programs is for the Federal 
Aviation Administration (FAA) to work with state, local and tribal 
(SLT) governments (BEYOND) and private UAS operators (PSP) to work 
toward full, safe integration of UAS into the national airspace system 
(NAS). There are eight SLT governments in the BEYOND program and seven 
industry participants in the PSP program. The programs have multiple 
data collections that serve different purposes to help the FAA achieve 
the goals.
    First, there are narrative reports that will provide qualitative, 
non-statistical data that will inform the FAA of operational trends, 
highlight successes and failures and their causes, and describe 
challenges and lessons learned. These narrative reports are meant to 
inform the FAA of progress being made, to identify where there are 
challenges or gaps in understanding, and to help the FAA make policy 
and resource decisions. The data will be supplied by the eight SLT 
governments in the BEYOND program, and the seven industry operators in 
the PSP program. The collection instruments include:

(1) PSP Quarterly Reports
(2) BEYOND Semi-Annual Reports
(3) BEYOND Final Reports
(4) PSP Final Reports
(5) BEYOND Program Withdrawal Reports

    Second, there are systems and operations data submissions which 
will provide both quantitative and qualitative information about the 
program participants' aircraft, flights, corrective maintenance 
actions, off-nominal flight events, and UAS testing activities. The 
submissions are not statistical in nature but are designed to supply 
data that will help inform policy and standards related to UAS pilots 
flying their aircraft beyond their visual line of sight. The data will 
be supplied by the eight SLT governments in the BEYOND program, and the 
seven industry operators in the PSP program. The collection instruments 
include:

(6) UAS Characteristics Reports
(7) UAS Monthly Operational Flight Reports
(8) UAS Maintenance Reports
(9) UAS Flight Anomaly Reports
(10) UAS Test Data Reports

    Third, there are societal and economic data submissions that will 
provide qualitative and quantitative data regarding the potential 
societal and economic impacts of participant UAS operations. These are 
non-statistical reports that provide insight into the types of societal 
and economic benefits or detriments the participants' UAS operations 
are having on their communities and their business operations compared 
to non-UAS (legacy) operations. These submissions will help to inform 
FAA policy and decision-making toward integrating different types of 
operations into the NAS, and to inform discussions with the public on 
the potential benefits of using UAS. The data will be supplied by the 
eight SLT governments in the BEYOND program, and the seven industry 
operators in the PSP program. The collection instruments include:

(11) Legacy Societal and Economic Data Reports
(12) UAS Societal and Economic Data Reports

    Fourth, there is a community engagement component to the programs 
which includes two separate, but related, collections. One of these is 
the reports that will provide qualitative and quantitative data 
regarding the participants' community outreach activities, including 
the types of activities, the targeted audiences, and the types and 
quantity of feedback received. The reports will include any raw data 
collected using questionnaires or surveys. These submissions are not 
statistical in nature, but will provide valuable information to the FAA 
that will inform community engagement best practices and lessons 
learned which can be shared with the public. The data will be supplied 
by the eight SLT governments in the BEYOND program, and the seven 
industry operators in the PSP program. The collection instruments 
include:

(13) Community Engagement Reports

    The other piece of the community engagement component is the 
Community Engagement Tool, which will include a potential burden on the 
general public. The Community Engagement Tool was developed by the FAA 
as an optional aid for program participants that includes general and 
operation-specific questions related to UAS operations. The BEYOND and 
PSP participants may choose to use any of the pertinent sample survey 
questions when developing their own questionnaires to survey the 
general public in their communities. The tool includes questions on 
general knowledge of UAS and sentiments toward potential benefits or 
drawbacks of UAS operations. The Community Engagement Tool is intended 
to help the program participants develop simple questionnaires with no 
intended utility other than gaining insight into the general public's 
experience with, and opinions of, UAS operations. No statistical 
analysis or inference will be performed other than tabulation of 
responses. Results may be used to help develop lessons learned or best 
practices for other UAS stakeholders pertaining to community engagement 
activities.


[[Page 60963]]


(14) Community Engagement Tool

    Respondents: Depending on the submission, the respondents include 
three groups:

1. Business or other for-profit--PSP participants only
2. State, Local or Tribal Government--BEYOND participants only
3. Individuals or Households

    See the table below for details.
    Frequency: The frequency depends on the report or form. See the 
table below for details.
    Estimated Average Burden per Response: Depending on the submission, 
the overall estimated average burden per response varies from 5 minutes 
to 80 hours. See the table below for details.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden: The estimated total annual burden 
for all submissions is 33,756.05 hours. See the table below for a 
breakdown by collection instrument.

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                                                                                                                                 Estimated    Estimated
                                                                                                                      Total       average       total
               Report/form                        Affected public                 Frequency            Number of    number of    burden per     annual
                                                                                                      respondents   responses     response      burden
                                                                                                                                  (hours)      (hours)
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                                                                    Narrative Reports
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PSP Quarterly Reports....................  Business or other for-        Quarterly..................         7.00        28.00        80.00     2,240.00
                                            profit, PSP participants
                                            only.
BEYOND Semi-Annual Reports...............  State, Local or Tribal        Semi-Annually..............         8.00        16.00        80.00     1,280.00
                                            Government, BEYOND
                                            participants only.
PSP Final Reports........................  Business or other for-        One-Time Submission........         7.00         2.33        40.00        93.20
                                            profit, PSP participants
                                            only.
BEYOND Final Reports.....................  State, Local or Tribal        One-Time Submission........         8.00         2.67        40.00       106.80
                                            Government, BEYOND
                                            participants only.
BEYOND Program Withdrawal Reports........  State, Local or Tribal        One-Time Submission........         8.00         2.67        40.00       106.80
                                            Government, BEYOND
                                            participants only.
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    Narrative Reports Sub-Totals....................................................................        38.00        51.67        74.06     3,826.80
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                                                               Systems and Operations Data
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UAS Monthly Operational Flight Reports...  Business or other for-        Monthly....................        15.00       180.00         1.00       180.00
                                            profit--PSP participants
                                            only, and State, Local or
                                            Tribal Government--BEYOND
                                            participants only.
UAS Maintenance Reports..................  Business or other for-        Monthly....................        15.00       180.00         1.00       180.00
                                            profit--PSP participants
                                            only, and State, Local or
                                            Tribal Government--BEYOND
                                            participants only.
UAS Test Data Reports (optional).........  Business or other for-        Ad hoc.....................        15.00        15.00         0.08         1.25
                                            profit--PSP participants
                                            only, and State, Local or
                                            Tribal Government--BEYOND
                                            participants only.
UAS Anomaly Reports......................  Business or other for-        On Occasion--Assuming 10           15.00       150.00         1.00       150.00
                                            profit--PSP participants      annually per participant.
                                            only, and State, Local or
                                            Tribal Government--BEYOND
                                            participants only.
UAS Aircraft Characteristics Submissions.  Business or other for-        On Occasion--for each New          15.00       375.00         0.20        75.00
                                            profit--PSP participants      Aircraft--Assuming average
                                            only, and State, Local or     25 annual submissions.
                                            Tribal Government--BEYOND
                                            participants only.
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    Systems and Operations Data Sub-Totals..........................................................        75.00       900.00         0.65       586.25
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                               Societal and Economic Data
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Legacy Societal and Economic Data Reports  Business or other for-        Quarterly..................         7.00        28.00         1.00        28.00
 (PSP participants).                        profit--PSP participants
                                            only.
UAS Societal and Economic Data Reports     Business or other for-        Quarterly..................         7.00        28.00         1.00        28.00
 (PSP participants).                        profit--PSP participants
                                            only.
Legacy Societal and Economic Data Reports  State, Local or Tribal        Semi-Annually..............         8.00        16.00         1.00        16.00
 (BEYOND participants).                     Government--BEYOND
                                            participants only.
UAS Societal and Economic Data Reports     State, Local or Tribal        Semi-Annually..............         8.00        16.00         1.00        16.00
 (BEYOND participants).                     Government--BEYOND
                                            participants only.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Societal and Economic Data Sub-Totals...........................................................        30.00        88.00         1.00        88.00
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                  Community Engagement
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Community Engagement Data Reports (PSP     Business or other for-        Quarterly..................         7.00        28.00         2.00        56.00
 participants).                             profit--PSP participants
                                            only.
Community Engagement Data Reports (BEYOND  State, Local or Tribal        Semi-Annually..............         8.00        16.00         2.00        32.00
 participants).                             Government--BEYOND
                                            participants only.
Community Engagement Tool (optional).....  Individuals or Households...  On Occasion................   175,005.00   175,005.00         0.17    29,167.00
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Community Engagement Sub-Totals.................................................................   175,020.00   175,049.00         0.17    29,255.00
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Totals......................................................................................   175,163.00   176,088.67         0.19    33,756.05
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[[Page 60964]]

    Issued in Washington, DC, on November 1, 2021.
Corbin T. Jones,
Acting Manager, BEYOND Program, Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration 
Office, Federal Aviation Administration.
[FR Doc. 2021-24083 Filed 11-3-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-13-P