Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 203 / Friday, October 20, 2006 / Notices 62037 

the requirements of 150.21, as described 

in the NCP at pages ES–3 and 196. 

Section 150.21(d), as amended states 

that the NEM should be updated if there 

is either a substantial new 

noncompatible use within the DNL 65 

dB contour, or if there is a significant 

reduction in noise over existing 

noncompatible land uses [69 FR 57622, 

dated 9/24/04]. 

4. FAA ATCT Procedures Development 

The NCP contains several measures 

that will be implemented by the FAA 

and the local ATC staff. In order to 

document and formalize the 

recommended touch and go procedures, 

it is recommended a tower order be 

developed. Tower orders are typically 

implemented under a Memorandum of 

Agreement (MOA) between the airport 

sponsor (St. Lucie County) and the FAA. 

The sponsor will coordinate 

development of existing and 

recommended procedures (listed at page 

197) with ATCT controllers to ensure 

continuity. Costs are not eligible for 

State or Federal funding. (Sponsor 

supplemental letter date May 15, 2006; 

NCP, page ES–3, NCP 

Recommendations, and page 196–197). 

FAA Action: Approved in concept. 

Coordination between the sponsor and 

FAA could help ensure continuity. Not 

all measures listed on page 197 are 

appropriate for inclusion in a tower 

order. Existing and operational 

measures within the NCP and approved 

in this ROA, that normally would be 

included in a tower order (for example, 

the touch and go procedures and 

altitudes), may be appropriate for 

consideration. The FAA will determine 

the appropriate elements of the noise 

compatibility program to include in any 

tower order, and the language 

describing them, consistent with 

applicable Federal requirements. 

5. Traffic Pattern Notification Lights for 

Training Aircraft 

St. Lucie International Airport is 

home to one of the largest flight training 

schools in the Treasure Coast Region 

(see pages 182–184), with over 81,000 

training operations per year. In order to 

minimize the repeated noise of training 

aircraft over residential areas located 

directly east of the airport, a system of 

permanently mounted lights is 

recommended to be installed along U.S. 

Highway 1 to act as a further landmark 

for student pilots, if practical, to initiate 

their downwind/upwind leg of the 

training operation when utilizing 

Runway 9/27. (Sponsor supplemental 

letter dated May 15, 2006; NCP page 

ES–3, NCP Recommendations, and page 

197). 

FAA Action: Disapproved. There is 

insufficient analysis of the placement of 

lighting or the expected noise benefits. 

There are no FAA-approved standard 

for traffic pattern notification lights. 

6. Noise Office Staffing 

St. Lucie County should continue to 

employ a noise office staff person. The 

monitoring of nighttime operations, 

program education, and compliance and 

complaint response are an integral part 

of the noise program. Costs for this 

position are not eligible for FAA 

funding. (Sponsor supplemental letter 

dated May 15, 2006; NCP, page ES–3, 

NCP Recommendations; and page 198.) 

FAA Action: Approved. 

These determinations are set forth in 

detail in a Record of Approval signed by 

the FAA on August 21, 2006. The 

Record of Approval, as well as other 

evaluation materials and the documents 

comprising the submittal, are available 

for review at the FAA office listed above 

and at the administrative office of the 

St. Lucie County Board of County 

Commissioners. The Record of Approval 

also will be available on-line at 

http://www.faa.gov/arp/environmental/ 

14cfr150/index14.cfm. 

Issued in Orlando, Florida, on October 4, 

2006. 

W. Dean Stringer, 

Manager, Orlando, Airports District Office. 

[FR Doc. 06–8790 Filed 10–19–06; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–13–M 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Aviation Administration 

Commercial Space Transportation; 

Waiver of License Requirement for 

Blue Origin’s Pre-flight Preparatory 

Activities Conducted at a U.S. Launch 

Site 

AGENCY: Federal Aviation 

Administration (FAA), DOT. 

ACTION: Notice of waiver. 

SUMMARY: The FAA waived a 

requirement for Blue Origin, LLC (Blue 

Origin), to obtain a launch license for 

certain launch processing activities at 

West Texas Launch Site. Blue Origin is 

authorized to conduct suborbital rocket 

launches under Experimental Permit 

No. EP 06–001, which was issued by the 

FAA on September 15, 2006. The FAA 

finds that waiving the requirement to 

obtain a launch license for certain 

launch processing activities conducted 

in preparation for flight is in the public 

interest and will not jeopardize public 

health and safety, safety of property, or 

national security and foreign policy 

interests of the United States. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. 

Sherman Council, Systems Engineering 

and Training Division, Office of 

Commercial Space Transportation, 

Federal Aviation Administration, U.S. 

Department of Transportation, 800 

Independence Avenue, SW., 

Washington, DC 20591, (202) 267–8308. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

The Federal Aviation Administration 

(FAA) Office of Commercial Space 

Transportation (AST) implements its 

licensing and permitting authority 

under 49 U.S.C. Subtitle IX, ch. 701—

Commercial Space Launch Activities 

(chapter 701), which states that a license 

or permit is required ‘‘to launch a 

launch vehicle.’’ 49 U.S.C. 70104(a). On 

September 15, 2006, the FAA issued an 

experimental permit to Blue Origin. The 

experimental permit authorizes Blue 

Origin to conduct an unlimited number 

of launches of a Propulsion Module 1 

(PM1) vehicle from West Texas Launch 

Site for one year from the effective date 

of the permit. PM1 will be a lowaltitude demonstrator vehicle, using 

2,042 kilograms (4,500 pounds) of 

hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) as a 

monopropellant, and is capable of 

reaching an altitude of no more than 610 

meters (2,000 feet) with a mission time 

of less than one minute. Each PM1 

vehicle will take off and land vertically 

using rocket propulsion. The PM1 

vehicle is designed to carry no crew, no 

space flights participants, and no 

payload. 

West Texas Launch Site, which 

contains the entire PM1 operating area, 

consists of an 18,600 acre plot of land, 

and will be enclosed by a fence. The 

launch site is privately owned and will 

be exclusively used by Blue Origin. The 

proposed operating area is uninhabited 

and controlled by Blue Origin. Blue 

Origin will limit access to the launch 

site to launch personnel and invited 

guests. 

Blue Origin plans to ship PM1 to the 

launch site over ground. The panels and 

nose cap of its aeroshell will be shipped 

separately. PM1 will arrive at the launch 

site in a completely inert state, with no 

helium pressurant or H202 propellant 

onboard. Once on the launch site, PM1 

will be removed from its shipping 

fixture and the aeroshell will be 

installed on the PM1 in a vehicle 

processing facility (VPF). The PM1 will 

be assembled and undergo check-out 

and pre-flight procedures inside the 

VPF. 

Launch processing inside the VPF 

will include functional checks of the 


jlentini on PROD1PC65 with NOTICES
62038 Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 203 / Friday, October 20, 2006 / Notices 

1Under current FAA policy, the FAA does not 

require Blue Origin to obtain a part 420 license for 

the operation of West Texas Launch Site. 

Nonetheless, although not licensed, West Texas 

Launch Site is still a launch site. To the extent that 

the FAA has previously suggested that a license was 

required for a launch site to be a launch site, see 

Waiver of License Requirement for Scaled 

Composites’ Pre-flight Preparatory Activities 

Conducted at a U.S. Launch Site, 69 FR 48549, 

48550 (Aug. 10, 2004), that reasoning was incorrect. 

2Chapter 701 does not provide the FAA authority 

to waive a permit. See id; see also 70105a(i). 

PM1 vehicle. These functional checks 

include verifying proper operation of 

PM1’s actuators, and that all valves, 

regulators, and avionics function 

normally. During these tests, the PM1 

will contain no H2O2. Blue Origin will 

pressurize the PM1 helium tanks in the 

VPF before moving the PM1 to a test 

landing pad. A separate test, called the 

‘‘flight readiness test’’, will be 

performed after helium pressurization 

gas has been loaded on the vehicle, just 

before the vehicle is transported to the 

test landing pad. At the test landing 

pad, Blue Origin will load the PM1 with 

H2O2 and prepare it for flight. After 

landing, the PM1 and any support 

equipment will be returned to a safe 

condition. In accordance with this 

waiver, under Blue Origin’s 

experimental permit, launch begins 

with pressurization of gaseous helium 

bottles of the PM1 in the VPF and 

includes all preparation until flight of 

the vehicle. 

By statute, for a suborbital rocket, 

‘‘launch’’ means to place or try to place 

a launch vehicle in a suborbital 

trajectory, and includes activities 

involved in the preparation of a launch 

vehicle or payload for launch, when 

those activities take place at a launch 

site in the United States. 49 U.S.C. 

70102(3). Chapter 701 requires FAA 

authorization of Blue Origins’ launch 

processing activities, by license or 

permit, unless waived by the FAA. 49 

U.S.C. 70104, 70105. By regulation, 

launch begins with the arrival of a 

launch vehicle at a U.S. launch site. 14 

CFR 401.5.1

Waiver Criteria 

Chapter 701 allows the FAA to waive 

the requirement to obtain a license for 

an individual license or experimental 

permit applicant if the waiver is in the 

public interest and will not jeopardize 

public health and safety, safety of 

property, national security and foreign 

policy interests of the United States. 49 

U.S.C. 70105(b)(3). 2 To assess the 

impact on public health and safety and 

safety of property, the FAA utilizes a 

four-prong test. The FAA also addresses 

any aspects of granting a waiver that 

may have national security or foreign 

policy implications. 

Four-Prong Test 

The four-prong test used by the FAA 

was originally raised by the House 

Science Committee in 1995, as guidance 

to the FAA to assist it in defining 

‘‘launch’’ under chapter 701. H.R. Rep. 

No. 233, 104th Cong., 1st Sess., at 60 

(1995). The guidance suggested that preflight activities that should be regulated 

as part of a ‘‘launch’’, are those that: 

1. Are closely proximate in time to 

ignition or lift-off, 

2. Entail critical steps preparatory to 

initiating flight, 

3. Are unique to space launch, and 

4. Are inherently so hazardous as to 

warrant AST’s regulatory oversight 

under 49 U.S.C. chapter 701. 

As the FAA noted in the Scaled 

Waiver and in a Notice of Proposed 

Rulemaking, Experimental Permits for 

Reusable Suborbital Rockets, 71 FR 

16251 (Mar. 31, 2006), the four-prong 

test provides a rational approach to 

determining whether to waive the 

license requirement for launch 

processing. The many hazards involved 

in the processing of expendable launch 

vehicles led the FAA to define launch 

to begin with the arrival of a vehicle at 

the launch site. Commercial Space 

Transportation Licensing Regulations, 

64 FR 19586, 19592 (Apr. 21, 1999); 

Scaled Waiver, 69 FR at 48550. With 

new technologies involving different 

hazards, however, the FAA is willing to 

entertain requests for waivers. There 

should be no concerns if the license 

requirement is waived because the 

nature and existence of hazards are 

addressed as part of the waiver process. 

The Four-Prong Test Applied to PM1 

Launch Processing 

Prior to pressurization of the helium 

tanks, no launch processing activities 

meet all four prongs of the test. In 

particular, no inherently hazardous 

activities take place until pressurization. 

Therefore, the FAA finds no activities 

prior to pressurizing the vehicle helium 

tanks require oversight by the FAA. 

Storage of the helium is not hazardous 

because it is inert and will not react 

with any other elements or compounds 

under ordinary conditions. The 

unfueled PM1 presents no risk of fire, 

explosion, debris, or unintended motor 

flight. 

National Security and Foreign Policy 

Implications of PM1 Launch Processing 

The FAA evaluation conducted in 

support of Blue Origins’ experimental 

permit concluded that there are no 

issues relating to U.S. national security 

or foreign policy interests that would 

require the FAA to prevent launches of 

PM1. Thus, there are no national 

security or foreign policy issues 

associated with the launch processing of 

PM1. 

Summary and Conclusion 

A waiver is in the public interest 

because it accomplishes the goals of 

Chapter 701 and avoids unnecessary 

regulation. The waiver will not 

jeopardize public health and safety or 

safety of property because launch 

processing activities for PM1 up to 

helium pressurization conducted at 

West Texas Launch Site are benign to 

the public. A waiver will not jeopardize 

national security and foreign policy 

interests of the United States. 

For the foregoing reasons, the FAA 

has waived the requirement for Blue 

Origin to obtain a license for Blue 

Origin’s launch processing until helium 

pressurization conducted at West Texas 

Launch Site. 

Issued in Washington, DC, on October 13, 

2006. 

Stewart W. Jackson, 

Manager, Systems Engineering and Training, 

Office of the Associate Administrator for 

Commercial Space Transportation. 

[FR Doc. 06–8792 Filed 10–19–06; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–13–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

National Highway Traffic Safety 

Administration 

[Docket No. NHTSA–2006–26109] 

Panoz Auto-Development Company; 

Receipt of Application for a Temporary 

Exemption From the Advanced Air Bag 

Requirements of FMVSS No. 208 

AGENCY: National Highway Traffic 

Safety Administration (NHTSA), 

Department of Transportation (DOT). 

ACTION: Notice of receipt of petition for 

temporary exemption from provisions of 

Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 

(FMVSS) No. 208, Occupant Crash 

Protection. 

SUMMARY: In accordance with the 

procedures in 49 CFR part 555, Panoz 

Auto-Development Company has 

petitioned the agency for a temporary 

exemption from certain advanced air 

bag requirements of FMVSS No. 208. 

The basis for the application is that 

compliance would cause substantial 

economic hardship to a manufacturer 


jlentini on PROD1PC65 with NOTICES