[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 132 (Monday, July 13, 2009)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 33382-33384]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-16480]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Aviation Administration

14 CFR Part 73

[Docket No. FAA-2009-0490; Airspace Docket No. 09-AWP-3]
RIN 2120-AA66


Proposed Establishment of Restricted Area R-2502A; Fort Irwin, CA

AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), DOT.

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking.

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SUMMARY: This action proposes to establish a restricted area (R-2502A) 
at Fort Irwin, CA, as part of a Department of the Army initiative at 
the National Training Center (NTC). The NTC is being expanded to meet 
the critical need of the Army for additional training land and airspace 
suitable for maneuvering large numbers of military personnel and 
equipment. Additionally, this action would modify the Silver military 
operation area (MOA) in the vicinity of the NTC Complex. Unlike 
restricted areas, which are designated under 14 CFR part 73, MOAs are 
not rulemaking airspace actions. However, since the proposed R-2502A 
infringes on the Silver MOA, the FAA is including a description of the 
Silver MOA change in this rule. The MOA change described here will also 
be published in the National Flight Data Digest (NFDD). The Army 
requested these airspace changes to provide the additional special use 
airspace (SUA) above the expanded ground maneuver area to facilitate 
realistic combat training at the NTC.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before August 27, 2009.

ADDRESSES: Send comments on the proposal to the U.S. Department of 
Transportation, Dockets Operations, M-30, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., 
West Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140, Washington, DC 20590-0001; 
telephone: (202) 366-9826. You must identify docket No. FAA-2009-0490 
and Airspace Docket No. 09-AWP-3, at the beginning of your comments. 
You may also submit comments on the Internet at http://www.regulations.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ken McElroy, Airspace and Rules Group,

[[Page 33383]]

Office of System Operations Airspace and AIM, Federal Aviation 
Administration, 800 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20591; 
telephone: (202) 267-8783.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Comments Invited

    Interested parties are invited to participate in this proposed 
rulemaking by submitting such written data, views, or arguments as they 
may desire. Comments that provide the factual basis supporting the 
views and suggestions presented are particularly helpful in developing 
reasoned regulatory decisions on the proposal. Comments are 
specifically invited on the overall regulatory, aeronautical, economic, 
environmental, and energy-related aspects of the proposal.
    Communications should identify both docket numbers (FAA Docket No. 
FAA-2009-0490 and Airspace Docket No. 09-AWP-3) and be submitted in 
triplicate to the Federal Docket Management System (see ADDRESSES 
section for address and phone number). You may also submit comments 
through the Internet at http://www.regulations.gov.
    Commenters wishing the FAA to acknowledge receipt of their comments 
on this action must submit with those comments a self-addressed, 
stamped postcard on which the following statement is made: ``Comments 
to FAA Docket No. FAA-2009-0490 and Airspace Docket No. 09-AWP-3.'' The 
postcard will be date/time stamped and returned to the commenter.
    All communications received on or before the specified closing date 
for comments will be considered before taking action on the proposed 
rule. The proposal contained in this action may be changed in light of 
comments received. All comments submitted will be available for 
examination in the public docket both before and after the closing date 
for comments. A report summarizing each substantive public contact with 
FAA personnel concerned with this rulemaking will be filed in the 
docket.

Availability of NPRMs

    An electronic copy of this document may be downloaded through the 
Internet at http://www.regulations.gov. Recently published rulemaking 
documents can also be accessed through the FAA's Web page at http://www.faa.gov/airports_airtraffic/air_traffic/publications/airspace_amendments/.
    You may review the public docket containing the proposal, any 
comments received, and any final disposition in person in the Dockets 
Office (see ADDRESSES section for address and phone number) between 9 
a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. An 
informal docket may also be examined during normal business hours at 
the office of the Western Service Center, Operations Support Group, 
Federal Aviation Administration, 1601 Lind Avenue, SW., Renton, WA 
98055.
    Persons interested in being placed on a mailing list for future 
NPRMs should contact the FAA's Office of Rulemaking, (202) 267-9677, 
for a copy of Advisory Circular No. 11-2A, Notice of Proposed 
Rulemaking Distribution System, which describes the application 
procedure.

Background

    The NTC at Fort Irwin, California, is the only instrumented 
training area in the world suitable for force-on-force and live fire 
training of heavy brigade-sized military forces. It provides the Army 
with essential training opportunities necessary to maintain and improve 
military readiness and promote national security.
    The Congress in 2001, directed the Department of the Army and the 
Department of the Interior to draft a proposed plan that would expand 
the maneuver training lands at the NTC.
    This airspace proposal aligns with that land expansion in order to 
provide overlying airspace to conduct realistic combat training. The 
expanded airspace enhances the training value of the land based on 
training goals, equipment capabilities, and Army requirements. 
Additionally, the employment of aviation assets, explosives, flares, 
smoke, and other pyrotechnics devices will be deployed in the new 
airspace.
    The FAA supports this proposal. However, the FAA would have 
concerns for any additional expansion of the airspace in this area 
higher than 16,000 feet mean sea level (MSL) in the proposed R-2502A 
due to impacts to the National Airspace System (NAS). A review by the 
FAA Los Angeles Air Route Traffic Control Center personnel made the 
following observations: (1) The airspace adjacent to the south of 
proposed R-2502A is used for separation and sequencing of arriving and 
departing aircraft for the Los Angeles basin. Air traffic in this area 
regularly operates at system capacity. A reduction of usable airspace 
would significantly affect air traffic control services and cause 
delays to system users. (2) The airspace along the northeast boundary 
of proposed R-2502A is used for the separation and sequencing of air 
traffic into Las Vegas, McCarran Airport. A reduction of usable 
airspace would significantly affect air traffic control services and 
cause delays to system users. (3) Because of R-2501, the usable 
airspace along the southern and eastern boundaries of R-2502 East is 
very constrained. This narrow corridor is heavily used for arrivals and 
departures at the Los Angeles, Burbank, Van Nuys, and Las Vegas 
airports. Keeping aircraft from deviating into the proposed R-2502A 
vertical addition during the months when extensive convective weather 
is common would be difficult.

Military Operation Area (MOA)

    Restricted areas are regulatory airspace designations, under Title 
14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) part 73, which are established to 
confine or segregate activities considered hazardous to non-
participating aircraft. A MOA is a non-rulemaking type of SUA 
established to separate or segregate certain non-hazardous military 
flight activities from aircraft operating in accordance with instrument 
flight rules (IFR), and to identify for visual flight rules (VFR) 
pilots where those activities are conducted. IFR aircraft may be routed 
through an active MOA only when air traffic control can provide 
approved separation from the MOA activity. VFR pilots are not 
restricted from flying in an active MOA, but are advised to exercise 
caution while doing so.
    Unlike restricted areas, which are designated through rulemaking 
procedures, MOAs are non-rulemaking airspace areas that are established 
administratively and published in the National Flight Data Digest. 
Normally MOA proposals are not published in a NPRM, but instead, are 
advertised for public comment through a non-rule circular that is 
distributed by an FAA Service Center office to aviation interests in 
the affected area. However, when a non-rulemaking action is connected 
to a rulemaking action, FAA procedures allow for the non-rulemaking 
proposal to be included in the NPRM. In such cases, the NPRM replaces 
the non-rule circularization requirement. Because the change to the 
Silver MOA North is necessary, due to the proposed establishment of the 
restricted area, the MOA is being modified to exclude the airspace 
contained in the proposed R-2502A.

Proposed MOA Change

Silver MOA North, CA

    Boundaries. Beginning at lat. 35[deg]39'00'' N., long. 
115[deg]53'03'' W.; to lat. 35[deg]24'30'' N., long. 115[deg]53'03'' 
W.; to lat. 35[deg]06'50'' N., long. 116[deg]20'00'' W.; to lat. 
35[deg]04'30'' N., long. 116[deg]29'00'' W.; to lat.

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35[deg]07'00'' N.; long. 116[deg]34'03'' W.; to point of beginning. 
Excluding the airspace below 3,000 feet AGL within a 3NM radius of the 
town of Baker, CA (lat. 35[deg]16'00'' N. long. 116[deg]04'33'' W.;) 
and R2502A.

The Proposal

    The FAA is proposing an amendment to Title 14 Code of Federal 
Regulations (14 CFR) part 73 to establish Restricted Areas R-2502A at 
Fort Irwin, CA. The U.S. Army has requested this restricted area 
because the existing special use airspace does not include the airspace 
above the expanded land maneuver area created to support the NTC. This 
proposed action is required to ensure a safe training environment, 
isolated from the public, for military air and ground maneuvers from 
the surface to the upper limits of restricted airspace.
    The FAA has determined that this proposed regulation only involves 
an established body of technical regulations for which frequent and 
routine amendments are necessary to keep them operationally current. 
Therefore, this proposed regulation: (1) Is not a ``significant 
regulatory action'' under Executive Order 12866; (2) is not a 
``significant rule'' under Department of Transportation (DOT) 
Regulatory Policies and Procedures (44 FR 11034; February 26, 1979); 
and (3) does not warrant preparation of a regulatory evaluation as the 
anticipated impact is so minimal. Since this is a routine matter that 
will only affect air traffic procedures and air navigation, it is 
certified that this proposed rule, when promulgated, will not have a 
significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities 
under the criteria of the Regulatory Flexibility Act.
    The FAA's authority to issue rules regarding aviation safety is 
found in Title 49 of the United States Code. Subtitle I, Section 106 
describes the authority of the FAA Administrator. Subtitle VII, 
Aviation Programs, describes in more detail the scope of the agency's 
authority.
    This rulemaking is promulgated under the authority described in 
Subtitle VII, Part A, Subpart I, Section 40103. Under that section, the 
FAA is charged with prescribing regulations to assign the use of the 
airspace necessary to ensure the safety of aircraft and the efficient 
use of airspace. This regulation is within the scope of that authority 
as it proposes to establish restricted area airspace at Fort Irwin, CA.

Environmental Review

    This proposal will be subjected to the appropriate environmental 
analysis in accordance with FAA Order 1050.1E, Environmental Impacts: 
Policies and Procedures, prior to any FAA final regulatory action.

List of Subjects in 14 CFR Part 73

    Airspace, Prohibited areas, Restricted areas.

The Proposed Amendment

    In consideration of the foregoing, the Federal Aviation 
Administration proposes to amend 14 CFR part 73 as follows:

PART 73--SPECIAL USE AIRSPACE

    1. The authority citation for part 73 continues to read as follows:

    Authority: 49 U.S.C. 106(g), 40103, 40113, 40120; E.O. 10854, 24 
FR 9565, 3 CFR, 1959-1963 Comp., p. 389.


Sec.  73.25  [Amended]

    2. Sec.  73.25 is amended as follows:
* * * * *

R-2502A Fort Irwin, CA [New]

    Boundaries. Beginning at lat. 35[deg]25'48'' N., long. 
116[deg]18'48'' W.; to lat. 35[deg]25'30'' N., long. 116[deg]09'46'' 
W.; to lat. 35[deg]23'15'' N., long. 116[deg]09'47'' W.; to lat. 
35[deg]06'54'' N., long. 116[deg]30'17'' W.; to lat. 35[deg]07'00'' N., 
long. 116[deg]34'03'' W.; to lat. 35[deg]18'45'' N., long. 
116[deg]18'48'' W. to point of beginning.
    Designated altitudes. Surface to 16,000 feet MSL.
    Time of designation. Continuous.
    Controlling agency. FAA, Hi-Desert TRACON, Edwards, CA.
    Using agency. Commander, Fort Irwin, CA.
* * * * *

    Issued in Washington, DC, on July 6, 2009.
Edith V. Parish,
Manager, Airspace and Rules Group.
[FR Doc. E9-16480 Filed 7-10-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-13-P