14 CFR 129 - OPERATIONS: FOREIGN AIR CARRIERS AND FOREIGN OPERATORS OF U.S.-REGISTERED AIRCRAFT ENGAGED IN COMMON CARRIAGE

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) seeks comments on a proposed transition of the U.S. National Airspace System (NAS) navigation infrastructure to enable performance-based navigation (PBN) as part of the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen). The FAA plans to transition from defining airways, routes and procedures using VHF Omni-directional Range (VOR) and other legacy navigation aids (NAVAIDs) 1 towards a NAS based on Area Navigation (RNAV) everywhere and Required Navigation Performance (RNP) where beneficial. Such capabilities will be enabled largely by the Global Positioning System (GPS) and the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS). The FAA plans to retain an optimized network of Distance Measuring Equipment (DME) stations and a minimum operational network (MON) of VOR stations to ensure safety and continuous operations for high and low altitude en route airspace over the conterminous US (CONUS) and terminal operations at the Core 30 airports. 2 The FAA is also conducting research on Alternate Positioning, Navigation and Timing (APNT) solutions that would enable further reduction of VORs below the MON. 1 Includes Tactical Air Navigation (TACAN) Azimuth, VOR/TACAN (VORTAC), VOR/DME, Non-Directional Beacon (NDB) operated by the FAA. 2 Core 30 airports are those with significant activity serving major metropolitan areas and also serve as hubs for airline operations, found at http://aspmhelp.faa.gov/index.php/Core_30. In addition, the FAA plans to satisfy any new requirements for Category I instrument operations with WAAS localizer performance with vertical guidance (LPV) procedures. A network of existing Instrument Landing Systems (ILS) would be sustained to provide alternative approach and landing capabilities to continue recovery and dispatch of aircraft during GPS outages. This transition would be consistent with the FAA's NextGen Implementation Plan (NGIP), NAS Enterprise Architecture (EA), and other documentation. More information is available on the FAA's NextGen Web site at http://www.faa.gov/nextgen and the EA Web site at https://nasea.faa.gov.

The FAA is correcting a final rule published on February 10, 2011 (76 FR 7482). In that rule, the FAA amended its regulations to clarify and standardize the rules for applications by foreign air carriers and foreign persons for part 129 operations specifications and establish new standards for amendment, suspension, and termination of those operations specifications. This document corrects errors in the codified text of that document.

This action temporarily authorizes variances from existing standards related to the provisioning of supplemental oxygen inside lavatories. This action is necessitated by other mandatory actions that temporarily render such oxygen systems inoperative.

This amendment clarifies and standardizes the rules for applications by foreign air carriers and foreign persons for part 129 operations specifications and establishes new standards for amendment, suspension, and termination of those operations specifications. In addition, the FAA has moved definitions currently contained in a subpart to a separate part for clarity with no substantive changes to the definitions. The amendment also applies to foreign persons operating U.S.-registered aircraft in common carriage solely outside the United States. This action is necessary to update the process for issuing operations specifications and establishes a regulatory basis for current practices, such as amending, terminating, or suspending operations specifications.