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llonorablc Michael lluerta 

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### 20515-2802 Apri l 27. 2012 Administrator, fcdcral/\viatiun Admini s tration U.S
. Department or Transportation 

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I am ''-'Titin g to express my serious concern about the impact or gliders on !hc safely or air traffi c operations into and out oflhc Reno-Tahoe International Airport (KNO). In Nevada, gliders, in gre at numbers, take n dvanta gc ofl hc un i que opportunity provided by t he therma l a nd mountain terrain in the Sien-a Mountains cspcciaUy around the Minden and Carson City 

### area . The initia l approach to Runway 

### 34L, H priru ury rum-vay 

### al R NO, inter sec ts with this internationally famous soaring orca. Glider pilot s choosing no t to usc transponders and/or maintain radio contact wilh the Air Traffic Con t rol Towe r (ATCT), because th ey arc not currently r equired to, put air t:arrkr and cmvoratc jet traffic ut ri sk . it is my understanding that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has eme r gency rulcrnaking auth ority, i 

## rthere is imminent danger. Thc Re no -Ta ho e Airport Authority an d my office consider this s itua tion to pose such a g reat ris k to the safe operations or RNO that we believe the F I\ A's emerge ncy rul cmaking au t hority must be used to co rrect th is problem. G li ders arc cu rrently exempt from CFR 14 pa r t 91 .2 15 which re quires th a t Hirc:ran must be: equipped with an operable coded radar beacon tran s ponder that allows ATCT operators to idcntil' y ai rc raft. Without the transponder information, /\TCT operators cnnnot determine the exact altitude or gl id ers even in those cases where the glide r i s visible on 1 \ TCT rndnr . This safely issue is co mpoun ded 

### by the fact that not ull glidc.: r pilots eleclto maintain radio co ntact with ATCT operators, preventing the tim e ly wmning of m:arb y aircraft and in c reasing the probability of :t mid
- air collision. The delegation or a new national beacon code ("20 12'") for usc by transpon der-equ ipp ed g lid ers is an imp ortant fir:-.t step to increasing SH(\;ty; however it i s not cnougb . Glider pilots a rc un der n o obligation c.:i th er to cquip t h e ir aircraft with transpo nders or cvc11 to lum their lmnspondcrs on if inslnlh.:d. We have a lready lwd 

### two documented in c ident s in Reno-'J'ahoc airspace whkh im:ludc the collision of a gl ider nncl a llawkcr corporate jet aircrnn on August 26, 2006 and the ncar co llisi on or a glider und a US Airways Airbu s A320 o n

**F~ bruary**  24, 2009. Th e prob ability or another

PR rH fn n •; f-fC.YCI fl• i11Pf'1 

### FAA-120509-007I 

### midair co lli sion involving air canier or

**corporal~** 

### jet traflic and g liders in the vic inity ofRNO is still a 

### risk as long ns the 

### gl id er exemption stands . To avo i d fu ture in c i dents, the FAA 

### s houl d immediately review t he s ituation and cons ider expediting t he process to remove th e glider exemption li·01n CFR 14 parl91.215 in accordance with 

### the Apr il 2008 

### Nationa l Transportation Sn tcty Board recommendation. 1 

### rc speclft llly request thnt the FAA in it iate the

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### rulemnkin g procedures to

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### the removal of this dangerous exempt ion li ·01n 

### CFR 14 part 91.215 , if on ly in re f erence fo RNO ai rspace. I look forward t o working with you on this critical safety issue and encourage you lo con tact me nt (202) 225 6 155, if yo u have any

**lJU~tions** 

### or need any more informati o n. However, f 

### would li ke to call to 

### your alle nlion that I did m eet wit h your starT several months 

### ngo to di sc u ss 

### !hi s very iss ue . Apparent ly an in!Cmnal approved respo n se is not forthcoming. /\cconlingly, !Ius lonnal request is initia!l.:d . Tha 11k yuu fur your t i rnc and {;Ons ide r alion.



### FAA-120509-007 Si ncerely,

Mmk 

## c. Amodci Member of Co ngressU.S. Dep artment of Transportation Federal Aviation Adm i nistration May21, 2012 The Honorabl e Mark E. Amodei Hou se of Repre se ntatives Washington , D C 2051 5 Dear Congressman Amodci: O lf1c e o f the Adminis t rato r 800 Indepen d ence A ve .. S
. W
. W as h ing ton . D.C
. 20591

Thank you for your April 27 letter concern ing glider opera ti ons and a irsp ace sa fety at Reno-Tahoe In ternationa l Airport, and yo ur request to in voke emergency rul emaking action to remove the glider exemp ti on from Title 14 Code of Federal Regul a ti ons, Section 91.2 15 . As yo u know , th t; Ft;dtral Aviation Administration he ld a public meeting on Apri l 4 w h ere industry repre se ntati ves presented the ir co nc e rn s. The prim ary purpo se of th e public m ee tin g was to assess th e recently d eve lo pe d Tec hni cal S tand a rd O rd er (TSO-C 199) for Low-Power S urv e illance Equipment. The TSO was developed to address current o perati onal performance standards , to satisfy Traffic Alert and Co lli s io n Avoidance Sys t e m inte r o p erabi l ity, and to improve d e te ctio n by ai r traffic c o ntrol radar systems , by in corpo rat in g features of Au tom a ti c Dep endent Surveillance-B roadcast. The performance standa rd s were deve lope d to e nt ice av io nics equip ment manufacturers to expand on a n d offer a lowe r-cost surve illance equipment so lution to the g lid e r community. The TSO performance sta ndard s h ou ld avert th e cost of installin g high e r-pric ed transponders which u se add ition a l aircraft battery power. We also met with the Soarin g Soc iety of America in Febru ary , bef ore th e publi c m ee ting , to brief th e m on the performance s ta nd ard s ofTSO-C199. We encourage d the d evelopment of transponder equi pment fo r g liders not equ i pped wi th an a ircraft battery or other source of power. Fo11ow ing publication of the TSO , we will publish a Request for Inf ormation on o r around Septe mber 3 0 to so licit cos t estimates and availability of equipme nt that w i ll m ee t the req uiremen t s of TSO- C 1 99. Finall y, o n March 7 we implemented a n ew n ationa l transponder code ( 1 202) excl us ively for ass ignment to g lid ers so as to di s tinguish g lid e r s , on radar di s pl ays, from a irc raft o p e ratin g with 1200 or 1201 codes. The n e w n ational transponder code for gliders w ill facili tate a unique radar recognition of a g lid er as a target, when th e g li der is equipped with a tran s p onder and it i s turn ed o n . A ddition a ll y , radar au tomation will be updated to i nclude the l etter " G " in th e data-block of air traffic controller s' radar disp lays to s i gn ify a glider.

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o r purpo s es of re v iew , the draft TSO can be found nt: http: //www .faa. gov/aircr aft/dra ft _docs/t so/ Whi le we carefully co n sidered an e m e rgency rul e makin g , we collabo r a tiv ely agree d upon the development of an Advanced Not ice of Proposed Rul e makin g (AN PIUvt) , and thi s p r ocess is projected to s tart th is month . The ability to cra ft the ANPRl \ 1 language durin g the public meeti n g , while prote cted under ex-parte , al lows the ru lemaking team to understand the indu stry ' s op ini o n s regarding mandate d equipage. If I can be of furthe r a s s i s tance , pl ease contact me o r Roderick D. Hall , Assistant Adminis trator fo r Government and Indu s t ry Affai rs, at (202) 26 7 -3277. Sincerely ,