41320 Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 148 / Monday, August 3, 1998 / Notices

reaching his 60th birthday. DENIAL,

July 22, 1998, Exemption No. 6799

Docket No.: 144CE

Petitioner: Sino Swearingen Aircraft

Company

Sections of the FAR Affected: 14 CFR

23.25; 23.29; 23.235; 23.471; 23.473;

23.477; 23.479; 23.481; 23.483;

23.485; 23.493; 23.499; 23.723;

23.725; 23.726; 23.727; 23.959;

23.1583(c) (1) and (2), Appendix

C23.1, Appendix D23.1, through

Amendment 23–52

Description of Relief Sought/

Disposition: To allow type

certification of the Sino Swearingen

SJ30–2 390 airplane without an exact

showing of compliance 14 CFR part

23 requirements, subject to certain

conditions and limitations. GRANT,

June 29, 1998, Exemption No. 6791

Docket No.: 29041

Petitioner: Estumkeda, Ltd

Sections of the FAR Affected: 14 CFR

47.65

Description of Relief Sought/

Disposition: To permit the petitioner

to obtain a Dealer’s Aircraft

Registration Certificate without

meeting the United States citizenship

requirements. DENIAL, June 23, 1998,

Exemption No. 6793

[FR Doc. 98–20632 Filed 7–31–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4910–13–M

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Aviation Administration

RTCA, Inc., Government/Industry Free

Flight Steering Committee

Pursuant to section 10(a)(2) of the

Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub.

L. 92–463, 5 U.S.C. Appendix 2), notice

is hereby given for an RTCA

Government/Industry Free Flight

Steering Committee meeting to be held

August 19, 1998, starting at 1:00 p.m.

The meeting will be held at the Federal

Aviation Administration, 800

Independence Avenue, SW.,

Washington, DC, 20591, in the Bessie

Coleman Conference Center, Room 2AB.

The agenda will include: (1) Welcome

and Opening Remarks; (2) Review

Summary of the Previous Meeting; (3)

Report and Recommendations from the

Free Flight Select Committee on a

Restructured Flight 2000 Program; (4)

Report on the status and plans for the

GPS/WAAS Sole Means Risk

Assessment; (5) Other Business; (6) Date

and Location of Next Meeting; (7)

Closing Remarks.

Attendance is open to the interested

public but limited to space availability.

With the approval of the co-chairmen,

members of the public may present oral

statements at the meeting. Persons

wishing to present statements or obtain

information should contact the RTCA,

Inc., at (202) 833–9339 (phone), (202)

833–9434 (facsimile), or

dclarke@rtca.org (e-mail). Members of

the public may present a written

statement at any time.

Issued in Washington, DC, on July 27,

1998.

Janice L. Peters,

Designated Official.

[FR Doc. 98–20631 Filed 7–31–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4910–13–M

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety

Administration

[Docket No. NHTSA 98–4075]

General Motors; Grant of Application

for Decision of Inconsequential

Noncompliance

General Motors Corporation (GM) of

Warren, Michigan, determined that

some of its 1997 model Chevrolet

Corvettes failed to meet the

requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle

Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 124,

‘‘Accelerator Control Systems,’’ and

filed an appropriate report pursuant to

49 CFR Part 573, ‘‘Defects and

Noncompliance Reports.’’ GM also

applied to be exempted from the

notification and remedy requirements of

49 U.S.C. Chapter 301—‘‘Motor Vehicle

Safety’’ on the basis that the

noncompliance is inconsequential to

motor vehicle safety.

Notice of receipt of the application

was published on September 16, 1997,

and an opportunity afforded for

comment (Docket No. 97–58, Notice 1;

62 FR 48708).

Paragraph S5.2 of FMVSS No. 124

requires the throttle to return to idle

position within the time limits specified

in S5.3, whenever any component of the

accelerator control system is

disconnected or severed at a single

point. S5.3 requires return to idle within

3 seconds for any vehicle exposed to

temperatures of 0 degrees to ¥40

degrees F (¥18 degrees to ¥40 degrees

C). During the 1997 model year, GM

produced 9,500 Chevrolet Corvettes,

which will not comply with FMVSS No.

124 because, when tested with one

return spring removed at temperatures

below ¥26 degrees F, their accelerator

pedal module assembly does not move

quickly enough to cause the throttle to

return to the idle position within 3

seconds.

GM described the noncompliance and

supported its application with the

following arguments:

The Chevrolet Corvette employs an

electronic throttle control which adjusts

the throttle position based on input

from the accelerator pedal position. The

accelerator pedal is equipped with three

springs, any two of which are capable of

returning the pedal to rest position.

Once this occurs, the throttle returns to

idle position approximately 0.2 seconds

later. A test run in early May, however,

raised a question about the ability of the

pedal assembly to return at low

temperatures.

GM believes that the failure of the

pedal assembly to meet the throttle

closing time requirements of FMVSS

No. 124 at extremely low temperatures

is inconsequential to motor vehicle

safety for the following reasons.

1. Vehicle Controllability—In the

unlikely event that all of the

prerequisites necessary for the

noncompliance occurred—that is, a

return spring was disconnected or

severed on a pedal assembly with

residual oil, and the vehicle soaked at

ambient temperatures below ¥32

degrees C—the vehicle would continue

to be controllable both by the service

brakes and as a result of the Brake

Torque Management System.

2. Reliability of the Accelerator

Springs—The condition which is the

subject of GM’s noncompliance decision

can only occur if one of the return

springs is severed or disconnected. The

springs in the Corvette pedal assembly,

however, have extremely high reliability

and are not likely to fail in the real

world.

3. Condition Requires Extreme

Temperatures; Pedal Assembly Warms

Quickly—As mentioned above, the root

cause of the noncompliance condition is

the residual oil on the pedal assemblies

congealing below ¥32 degrees C.

Testing at temperatures above that level

resulted in full compliance with the

FMVSS No. 124 time limits for all pedal

assemblies tested. Therefore, the

ambient temperatures required for the

possibility of this noncompliance to

exist are severe. Even if a vehicle with

a disconnected return spring soaked

under the necessary harsh conditions

for a sufficient time to congeal the

residual oil, the potential for the

noncompliance to occur would exist for

only a short time, because the pedal

assembly would warm up quickly with

activation of the vehicle heating system.

4. Condition is Self-correcting—

Durability testing indicates that the

condition improves with wear. Bench

testing was conducted on five

production pedal assemblies with poor