[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 242 (Wednesday, December 17, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 66171-66172]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-32883]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Aviation Administration


Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee; Training and 
Qualifications Issues--Revised Task

AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), DOT.

ACTION: Notice of revised task assignments for the Aviation Rulemaking 
Advisory Committee (ARAC).

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SUMMARY: Notice is given of revised tasks assigned to and accepted by 
the Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee (ARAC). This notice informs 
the public of the activities of ARAC.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Tom Toula, Federal Aviation Administration, Flight Standards Service, 
AFS-210, 800 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20591; phone 
(202) 267-3729; fax (202) 267-5229.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background

    The FAA has established an Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee 
to provide advice and recommendations to the FAA Administrator, through 
the Associate Administrator for Regulation and Certification, on the 
full range of the FAA's rulemaking activities with respect to aviation-
related issues. This includes obtaining advice and recommendations on 
the FAA's commitment to harmonize its Federal Aviation Regulations 
(FAR) and practices with its trading partners in Europe and Canada.
    One area ARAC deals with is training and qualifications issues. 
These issues involve training and qualification of air carrier 
crewmembers and other air transport employees.

The Tasks

    This notice is to inform the public that the FAA has asked ARAC to 
provide advice and recommendation on the following revised 
harmonization tasks. The original tasks were published in the Federal 
Register on November 3, 1997 (62 FR 59382).
    Task 1. Determine the benefits of licensing harmonization.
    Task 2. Define criteria for Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) 
conversion of Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA) issued licenses, and for 
JAA conversion of FAA issued licenses. Consider only the Airline 
Transport Pilot (ATP) license, except where that license might convert 
to only a Commercial pilot license.
    Task 3. Develop a recommendation, with justification, on whether 
the product (i.e., a specific level of license or certificate) should 
be harmonized, or the process (i.e., the curriculum, prerequisite 
experience, length of training, etc.) should be harmonized.
    (a) If recommending that the product should be harmonized, develop 
a matrix of essential requirements for the FAA and JAA to impose on 
license holders of the other in order to convert licenses.
    (b) If recommending that the process should be harmonized, develop 
a matrix of specific differences and how those differences should be 
equalized.
    (c) Make specific recommendations about which FAA regulations or 
Joint Aviation Requirements should be changed to achieve the 
recommended actions. Any recommendations requiring changes to Title 14 
of Code of Federal Regulations must be forwarded to the FAA for 
consideration of rulemaking priority, resource allocation, and 
additional tasking to ARAC to develop rulemaking, as appropriate.
    Task 4. Review the current standards of 14 CFR sections 61.75 and 
61.77 as part of the overall task. In light of this review, recommend 
appropriate guidance material that could later be incorporated into 
advisory material or an appendix to 14 CFR part 61 that

[[Page 66172]]

contains the criteria developed in task 3 (a) or (b) above.
    The FAA expects ARAC to complete these tasks within 12 months and 
submit a report through ARAC to the FAA and to the JAA.

ARAC Acceptance of Tasks

    ARAC has accepted the tasks and has chosen to establish a new 
Licensing Harmonization Working Group. The working group will serve as 
staff to ARAC to assist ARAC in the analysis of the assigned task. 
Working group recommendations must be reviewed and approved by ARAC. If 
ARAC accepts the working group's recommendations, it forwards them to 
the FAA as ARAC recommendations.

Working Group Activity

    As is the case with all harmonization working groups, meetings of 
the Licensing Harmonization Working Group will be held alternately 
between the United States and Europe. Tentatively, the next two 
meetings will be held in Washington, DC, in January 1998 and in 
Hoofddorp, The Netherlands, in February 1998.
    The Licensing Harmonization Working Group is expected to comply 
with the procedures adopted by ARAC. As part of the procedures, the 
working group is expected to:
    1. Recommend to ARAC a work plan for completion of the tasks, 
including the rationale supporting such a plan, for consideration at 
the meeting of ARAC to consider Training and Qualifications Issues held 
following publication of this notice.
    2. Give a detailed conceptual presentation to ARAC of the proposed 
recommendations, prior to proceeding with the work stated in item 3 
below.
    3. Provide a status report at each meeting of ARAC held to consider 
Training and Qualifications Issues.

Participation in the Working Group

    The Licensing Harmonization Working Group is composed of experts 
having an interest in the assigned task. A working group member need 
not be a representative of a member of the full committee.
    The Secretary of Transportation has determined that the formation 
and use of ARAC are necessary and in the public interest in connection 
with the performance of duties imposed on the FAA by law.
    Meetings of ARAC will be open to the public. Meetings of the 
Licensing Harmonization Working Group will not be open to the public, 
except to the extent that individuals with an interest and expertise 
are selected to participate. No public announcement of working group 
meetings will be made.

    Issued in Washington, DC, on December 12, 1997.
Thomas K. Toula,
Assistant Executive Director for Training and Qualifications Issues, 
Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee.
[FR Doc. 97-32883 Filed 12-16-97; 8:45 am]
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