Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 149 / Friday, August 2, 2013 / Notices 47047 

Dated: July 19, 2013. 

William J. Burns, 

Deputy Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2013–18670 Filed 8–1–13; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4710–29–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Aviation Administration 

[Docket No. FAA–2013–0265] 

Proposed Policy for Discontinuance of 

Certain Instrument Approach 

Procedures 

AGENCY: Federal Aviation 

Administration (FAA), DOT. 

ACTION: Notice of proposed policy and 

request for comment. 

SUMMARY: As, new technology facilitates 

the introduction of area navigation 

(RNAV) instrument approach 

procedures over the past decade, the 

number of procedures available in the 

National Airspace System has nearly 

doubled. The complexity and cost to the 

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) 

of maintaining the existing ground 

based navigational infrastructure while 

expanding the new RNAV capability is 

not sustainable. The FAA is considering 

the cancellation of certain Nondirectional Beacon (NDB) and Very High 

Frequency (VHF) Omnidirectional 

Radio Range (VOR) instrument 

approach procedures (IAP) at airports 

that have multiple instrument approach 

procedures. The FAA proposes specific 

criteria to guide the identification and 

selection of appropriate NDB and VOR 

instrument approach procedures that 

can be considered for cancellation. The 

VOR IAPs associated with this 

cancellation initiative would be selected 

from the criteria outlined below. This 

Notice is not a part of the FAA’s VOR 

minimum operating network (MON) 

initiative. 

DATES: Comments must be received on 

or before October 1, 2013. 

ADDRESSES: Send comments identified 

by docket number 2013–0265 using any 

of the following methods: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to 

http://www.regulations.gov and follow 

the online instructions for sending your 

comments electronically. 

• Mail: Send comments to Docket 

Operations, M–30; U.S. Department of 

Transportation (DOT), 1200 New Jersey 

Avenue SE., Room W12–140, West 

Building Ground Floor, Washington, DC 

20590–0001. 

• Hand Delivery or Courier: Take 

comments to Docket Operations in 

Room W12–140 of the West Building 

Ground Floor at 1200 New Jersey 

Avenue SE., Washington, DC, between 9 

a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through 

Friday, except Federal holidays. 

• Fax: Fax comments to Docket 

Operations at (202) 493–2251. 

• Privacy: The FAA will post all 

comments it receives, without change, 

to http://www.regulations.gov, including 

any personal information the 

commenter provides. Using the search 

function of the docket Web site, anyone 

can find and read the electronic form of 

all comments received into any FAA 

dockets, including the name of the 

individual sending the comment (or 

signing the comment for an association, 

business, labor union, etc.). DOT’s 

complete Privacy Act Statement can be 

found in the Federal Register published 

on April 11, 2000 (65 FR 19477–19478), 

as well as at http://DocketsInfo.dot.gov. 

• Docket: Background documents or 

comments received may be read at 

http://www.regulations.gov at any time. 

Follow the online instructions for 

accessing the docket or Docket 

Operations in Room W12–140 of the 

West Building Ground Floor at 1200 

New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, 

DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday 

through Friday, except Federal holidays. 

This proposal is subject to change after 

review of public comments. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

questions concerning this action, 

contact Mr. Larry Strout, Aeronautical 

Navigational Products, Terminal 

Products Group, Central Products Team 

Manager, Air Traffic Organization, AJV– 

353, Federal Aviation Administration, 

6500 S. MacArthur BLVD, Oklahoma 

City, OK 73169; telephone (405) 954– 

5070, email AMC–ATO–IFPCancellations@faa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Authority 

Title 49 of the United States Code, 

section 40103, vests the Administrator 

with broad authority to regulate the safe 

and efficient use of the navigable 

airspace. The Administrator is 

authorized to issue rules and regulations 

to govern the flight, navigation, 

protection, and identification of aircraft 

for the protection of persons and 

property on the ground, and for the 

efficient use of the navigable airspace 

(49 U.S.C. 40103(b)). The Administrator 

also is authorized under § 44701(a)(5) to 

promote safe flight of civil aircraft in air 

commerce by prescribing regulations 

and minimum standards for other 

practices, methods, and procedures 

necessary for safety in air commerce and 

national security. 

Background 

The FAA is continuing to expand the 

availability and capability of area 

navigation (RNAV) to improve safety 

and efficiency within the National 

Airspace System (NAS). A major 

enhancement is the introduction of 

Wide Area Augmentation System 

(WAAS) capable RNAV instrument 

approach procedures that provide for 

near-precision vertical guidance. 

As a result of new RNAV instrument 

approach procedures, the number of 

instrument approach procedures 

available to the public has nearly 

doubled over the past decade and will 

continue to grow with the public’s 

demand for new WAAS procedures. The 

complexity and cost of maintaining 

existing ground-based navigational 

infrastructure while expanding new 

RNAV capability is exceeding the FAA’s 

current staffing and budget allocations 

and projections over the next five years. 

To meet the public’s demand for WAAS 

capable RNAV procedures, the FAA 

must manage the growth in the number 

of instrument approach procedures and 

finds that certain redundant groundbased procedures can be eliminated 

without affecting safety or access to 

airports. 

To help identify viable strategies for 

cancellation of ground-based 

procedures, the FAA awarded a grant to 

the Flight Safety Foundation. In 

conducting its research, the Flight 

Safety Foundation held meetings with 

FAA and Department of Defense (DOD) 

personnel and key industry interest 

groups. Outreach conducted by the 

Foundation identified that most NDB 

procedures are no longer desired, except 

in support of certain DOD operations 

and flight schools. The Flight Safety 

Foundation also found user support for 

cancelling some VOR procedures when 

multiple IAPs are available. Results of 

the Flight Safety Foundation study were 

published in the report titled ‘‘A 

Recommended Process: Safely Reducing 

Redundant or Underutilized Instrument 

Approach Procedures.’’ The report is 

available for review at: https://www.faa.

gov/air_traffic/flight_info/aeronav/

procedures/reports/media/FAA_Grant_

Flight_Safety_Foundation_Inc2010G023.pdf. 

By this notice, the FAA seeks 

comments on proposed criteria that 

would facilitate the FAA’s 

determination of which procedures can 

be considered for cancellation. After 

reviewing the comments submitted to 

this notice, the FAA will use the criteria 

for selection of potential NDB and VOR 

procedures for cancellation. Once the 

criteria are established and the FAA 


sroberts on DSK5SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
47048 Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 149 / Friday, August 2, 2013 / Notices 

considers IAPs for cancellation, the 

FAA will publish a list of potential IAPs 

in the Federal Register for notice and 

comment. Submitted comments will be 

reviewed and addressed in the final list 

of subject IAPs published in the Federal 

Register. The criteria proposed in this 

notice does not affect any NAS 

navigational back-up plans and is not a 

part of the FAA’s VOR minimum 

operating network (MON) initiative. 

Proposed Policy 

The NDB and VOR IAPs 

recommended for cancellation would be 

selected at airports using the following 

criteria. It must be noted that all airports 

that have existing RNAV and groundbased IAPs would maintain at least one 

RNAV and one ground-based IAP. 

Airports that would be considered for 

NDB or VOR IAP cancellation: 

— All airports with an NDB IAP. 

—All airports with a VOR/DME RNAV 

IAP, unless it is the only IAP at the 

airport. 

—All airports with two or more groundbased IAPs and an RNAV IAP. 

—All airports with multiple, redundant 

ground-based IAPs (e.g., three VOR 

procedures). 

Additional consideration would be 

given to the following factors in 

determining the list of potential 

candidates for cancellation: 

—Prevailing wind runways. 

—Prevailing runway alignment during 

adverse weather operations. 

—If an airport has a published ILS IAP 

and additional ground-based IAPs, 

cancel the procedure to the same 

runway as the ILS. 

—For airports with multiple VOR and 

NDB IAP’s, retain the IAP with the 

lowest minimums (if minimums are 

within 20 feet of each other retain the 

procedure that allows optimum use 

by all customers (i.e. VOR and VOR/ 

DME retain VOR because there are no 

equipage limitations). 

Airports that would not be considered 

for NDB or VOR IAP cancellations: 

—Airport with only RNAV/RNPs IAPs 

published. 

—Airport with only one ground-based 

procedure. 

—Airports will not be considered if 

cancellation would result in removing 

all IAPs from the airport. 

Lastly, the FAA is not considering the 

following types of procedures for 

cancellation: 

PBN Procedures (RNAV or RNP). 

ILS procedures. 

Localizer procedures. 

TACAN procedures. 

Standard Instrument Arrivals (STARs). 

Standard Instrument Departures (SIDs). 

Comments Invited 

The FAA invites interested parties to 

submit written comments, data, or 

views. The agency also invites 

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. To 

ensure the docket does not contain 

duplicate comments, commenters 

should send only one copy of written 

comments or, if comments are filed 

electronically, commenters should 

submit only one time. 

The FAA will file in the docket all 

comments it receives. Before acting on 

this proposal, the FAA will consider all 

comments it receives on or before the 

closing date for comments. The FAA 

will consider comments filed after the 

comment period has closed if it is 

possible to do so without incurring 

expense or delay. The agency may 

change this proposal in light of the 

comments it receives. 

Proprietary or Confidential Business 

Information: Commenters should not 

file proprietary or confidential business 

information in the docket. Such 

information must be sent or delivered 

directly to the person identified in the 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT

section of this document, and marked as 

proprietary or confidential. If submitting 

information on a disk or CD–ROM, mark 

the outside of the disk or CD–ROM, and 

identify electronically within the disk or 

CD–ROM the specific information that 

is proprietary or confidential. 

Under 14 CFR 11.35(b), the FAA is 

aware of proprietary information filed 

with a comment, the agency does not 

place it in the docket. It is held in a 

separate file to which the public does 

not have access and the FAA places a 

note in the docket that it has received 

it. If the FAA receives a request to 

examine or copy this information, it 

treats it as any other request under the 

Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. 

552). The FAA processes such a request 

under Department of Transportation 

procedures found in 49 CFR part 7. 

Issued in Washington, DC, on July 19, 

2013. 

Abigail Smith, 

Aeronautical Navigation Products, Director. 

[FR Doc. 2013–17940 Filed 8–1–13; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–13–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Aviation Administration 

Notice of Availability of Final 

Environmental Impact Statement (Final 

EIS) 

AGENCY: Federal Aviation 

Administration. 

ACTION: Notice of availability of Final 

EIS. 

SUMMARY: In accordance with the 

National Environmental Policy Act of 

1969 (NEPA, 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and 

Council on Environmental Quality 

regulations (40 CFR Part 1500–1508), 

the Federal Aviation Administration 

(FAA) is issuing this notice to advise the 

public that a Final EIS for proposed 

improvements to Runway Safety Areas 

at the Kodiak Airport has been prepared 

and is available for public review. 

Included in the Final EIS are a 

Subsistence Evaluation consistent with 

Section 810 of the Alaska National 

Interest Lands Conservation Act and a 

final evaluation pursuant to Section 4(f) 

of the Department of Transportation Act 

of 1966 (recodified as 49 U.S.C. 303(c)). 

ADDRESSES: Copies of the Final EIS may 

be viewed online or during regular 

business hours at the following 

locations: 

1. Online at 

www.kodiakairporteis.com. 

2. Federal Aviation Administration, 

Airports Division, 222 W. 7th Avenue 

#14, Anchorage, AK 99513–7587. (907) 

271–5453. 

3. Holmes Johnson Memorial Library, 

319 Lower Mill Bay Road, Kodiak, AK 

99615. (907) 486–8680. 

4. Alaska Department of 

Transportation and Public Facilities, 

4111 Aviation Avenue, Anchorage, AK 

99502. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Leslie Grey, Environmental Specialist, 

Federal Aviation Administration, 

Alaskan Region, Airports Division, 

address 222 W. 7th Avenue Box #14, 

Anchorage, AK 99513. Ms. Grey may be 

contacted during business hours at (907) 

271–5453 (telephone) and (907) 271– 

2851 (fax), or by email at 

Leslie.Grey@faa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Final 

EIS discusses proposed improvements 

to the Runway Safety Areas for Runway 

07/25 and Runway 18/36, which have 

the potential to result in significant 

adverse environmental impacts. The 

FAA has identified the following 

preferred alternatives to meet the need 

for improved Runway Safety Areas: 

• Improvements to the Runway Safety 

Area for Runway 07/25: Alternative 2, 


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