Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 106 / Thursday, June 4, 2009 / Notices 26919 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Aviation Administration 

Third Meeting—Special Committee 

221—Aircraft Secondary Barriers & 

Alternative Flight Deck Security 

Procedures 

AGENCY: Federal Aviation 

Administration (FAA), DOT. 

ACTION: Notice of RTCA Special 

Committee 221 meeting. 

SUMMARY: The FAA is issuing this notice 

to advise the public of a meeting of 

RTCA Special Committee 221: Aircraft 

Secondary Barriers & Alternative Flight 

Deck Security Procedures. 

DATES: The meeting will be held June 

23–24, 2009. From 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. on 

June 23 and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on June 24. 

ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held at 

RTCA, Inc., MacIntosh-NBAA and 

Hilton-ATA Rooms, 1828 L Street, NW., 

Suite 805, Washington, DC 20036. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

RTCA Secretariat, 1828 L Street, NW., 

Suite 805, Washington, DC 20036; 

telephone (202) 833–9339; fax (202) 

833–9434; Web site http://www.rtca.org. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 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 a Special Committee 

221, Aircraft Secondary Barriers. The 

agenda will include: 

• Opening Plenary (Welcome/ 

Introductions/Administrative Remarks); 

• Approval of Summary of the 

Second Meeting held March 3–4, 2009, 

RTCA Paper No. 120–09/SC221–008; 

• Leadership Comments; 

• Review of Threat Work Group— 

Status Report; 

• Review of Alternative Methods 

Work Group—Status Report; 

• Review of Installed Physical 

Secondary Barrier (IPSB) Work Group— 

Status Report; 

• Presentation/Discussion of SC–221 

Schedule and Milestones; 

• Discussion of Working Group 

reports: Re-allocation of groups, capture 

learning points, discuss additional or 

follow-on goals; 

• Approval and Tasking of Existing/ 

Proposed Working Groups; 

• Closing Plenary (Other Business— 

Including Proposed Agenda, Date and 

Place for Next Meeting). 

Attendance is open to the interested 

public but limited to space availability. 

With the approval of the chairmen, 

members of the public may present oral 

statements at the meeting. Persons 

wishing to present statements or obtain 

information should contact the person 

listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

CONTACT section. Members of the public 

may present a written statement to the 

committee at any time. 

Issued in Washington, DC, on May 27, 

2009. 

Francisco Estrada C., 

RTCA Advisory Committee. 

[FR Doc. E9–12989 Filed 6–3–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–13–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Aviation Administration 

Seventy-Ninth Meeting—Special 

Committee 159—Global Positioning 

System (GPS) 

AGENCY: Federal Aviation 

Administration (FAA), DOT. 

ACTION: Notice of RTCA Special 

Committee 159 meeting. 

SUMMARY: The FAA is issuing this notice 

to advise the public of a meeting of 

RTCA Special Committee 159: Global 

Positioning System (GPS). 

DATES: The meeting will be held June 

23–26, 2009, from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. 

(unless stated otherwise). 

ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held at 

RTCA, Inc., 1828 L Street, NW., Suite 

805, Washington, DC 20036. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

RTCA Secretariat, 1828 L Street, NW., 

Suite 805, Washington, DC 20036; 

telephone (202) 833–9339; fax (202) 

833–9434; Web site http://www.rtca.org. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 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 a Special Committee 

159 meeting. The agenda will include: 

June 23 

• All Day, Working Group 2C, GPS/ 

Inertial, Colson Board Room. 

June 24 

• All Day, Working Group 2, GPS/ 

WAAS, Colson Board Room. 

June 25 

• All Day, Working Group 4, 

Precision Landing Guidance (GPS/ 

LAAS), MacIntosh–NBAA Room & 

Hilton–ATA Room. 

June 26 

• Open Plenary (Chairman’s 

Introductory Remarks, Approval of 

Summary of the Seventy-Eighth Meeting 

held February 13, 2009, RTCA Paper 

No. 122–09/SC159–978). 

• Review Working Group (WG) 

Progress and Identify Issues for 

Resolution. 

• GPS/3nd Civil Frequency (WG–1) 

• GPS/WAAS (WG–2) 

• GPS/GLONASS (WG–2A) 

• GPS/Inertial (WG–2C) 

• GPS/Precision Landing Guidance 

and (WG–4) 

• GPS/Airport Surface Surveillance 

(WG–5) 

• GPS/Interference (WG–6) 

• GPS/Antennas (WG–7) 

• GPS/GRAS (WG–8) 

• Review of EUROCAE Activities. 

• Closing Plenary Session. 

(Assignment/Review of Future Work, 

Other, Date and Place of Next Meeting.) 

Attendance is open to the interested 

public but limited to space availability. 

With the approval of the chairmen, 

members of the public may present oral 

statements at the meeting. Persons 

wishing to present statements or obtain 

information should contact the person 

listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

CONTACT section. Members of the public 

may present a written statement to the 

committee at any time. 

Issued in Washington, DC, on May 27, 

2009. 

Francisco Estrada C., 

RTCA Advisory Committee. 

[FR Doc. E9–12990 Filed 6–3–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–13–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Aviation Administration 

AGENCY: Federal Aviation 

Administration, DOT. 

ACTION: Notice of request for comments 

on nonmetallic transport category 

airplanes. 

SUMMARY: This notice solicits public 

comment on the need for, and the 

possible scope of, rulemaking to address 

extensive use of nonmetallic materials 

in the construction of transport category 

airplanes. 

DATES: We must receive comments on 

this notice by September 2, 2009. 

ADDRESSES: You may mail comments to: 

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), 

Transport Airplane Directorate, Aircraft 

Certification Service, ANM–100 (Attn: 

Jeff Gardlin, ANM–115), 1601 Lind 

Avenue, SW., Renton, Washington 

98057–3359. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jeff 

Gardlin, FAA, Airframe and Cabin 

Safety Branch, ANM–115, Transport 

Airplane Directorate, Aircraft 

Certification Service, 1601 Lind 

Avenue, SW., Renton, Washington 

98057–3359; telephone (206) 227–2136. 

26920 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 106 / Thursday, June 4, 2009 / Notices 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Comments Invited 

Interested persons are invited to 

participate in identifying the need for, 

and defining the scope of, rulemaking 

and advisory materials to address the 

extensive use of nonmetallic materials 

in the construction of transport category 

airplanes by submitting written data, 

views, or arguments as they may desire. 

Comments relating to the 

environmental, energy, or economic 

impact that might result from adopting 

the recommendations contained in this 

notice are invited. Substantive 

comments should be accompanied by 

estimates of their economic impact if 

possible. All comments received on or 

before the closing date for comments 

will be considered by the FAA before 

deciding whether to pursue rulemaking. 

Background 

The certification standards for 

transport category airplanes are 

contained in Title 14, Code of Federal 

Regulations (14 CFR) part 25. These 

standards have evolved over the years 

and take into account the practicalities 

of how airplanes are designed and 

constructed. While it is in theory 

possible to develop standards that make 

no assumptions about the airplane 

design or materials, i.e., pure 

performance standards, this is often 

extremely difficult. The standards 

themselves would have to anticipate 

virtually any design innovations, which 

would tend to make the standards very 

complex and lengthy or, conversely, so 

high level as to make it difficult to 

develop methods for demonstrating 

compliance. One area where the 

airworthiness standards of part 25 are 

based on an assumption is the principal 

materials of construction. For the most 

part, the regulations assume that the 

airplane fuselage, including wings and 

empennage—the airframe—will be 

constructed from metallic materials. 

Despite this assumption, nonmetallic 

materials have been used over the years 

for specific components on various 

airplane types. In those cases, the FAA 

has evaluated the safety effects of these 

specific designs, and in some cases has 

issued special conditions to identify 

appropriate certification criteria. 

However, the current regulatory 

standards do not account for an airframe 

that is constructed predominantly from 

nonmetallic materials. While special 

conditions are a tool to address 

individual certification projects, they 

are not a long-term solution to a shift in 

design philosophy. Airworthiness 

standards might need to evolve with 

evolving designs. Therefore, the FAA is 

considering whether a more 

comprehensive change to part 25 is 

appropriate. 

There is an obvious trend toward the 

increased use of composites in the 

construction of airplanes. Both Boeing 

and Airbus are in the process of 

developing large transport category 

airplanes using composite materials as 

the primary material in construction of 

the airframe. The FAA has written, or is 

in the process of writing, special 

conditions to incorporate adequate 

safety standards for these airplanes. 

Some of the special conditions 

supplement or replace requirements that 

either do not address all aspects of 

composites, or have criteria that are 

based on experience with metallic 

structure that is not applicable to 

composites. In either situation, the use 

of nonmetallic materials requires 

additional or modified standards to 

maintain the level of safety currently 

required for metallic materials. In other 

cases, the regulatory language may be 

sufficiently broad to address 

nonmetallic materials, but the advisory 

material may require updating. 

The objective of this notice is to 

solicit public comments on the topics 

that should be addressed, if the FAA 

proceeds to rulemaking, and suggestions 

on the best way to amend part 25 to 

address the use of nonmetallic materials 

as the principal materials of 

construction. 

As noted above, certification 

standards ideally would not assume the 

use of any particular materials, and 

would contain the standards necessary 

to assure the level of safety intended by 

the regulations regardless of the 

materials used. While that is a goal, it 

may not be completely achievable, and 

it is likely that certain assumptions 

regarding materials will be necessary for 

a manageable standard. Still, the FAA is 

approaching this effort with the 

objective of eliminating assumptions 

regarding materials as much as is 

feasible. 

Based on our review of current 

programs, we believe the following 

areas would have to be addressed to 

account for the extensive use of 

nonmetallic materials in airframe 

construction: 

• Airframe crashworthiness 

• Fuel Tank crashworthiness 

• Post crash fire safety 

• Fuselage protection 

• Fuel tank protection 

• In-flight fire safety 

• Fuselage protection 

• Fuel tank protection 

• Lightning protection 

• Damage tolerance 

The FAA seeks public input to further 

refine the areas of interest identified 

above, as well as identify any other 

relevant areas, in order to establish the 

scope of any regulatory efforts and 

advisory materials. Based on this input, 

the FAA may then proceed to 

rulemaking activity, or may elect to task 

the Aviation Rulemaking Advisory 

Committee with recommending specific 

changes to the regulations and 

applicable advisory materials. 

Issued in Renton, Washington, on April 30, 

2009. 

Stephen P. Boyd, 

Acting Manager, Transport Airplane 

Directorate, Aircraft Certification Service. 

[FR Doc. E9–12987 Filed 6–3–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–13–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY 

Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade 

Bureau 

Proposed Information Collections; 

Comment Request 

AGENCY: Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and 

Trade Bureau, Treasury. 

ACTION: Notice and request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: As part of our continuing 

effort to reduce paperwork and 

respondent burden, and as required by 

the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 

we invite comments on the proposed or 

continuing information collections 

listed below in this notice. 

DATES: We must receive your written 

comments on or before August 3, 2009. 

ADDRESSES: You may send comments to 

Mary A. Wood, Alcohol and Tobacco 

Tax and Trade Bureau, at any of these 

addresses: 

• P.O. Box 14412, Washington, DC 

20044–4412; 

• 202–927–8525 (facsimile); or 

• formcomments@ttb.gov (e-mail). 

Please send separate comments for 

each specific information collection 

listed below. You must reference the 

information collection’s title, form or 

recordkeeping requirement number, and 

OMB number (if any) in your comment. 

If you submit your comment via 

facsimile, send no more than five 8.5 × 

11 inch pages in order to ensure 

electronic access to our equipment. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To 

obtain additional information, copies of 

the information collection and its 

instructions, or copies of any comments 

received, contact Mary A. Wood, 

Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade 

Bureau, P.O. Box 14412, Washington,