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[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 36 (Thursday, February 23, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Page 10797]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-4175]

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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 withdrawal of task assignment for the Aviation 
Rulemaking Advisory Committee (ARAC).

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SUMMARY: The FAA has withdrawn a task assigned to the Aviation 
Rulemaking Advisory Committee (ARAC) concerning commercial air tours. 
This notice is to inform the public of the FAA's decision to withdraw 
this task.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Katherine Haley, Office of Rulemaking, 
Federal Aviation Administration, 800 Independence Avenue SW., 
Washington, DC 20591; telephone: 202-493-5708, facsimile: 202-267-5075; 
email: Katherine.L.Haley@faa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    The FAA established ARAC to provide advice and recommendations to 
the FAA Administrator on the FAA's rulemaking activities. ARAC's 
objectives are to improve the development of the FAA's regulations by 
providing information, advice, and recommendations related to aviation 
issues.
    On July 15, 2009, the FAA tasked ARAC (74 FR 34390) to provide 
advice and recommendations on a maintenance quality assurance system, a 
maintenance training program and a required inspection program for 
operators and air carriers that conduct air tours and operate under 
parts 91 and 135 (aircraft type certificated for a passenger seating 
configuration, excluding any pilot seat, of 9 or fewer seats). That 
tasking was in response to two recommendations from the National 
Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) (A-08-32 and A-08-33) and an FAA 
recommendation on air tour accidents. The Commercial Air Tours 
Maintenance (CATM) working group formed and met between November 2009 
and December 2010 to address the ARAC tasking. On December 16, 2010, 
the CATM working group presented the findings and recommendations to 
the ARAC Executive Committee. One of the recommendations was to develop 
an Advisory Circular (AC) to create a voluntary accreditation program 
modeled after the AC 00-56A, Voluntary Industry Distributor 
Accreditation Program. The FAA accepted the recommendations on February 
1, 2011.
    In December 2011, the FAA assigned ARAC a new task to develop a 
comprehensive program of voluntary accreditation for commercial air 
tour operators that are not required under parts 91 and 135 of Title 14 
of the Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR), to maintain their aircraft 
under a continuous airworthiness maintenance program (CAMP). This new 
task was the FAA's response to one of the CATM recommendations.
    The notice informing the public of this new ARAC activity published 
in the Federal Register on December 27, 2011 (76 FR 81009), and 
included a request for volunteers for the Commercial Air Tour Voluntary 
Accreditation Program working group. The time period to volunteer 
expired on January 26, 2011. We received minimal interest from the 
public, and have decided to withdraw the task due to a lack of adequate 
representation on the working group.
    This notice informs the public of the withdrawal of the ARAC task 
that would have been assigned to the Commercial Air Tour Voluntary 
Accreditation Program Working Group.

    Issued in Washington, DC, on February 16, 2012.
Pamela Hamilton-Powell,
Executive Director, Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee.
[FR Doc. 2012-4175 Filed 2-22-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-13-P
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