[Federal Register: August 13, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 156)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Page 50090-50091]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr13au04-16]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Aviation Administration
14 CFR Parts 121, 125, 135
[Docket No. FAA-2004-18596; SFAR No. XX; Notice No. 04-10]
RIN 2120-AI30
Use of Certain Portable Oxygen Concentrator Devices Onboard
Aircraft; Extension of Comment Period
AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), DOT.
ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM); extension of comment
period.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: This action extends the comment period for an NPRM that was
published on July 14, 2004. In that document, the FAA proposed to
permit the use of certain portable oxygen devices onboard aircraft.
This extension is a result of a request from the Air Transport
Association (ATA) to extend the comment period to the proposal.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before August 30, 2004.
ADDRESSES: You may send comments to Docket No. FAA-2004-18596 using any
of the following methods:
DOT Docket Web site: Go to http://dms.dot.gov and follow
the instructions for sending your comments electronically.
Government-wide rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov
and follow the instructions for sending your
comments electronically.
Mail: Docket Management Facility; U.S. Department of
Transportation, 400 Seventh Street, SW., Nassif Building, Room PL-401,
Washington, DC 20590-001.
Fax: 1-(202)-493-2251.
Hand Delivery: Room PL-401 on the plaza level of the
Nassif Building, 400 Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC, between 9
a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.
For more information on the rulemaking process, see the
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.
Privacy: We will post all comments we receive, without change, to
http://dms.dot.gov, including any personal information you provide. For
more information, see the Privacy Act discussion in the SUPPLEMENTARY
INFORMATION section of this document.
Docket: To read background documents or comments received, go to
http://dms.dot.gov at any time or to Room PL-401 on the plaza level of
the Nassif Building, 400 Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC, between 9
a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: James Whitlow, Deputy Chief Counsel,
Office of the Chief Counsel, Federal Aviation Administration, 800
Independence Ave., SW., Washington, DC 20591; telephone: (202) 267-
3222, or facsimile (202) 267-3227.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Comments Invited
The FAA invites interested persons to participate in this
rulemaking by submitting written comments, data, or views. We also
invite comments relating to the economic, environmental, energy, or
federalism impacts that might result from adopting the proposals in
this document. The most helpful comments reference a specific portion
of the proposal, explain the reason for any recommended change, and
include supporting data. We ask that you send us two copies of written
comments.
We will file in the docket all comments we receive, as well as a
report summarizing each substantive public contact with FAA personnel
concerning this proposed rulemaking. The docket is available for public
inspection before and after the comment closing date. If you wish to
review the docket in person, go to the address in the ADDRESSES section
of this preamble between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday,
except Federal holidays. You may also review the docket using the
Internet at the Web address in the ADDRESSES section.
Privacy Act: Using the search function of our docket Web site,
anyone can find and read the comments received into any of our dockets,
including the name of the individual sending the comment (or signing
the comment on behalf of an association, business, labor union, etc.).
You may review DOT's complete Privacy Act Statement in the Federal
Register published on April 11, 2000 (65 FR 19477-78) or you may visit
http://dms.dot.gov.
Before acting on this proposal, we will consider all comments we
receive on or before the closing date for comments. We will consider
comments filed late if it is possible to do so without incurring
expense or delay. We may change this proposal in light of the comments
we receive.
If you want the FAA to acknowledge receipt of your comments on this
proposal, include with your comments a pre-addressed, stamped postcard
on which the docket number appears. We will stamp the date on the
postcard and mail it to you.
[[Page 50091]]
Proprietary or Confidential Business Information
Do not file in the docket information that you consider to be
proprietary or confidential business information. Send or deliver this
information directly to the person identified in the FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT section of this document. You must mark the
information that you consider proprietary or confidential. If you send
the information on a disk or CD ROM, mark the outside of the disk or CD
ROM and also identify electronically within the disk or CD ROM the
specific information that is proprietary or confidential.
Under 14 CFR 11.35(b), when we are aware of proprietary information
filed with a comment, we do not place it in the docket. We hold it in a
separate file to which the public does not have access, and place a
note in the docket that we have received it. If we receive a request to
examine or copy this information, we treat it as any other request
under the Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. 552). We process such a
request under the DOT procedures found in 49 CFR part 7.
Background
On July 14, 2004, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued
Notice No. 04-10, Use of Certain Portable Oxygen Concentrator Devices
Onboard Aircraft (69 FR 42324, 7/14/2004). Comments to that document
were to be received on or before August 13, 2004.
In a letter dated August 4, 2004, ATA requested that the FAA extend
the comment period for Notice No. 04-10 for 60 days. ATA stated that
the NPRM came as a surprise and that they had not completed testing the
Airsep Lifestyle portable oxygen concentrator (POC). ATA also feels
that the NPRM raises questions of important technical, operational, and
legal issues, such as the potential impact of having to train employees
on the operation of POC devices. On August 6, 2004, we received a
letter from the Regional Airline Association (RAA) supporting ATA's
request to extend the comment period for 60 days. RAA specifically
cited the uncertainty that the Airsep device would not affect
navigation or communication systems onboard regional aircraft.
In response, two separate letters were received on August 5, 2004,
objecting to ATA's request to extend the comment period on the NPRM.
Gary Ewart, Director of the American Thoracic Society, wrote to inform
the FAA that he had personally met with ATA and other concerned parties
for over 3 years and that the NPRM was not unexpected in the physician,
patient, oxygen device, or airline communities. Phillip Porte,
Executive Director of the National Association for Medical Direction of
Respiratory Care, and Jon Tiger, President of the National Home Oxygen
Patients Association, jointly submitted their opposition to extending
the comment period for the NPRM. They believe the 30 day comment period
was enough time to develop comments and that any extension would
unnecessarily delay promulgation of the final regulation.
We have considered the request for extension presented by ATA and
weighed that request against the work done by the Department of
Transportation, the opposition referenced above, and the momentum of
the rulemaking, and the specific proposal. We agree that it is
important for ATA and its members to review and consider this rule, but
we feel that a 60-day extension of the comment period would be
excessive.
Notice No. 04-10 makes very clear that this is an enabling
proposal. No operator will be required to permit passengers to carry a
POC device onboard an aircraft. If an operator decides to allow a
passenger to use the Airsep (or any future approved device), it would
have to determine if the device would interfere with the navigation or
communication systems on its own. We also recognize that an operator
would have to take several steps to train crewmembers and make
appropriate administrative changes, but examining those potential
actions is not necessary before our proposal is completed.
We will extend the comment period for Notice No. 04-10 for an
additional 15 days only. We believe the total of 45 days is adequate
for all interested parties to comment on this proposal. Absent unusual
circumstances, the FAA does not anticipate any further extension of the
comment period for this rulemaking.
Extension of Comment Period
In accordance with Sec. 11.29(c) of Title 14, Code of Federal
Regulations, the FAA has reviewed the petitions made by the Air
Transport Association for extension of the comment period to Notice No.
04-10. The petitioner has a substantive interest in the proposed rule
and the FAA has determined that a short extension of the comment period
is consistent with the public interest.
Accordingly, the comment period for Notice No. 04-10 is extended
until August 30, 2004.
Issued in Washington, DC, on August 10, 2004.
James W. Whitlow,
Deputy Chief Counsel.
[FR Doc. 04-18645 Filed 8-11-04; 11:50 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-13-P