[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 90 (Wednesday, May 9, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 27269-27271]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-11251]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Aviation Administration
[Docket No. FAA-2011-0183]
Access to Aircraft Situation Display to Industry (ASDI) and
National Airspace System Status Information (NASSI) Data
AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), DOT.
ACTION: Notice of proposed process for limiting aircraft data displayed
via ASDI; request for comments.
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SUMMARY: On December 16, 2011, the FAA published a notice of an interim
policy, instructing aircraft owners and operators on how they can limit
the FAA's dissemination of their aircraft data via the FAA's ASDI
program. The notice indicated that the FAA would later propose specific
procedures by which aircraft owners and operators can in the future
express their preference on the FAA's release of their aircraft data to
the public via ASDI. This document is the FAA's proposal and the FAA's
invitation to the public to comment on any aspect of it. Until the FAA
publishes a document that sets forth the FAA's final decision on the
ASDI blocking process, the FAA will continue to operate under the
interim policy that the FAA described in the notice published in
December 2011.
DATES: Any written information that responds to the FAA's proposed
procedures must be submitted by June 8, 2012.
ADDRESSES: You may submit written information, identified by docket
number FAA-2011-0183, by any of the following methods:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://regulations.gov
and follow the online instructions for sending your comments
electronically.
Mail: Send comments by mail to Docket Operations, U.S.
Department of Transportation, M-30, Room W12-140, 1200 New Jersey
Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20590-0001. Persons wishing to receive
confirmation of receipt of their written submission should include a
self-addressed stamped postcard.
Hand Delivery: Deliver comments to Docket Operations in
Room W12-140 on the ground floor of the West Building at 1200 New
Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC, between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.,
Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.
Facsimile: Fax comments to the docket operations personnel
at 202-493-2251.
Privacy: We will post all comments that we receive, without change,
at http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information that
you provide. Using the search function of the docket Web site, anyone
can find and read the electronic form of all comments in any of our
dockets, including the name of the individual sending the comment or
signing the comment on behalf of an association, business, labor union,
or other entity or organization. You may review the DOT's complete
Privacy Act Statement in the Federal Register at 65 FR 19477-78 (April
11, 2000), or you may find it at http://docketsinfo.dot.gov.
Reviewing the docket: To read background documents or comments
received, go to http://www.regulations.gov at any time and follow the
online instructions for accessing the docket, or go to Docket
Operations in Room W12-140 on the ground floor of the West Building at
1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC, between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00
p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: You may direct any questions on adding
aircraft to and removing aircraft from the ASDI block list to the FAA's
ASDI program staff by telephone at (540) 422-4649 or by electronic mail
at [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On November 18, 2011, the President signed
into law H.R. 2112, the ``Consolidated and Further Continuing
Appropriations Act, 2012,'' which provides the U.S. Department of
Transportation's appropriation for the balance of fiscal year 2012.
Section 119A of that statute provides that:
[n]otwithstanding any other provision of law, none of the funds made
available under this Act or any prior Act may be used to implement
or to continue to implement any limitation on the ability of any
owner or operator of a private aircraft to obtain, upon a request to
the Administrator of the [FAA], a blocking of that owner's or
operator's aircraft registration number from any display of the
[FAA's ASDI] data that is made available to the public, except data
made available to a Government agency, for the noncommercial flights
of that owner or operator.
Public Law 112-55, Sec. 119A, 125 Stat. 552, 649.
In light of this appropriation language, the FAA withdrew a prior
policy that it published on June 3, 2011, which required owners or
operators to submit a Certified Security Concern in order to have their
aircraft blocked from the public's view on displays of ASDI
information. In connection with its withdrawal of the June 3 policy,
the FAA published interim procedures under which aircraft owners and
operators can request that the FAA block their aircraft from release to
the public via the FAA's ASDI data feed. 78 FR 78,328 (Dec. 16, 2011).
At that time, the FAA noted that it would propose more detailed
procedures for the ASDI blocking program and solicit public comment on
the proposal. This notice is the FAA's proposal, and the FAA invites
the public to comment on any aspect of it in any of the manners
described in the ADDRESSES section of this notice. After the FAA
publishes its final procedures with respect to blocking aircraft data
from the public ASDI data feed, the FAA may amend its memoranda of
agreement with the subscribers who receive the information to clarify
the subscriber responsibilities.
Substance of Aircraft Owner or Operator Requests
Consistent with Congress' recent appropriations directive, the FAA
proposes to continue to honor all aircraft owner or operator requests
that the FAA block their aircraft from appearing in the FAA's public
ASDI data feed. Aircraft owners and operators can submit requests on
their own behalf or may do so through their legally authorized agent.
The FAA does not view associations to be agents on behalf of their
members for this purpose.
To assist the FAA in accurately and efficiently processing the
number of requests that the FAA expects, the FAA intends to ask that
all requests for ASDI blocking include specific information. The
receipt of this information could influence whether the FAA can add or
delete aircraft from the ASDI block list in a timely way. In
particular, the FAA expects that its program staff will need:
The name of the requestor;
The registration number(s) of the aircraft to be blocked
or unblocked;
A certification that the requestor is the owner or
operator of the specified aircraft;
A telephone number and electronic mail address to which
the FAA can direct questions about the request; and
For a request to block one or more aircraft, a statement
indicating whether
[[Page 27270]]
the requestor desires ASDI blocking at the FAA source or at the
industry level.
The distinction between blocking ASDI data at the FAA source and
blocking it at the industry level warrants clarification. Blocking ASDI
information at the FAA source results in the FAA filtering the blocked
data before release to the public, although the FAA supplies unfiltered
data to other Government agencies. If the owner or operator selects
this level of blocking, however, the aircraft owner or operator who
wants to track the aircraft or to grant that ability to anyone else
will be unable to do so. Blocking ASDI information at the industry
level allows owners or operators to contract with an ASDI data
subscriber to reveal their aircraft whereabouts to those with whom the
owner or operator wishes to share that information. Under this
procedure, owners and operators should be aware that the FAA will
provide unfiltered information to all subscribers who receive ASDI data
directly from the FAA (direct subscribers), with the instruction that
those subscribers are to block the designated aircraft unless the
subscriber reaches a contrary agreement with a blocked aircraft's owner
or operator. Furthermore, the direct subscribers may contract to share
the FAA data with an additional level of subscribers (indirect
subscribers). All subscriber use of the information is limited in that
they must agree to shield the blocked aircraft data from further
release, unless the subscriber enters into an agreement with the owner
or operator that allows for the information's further use. If a
requestor fails to specify whether the request is for blocking at the
FAA source or at the industry level, the FAA will construe the request
as seeking to block the information at the FAA source.
FAA Implementation of Requests
The FAA intends to continue its current practice of implementing
ASDI block list revisions on the first Thursday of each month. As a
practical matter, requests that the FAA receives on or before the 15th
of the preceding month are likely to be processed in time to take
effect the following month. However, it is possible that the volume of
requests in a given month, a requestor's timeliness, or the
completeness and accuracy of the information that the FAA receives
could preclude the FAA from processing some requests in time for them
to take effect in the month following their submission. In that event,
the FAA will process all requests in the order in which the FAA
receives them to the extent that it is possible.
Process for Aircraft That Are Currently Blocked
A number of aircraft are currently on the FAA's ASDI block lists,
some of which are based on a certified security concern submitted after
June 3, 2011, and some of which are based on requests under the FAA's
interim policy of accepting all aircraft owner or operator requests to
block their aircraft data from public display of ASDI and NASSI
information. The FAA has tentatively determined that it is not
necessary to require the owners or operators of these aircraft to
submit their initial requests again, unless they wish to change the
status of their aircraft or the level at which an aircraft is blocked.
Block Request Addresses
Because the nature of the FAA's ASDI blocking program is changing,
the FAA proposes to change the principal addresses where aircraft
owners and operators can submit any information that the program
requires. The FAA will still receive and accept information submitted
at the previous addresses for this program. However, the FAA has
established a new primary electronic mailbox for all aircraft blocking
and unblocking requests and inquiries at [email protected]. The FAA
also will accept information submitted by regular mail at: FAA ASDI
Blocking Request; ATO System Operations Services, AJR-0; Wilbur Wright
Building, Room 3E1500; 600 Independence Avenue SW., Washington, DC
20597.
Paperwork Reduction Act
This proposal contains the following new information collection
requirements. As required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44
U.S.C. section 3507(d)), the FAA has submitted the information
requirements associated with this proposal to the Office of Management
and Budget (OMB) for its review.
Title: ASDI Block Requests.
Summary: The FAA makes air traffic flow management data available
to aviation and other industries, consisting of near real-time position
and other relevant flight data for civil aircraft receiving radar
services within the National Air Space. Through a Policy Notice
published in the Federal Register on June 3, 2011, the FAA undertook to
formalize a process through which aircraft owners and operators could
ask the FAA to block their aircraft identification information from
appearing in the FAA's ASDI data feed. Section 119A of H.R. 2112, the
``Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2012'' and
the FAA's resulting policy adjustments expanded the aircraft blocking
program to allow any interested aircraft owner or operator to simply
opt out of the public ASDI data feed by submitting a written request to
the FAA's ASDI Program Office. The FAA's implementation of the ASDI
blocking program necessitates a paperwork burden related to the
collection and processing of those block requests.
Use of: The collected information will be used by the National Air
Space Data Release Office to block aircraft flight data as requested by
any interested aircraft owner or operator.
Respondents (including number of): The FAA estimates that
approximately 6,000 owners and operators will request ASDI blocks.
Frequency: The information collection would occur one time per
requesting owner/operator.
Annual Burden Estimate: The burden estimate is approximately 500
hours.
The agency is soliciting comments related to: (1) Evaluating
whether the proposed information requirement is necessary for the
proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether
the information will have practical utility; (2) evaluating the
accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden; (3) enhancing the
quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and
(4) minimizing the burden of collecting information on those who are to
respond, including by using appropriate automated, electronic,
mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or other forms
of information technology.
Individuals and organizations may send comments on the information
collection requirement to the address listed in the ADDRESS section in
this notice. Comments also should be submitted to the Office of
Management and Budget, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs,
Attention: Desk Officer for FAA, New Executive Building, Room 10202,
725 17th Street NW., Washington, DC 20053.
According to the 1995 amendments to the Paperwork Reduction Act (5
CFR section 1320.8(b)(2)(vi)), an agency may not collect or sponsor the
collection of information, nor may it impose an information collection
requirement unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number.
The OMB control number for this information collection will be
published in the Federal Register, after OMB approves it.
[[Page 27271]]
Issued in Washington, DC, on May 4, 2012.
Nancy B. Kalinowski,
Vice President, ATO System Operations Service.
[FR Doc. 2012-11251 Filed 5-8-12; 8:45 am]
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