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The Internet public meeting on National Air Tour Standards begins Feb. 23 at 9 a.m.
Below is all the information I was able to find on the FAA.GOV web site at this time. I'm not sure the actual link to the Internet public meeting is actually among the links currently (February 22, 2004] provide on the FAA web site, but there is a lot of good information on how to voice your opinion on the FAA's rulemaking that would remove a pilot's current ability to conduct sight seeing flights that has been provided in the FARs for decades. -------------------- FAA Web Site Content ------------------------ http://www2.faa.gov/avr/arm/rulemaki...m.cfm?nav=part Public Meeting on the Internet National Air Tour Safety Standards Notice of Proposed Rule Making Docket FAA-1998-4521 Why is the FAA holding a public meeting on the Internet? We are holding this public meeting for several reasons. " First, because comments received so far have identified a number of possible unintended consequences; particularly in the areas of vintage aircraft operations and charitable and community events. We are conducting this public meeting to elicit your specific input for alternatives that would allow these operations to continue and minimize the safety risk. " Second, most of the comments focus on only a few areas of the rule. While we have received many comments from those interested in vintage aircraft, we have received few comments from part 135 or part 121 air tour operators. We hope to elicit comments from all persons who may be affected by the proposed rule. " Third, a public meeting allows us to ask you specific questions about the operations you conduct and how the proposed rule may affect your operations. For example, we may ask questions to help us better understand what types of flights are conducted as charity or community event flights and how they are conducted. " Finally, but not least, we are holding a public meeting on the Internet because we believe it is the best way to reach the most people who are interested in the proposed rule. With limited funds for public meetings, we would simply not be able to hold a traditional public meeting in many of the places where tour operators are located. We extended the comment period to April 19, 2004 so you will have an opportunity to comment further after the close of the public meeting. How does the meeting work? This public meeting is available to anyone with Internet access 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for 14 days, from 9:30 am on February 23 through 4:30 pm on March 5. This public meeting does not replace the public docket. We read the comments in docket FAA-1998-4521 (http://dms.dot.gov) everyday. It is not necessary to submit your comments to both the comments received during this public meeting in the docket after the meeting ends. We are looking for helpful information to help us develop a final rule acceptable to you and to us. Please keep your comments informative and factual. If you disagree with a portion of the proposed rule, it is most helpful to explain why you disagree, provide data to support your position, and, if possible, propose an alternative that will achieve an equivalent level of safety. We may omit or edit comments that include obscenities or indecent material, that contain embedded web sites, or that disparage any individual or company. All participants must log in. How do I participate? Click the link at the bottom of this page. It will take you directly to the public meeting. At the login prompt, please enter the requested information. After you enter the public meeting, you will find the following three discussion forums: 1. Community and Charity Events 2. Part 91 Sightseeing in accordance with 25 mile exception 3. Existing Part 121/135 Air Tour Operators You may enter and participate in one or more of the discussion forums. This allows you to participate in areas that apply directly to you without requiring you to read parts that don't apply to you. We will try to keep the discussion focused on the issues. We may ask you for more information. We will summarize the comments to keep the discussion focused and moving forward. We may also explore possible solutions. We do not intend to write a final rule online. We will not make any commitments or final decisions until after the public meeting and the comment period have closed. We want to understand your situation and obtain information from you that will help us write a rule that will keep air tours safe without placing unnecessary burdens on the air tour industry. Unregistered Users You may submit an electronic document without registering. However, frequent submitters may wish to Register. Registration information is used to automatically fill in the document submission sheet. http://dmses.dot.gov/submit/ProcRegistration.cfm Registered Users If you have registered, you may fill in your User ID and Password here. Then click Continue to continue with the submission process http://dmses.dot.gov/submit/ __________________________________________________ ________________________ The discussion forums The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) recommended that we eliminate the 25-mile exception under which many of you operate. Full compliance with the NTSB recommendation would end these flights. We share the concerns of the NTSB about safety but welcome suggestions that will achieve an equivalent level of safety without ending these flights. We have divided the discussion on this into two forums: (1) Community and Charity Events and (2) Part 91 sightseeing under the 25-mile exception. When you enter the Public Meeting, you will notice that we ask a few questions within each forum. Please respond to any or all of the questions. Community and Charity Events 1. Community and Charity Events Many of you have expressed concerns in your comments about proposed restrictions on sightseeing tours for charitable or community events. We understand the value of these flights to worthy causes and local communities. We proposed a four-event limitation as a compromise that would allow some of these flights to continue. We will consider alternatives to the proposal in the NPRM that will provide an equivalent level of safety. We encourage your input. An alternative that has been suggested to the four-event limitation is to increase the qualifications of the pilot. For example, it has been suggested that we could allow the option of a commercial pilot certificate or a private pilot certificate with 500 hours. A commercial pilot certificate can be obtained in fewer than 500 hours, but has specific requirements that assure competency. We have established the following discussion threads in this forum to help focus the discussion. " Does a four-event limitation address the safety issues and the concerns of operators of charity and community event flights? " If we were to remove the four-event limitation, but require either a commercial pilot certificate or a private pilot certificate with 500 hours, would this address the safety issues and the concerns of operators of charity and community events? " Do you have other ideas that will allow these flights to continue and still establish a level of safety that is equivalent to the NTSB recommendation? " Do you need clarification of any part of the proposed rule? Part 91 Commercial Sightseeing in Accordance With 25 Mile Exception Your comments have been helpful and have pointed out some unintended consequences of the proposals, particularly in the areas of vintage aircraft operations and charitable and community events. The NTSB was concerned that we have insufficient data on this group of air tour operators and we agree. They recommended that we should require all air tour operators to obtain a certificate in order to build a database of air tour operators. Our traditional method of keeping data on operators has been through certification and issuing operation specifications. Many of you pointed out that you operate under circumstances (for example, you use non-aviation fuel, etc.) that make a traditional certification impossible. We welcome alternatives that will satisfy the NTSB concern of data for tracking safety history and that are not as burdensome as certification. An alternative to part 121 or 135 certification may be to require management specifications (similar to those that were designed for part 91 subpart K, Fractional Ownership) that would provide us essential data but require minimal administrative burden on operators. We encourage you to suggest other options that will establish a level of safety equivalent to the NTSB recommendation. We are trying to improve oversight of this group of operators and ensure that a proper level of safety is met. However, we recognize that part 135 may not be the best method of reaching this goal. We would like to hear specifically what in part 135 is unworkable for your organization and why, and how you would recommend achieving an equivalent level of safety for these smaller operators. We have established the following discussion threads in this forum to help focus the discussion: " Do you believe that management specifications instead of certification and operating specifications would achieve the same level as safety as the proposed rule and impose fewer burdens on operators? " Do you have other suggestions that will achieve a level of safety that is equivalent to the proposed rule and will impose fewer burdens on operators? " Do you need clarification of any part of the proposed rule? http://dms.dot.gov/search/document.c...&docketid=4521 http://dms.dot.gov/search/searchResu...hTyp e=docket The third forum is for certificated part 121 and part 135 operations. The recommendations that affect certificated air tour operators are based on NTSB recommendations and the history of commercial air tours in the United States. Many of the proposals have already been implemented successfully in Hawaii under SFAR 71. Some of you have suggested that the NTSB recommendation to establish a national safety rule is not appropriate. In the proposal, we propose allowing deviations when an operator can demonstrate that they can safely operate under the deviation. We encourage you to suggest alternates that will promote an equivalent level of safety. We have established the following threads in this forum to discuss specific proposals in the NPRM and focus the discussion: " What concerns and recommendations do you have about the proposed requirements for over-water flights and flotation devices? " What questions or suggestions do you have about cloud clearance issues? " Will the helicopter performance plan requirements contribute to safety? If not, why not and what would you recommend? " Will the proposed altitude and stand-off distance requirements, when considered with deviation authority contribute to safety? " Do you need clarification of any part of the proposed rule? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The Internet public meeting on National Air Tour Standards begins Feb. 23 at 9 a.m. EST. The Federal Register announcement: http://dmses.dot.gov/docimages/p78/268870.pdf [reproduced below in ASCII text format] 6218 Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 27 / Tuesday, February 10, 2004 / Proposed Rules Issued in Washington, DC, on February 2, 2004. John M. Allen, Acting Director, Flight Standards Service. [FR Doc. 04–2872 Filed 2–9–04; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 4910–13–P DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Federal Aviation Administration 14 CFR Parts 61, 91, 119, 121, 135, and 136 [Docket No. FAA–1998–4521; Notice No. 04–02] RIN 2120–AF07 National Air Tour Safety Standards AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), DOT. ACTION: Notice of public meeting on the Internet. SUMMARY: On October 22, 2003, the FAA published a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) that proposes regulations to govern commercial air tours throughout the United States. We are announcing an Internet public meeting to supplement the traditional comment period. The public meeting will help us consider the concerns of those who may be most affected by the proposed rule as we develop a final rule that will promote safety in the commercial air tour industry. DATES: You may access the public meeting at any time beginning February 23, 2004, at 9 a.m. EST and ending on March 5, 2004, at 4:30 p.m. EST. ADDRESSES: You may access the on-line public meeting at http://www.faa.gov/avr/arm/rulemakingforum.cfm?nav=part. Under the ‘View Docket/Comments’ column, click once on ‘Enter Public Meeting.’ Follow the instructions to participate in the discussion. You may submit written comments to the docket, whether or not you participate in the public meeting. Address your comments to the Docket Management System, U.S. Department of Transportation, Room Plaza 401, 400 Seventh St., SW., Washington, DC 20590–0001. You must identify the docket number FAA–1998–4521 at the beginning of your comments, and you should submit two copies of your comments. The public meeting on the Internet is intended to supplement the docket. A copy of the discussion from the public meeting will be submitted to the docket after the close of the public meeting. You may also submit comments through the Internet to http://dms/dot.gov. You may review the public docket containing comments to these proposed regulations in person in the Dockets Office between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. The Dockets Office is on the plaza level at the Department of Transportation building at the address above. Also, you may review public dockets on the Internet at http://dms.dot.gov. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Alberta Brown, Air Transportation Division, Flight Standards Service, AFS–200, Federal Aviation Administration, 800 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20591; telephone (202) 267–8166; e-mail: . SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION Background We published a notice of proposed rulemaking on October 22, 2003 (68 FR 60572) that proposes to regulate commercial air tours throughout the United States. The notice provided a 90- day comment period that was to end on January 20, 2004. We received significant response to this NPRM, including numerous requests to extend the comment period and to conduct a series of public meetings. On January 16, 2004, we published a notice to extend the comment period an additional 90 days to April 19, 2004 (69FR 2529). Public Meeting on the Internet We have carefully considered the requests for a series of public meetings. Traditionally, public meetings have been useful when we have been able to identify a geographic area that may be most affected by a proposed rule. We could then supplement the comment period with a public meeting that would allow those most affected to express their views directly to FAA representatives. As of the date of this notice, we have received approximately 1,500 comments in docket FAA–1998– 4521. Most of the comments are from individuals or small aviation businesses. The persons who submitted these comments are widely dispersed throughout the country, many of them in small communities. It would be impractical to conduct a public meeting in every community in America where someone could be affected by the proposed rule. If we were to choose to hold public meetings only in areas where large tour operators are located, they would have a disproportionate opportunity to participate, to the disadvantage of the many small operators who have responded to this proposed rule. The Internet allows us to overcome the barriers of geography and enables anyone with an Internet connection to participate in a public discussion of the issues. A further advantage of a public meeting on the Internet is that it is not limited by time. A traditional public meeting would be scheduled at a particular place, on a particular day, at a specific time. Anyone with a schedule conflict may be unable to participate. A public meeting on the Internet can be available 24 hours per day over a period of several weeks. A public meeting held on the Internet, like a traditional public meeting, provides the opportunity to obtain useful information from the public. It has the additional advantage of allowing much broader participation throughout the country. We have therefore decided to hold a public meeting on the Internet. How the Public Meeting Will Be Conducted To facilitate an organized and useful discussion of the issues, we will divide the discussion into three forums that will address specific areas of the proposed rule. The three forums will be: 1. Community and charity events. This forum will discuss portions of the proposed rule that may affect persons who provide aerial sightseeing rides for charitable purposes or at community events. 2. Part 91 sightseeing in accordance with the 25-mile exception. This forum will discuss portions of the proposed rule that may affect persons who are not currently required to obtain an operating certificate because they conduct nonstop sighseeing flights that begin and end at the same airport and are conducted within a 25-mile radius of that airport under the exception found in section 119.1(e)(2). 3. Part 121 and part 135 commercial air tour operators. This forum will include discussion of portions of the proposed rule that may affect commercial air tour operators who conduct tours with an air carrier certificate under part 119 and operate under the rules of part 121 or 135 of Chapter 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations. It is possible that some may wish to participate in more than one forum within the public meeting. You can participate in as many forums as you wish. To focus the discussion and encourage responses that will help us address both safety issues and concerns of those affected by the proposed rule, in each forum we will solicit responses to specific questions. You will be able to read the questions on-line and submit your answers and comments electronically. We will participate in the discussion throughout the 2-week forum and may ask you clarifying questions. While we have selected topics that we are particularly interested in, we still welcome all of your comments and suggestions. We will not make any commitments or draw any conclusions while the docket is open for public comment. Issued in Washington, DC, on February 5, 2004. Anthony F. Fazio, Director, Office of Rulemaking. [FR Doc. 04–2911 Filed 2–6–04; 11:13 am] BILLING CODE 4910–13–P |
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