2120-0737 Aircraft Noise Cert Intrnl Ops Doc -12-09-20

Supporting Statement A

Aircraft Noise Certification Documents for International Operations

[2120-0737]

1. Explain the circumstances that make the collection of information necessary. Identify any legal or administrative requirements that necessitate the collection.

In keeping with U.S. obligations under the Convention on International Civil Aviation, it is FAA policy to comply with International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Standards and Recommended Practices to the maximum extent practicable. Thus the FAA has adopted ICAO’s Standards and Recommended Practices as US regulations as a means of compliance with Annex 16 and now requires noise documentation be carried on board aircraft that leave the United States.

ICAO adopted Amendment 8 of Annex 16, Volume 1 on February 23, 2005, and it became effective on November 24, 2005. Section 1.4 of Annex 16 now requires that “documents attesting noise certification shall be approved by the State of Registry and required by that State to be carried on the aircraft.”

This supports the Department of Transportation Strategic Goal on Safety.

2. Indicate how, by whom, and for what purpose the information is to be used. Except for a new collection, indicate the actual use the agency has made of the information received from the current collection.

The regulation requires operators of U.S. registered civil aircraft flying outside the United States to carry aircraft noise certification information on board the aircraft. This regulation is needed to ensure consistent compliance with the ICAO, Annex 16, Volume 1, Amendment 8 that requires certain noise information be carried on board the aircraft.

The regulation requires that this information be easily accessible to the flight crew and presentable upon request to the appropriate foreign National Aviation Authority (NAA) officials.

The specific aircraft noise certification information stays on board the aircraft and is not disseminate to the public, nor collected by the FAA.

Summary:

1. The collection is mandatory based on U.S. regulations and international standards.

2. The responder of collection is any U.S. airline operator making international airplane flights.

3. The collection is concise recordkeeping, and provides disclosure when requested by foreign National Aviation Authorities (NAA) at airports.

4. Collection frequency is only required once and information maintained on the airplane of U.S. airline operator making international flights.

5. The information reported, maintained and disclosed on request by foreign National Aviation Authorities (NAA) are the aircraft noise certification information specific to that airplane.

6. The information is only disclosed upon request by foreign National Aviation Authorities (NAA) at certain airports

7. The purpose of the collection is in keeping with U.S. obligations under the Convention on International Civil Aviation, it is FAA policy to comply with International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Standards and Recommended Practices to the maximum extent practicable. Thus the FAA has adopted ICAO’s Standards and Recommended Practices as US regulations as a means of compliance with Annex 16 and now requires noise documentation be carried on board aircraft that leave the United States.

3. Describe whether, and to what extent, the collection of information involves the use of automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or other forms of information technology.

The requested information for the noise certificate must be stored on board the aircraft and follows the printed format designated by the standard, so no electronic options have been defined.

4. Describe efforts to identify duplication. Show specifically why any similar information already available cannot be used or modified for use for the purposes described in Item 2 above.

The entire source of aircraft specific information only resides within the aircraft flight manual (AFM); however, the primary noise certification level information is transcribed on a single document, on-board the aircraft for efficiency and immediate availability for review any National Aviation Authority (NAA), upon request as required. This regulation minimizes duplication of key noise information as effectively possible to allow for noise confirmation by NAA.

5. If the collection of information involves small businesses or other small entities, describe the methods used to minimize burden.

This reporting requirement does not involve small businesses or other small entities.

6. Describe the consequence to Federal program or policy activities if the collection is not conducted or is conducted less frequently, as well as any technical or legal obstacles to reducing burden.

Before Amendment 8 was adopted in 2005, the noise documentation section of Annex 16 was contained in a note and considered advisory material. Several years ago, the FAA became aware of instances in which U.S. aircraft were detained at foreign airports when the noise status of the airplane was questioned. In many cases, the flight crew had not been able to provide relevant information either because the AOM/FCOM did not contain such information, or because the information was not aggregated in one location in the on-board manual. Some foreign authorities have asked U.S. flight crews to either produce a noise certificate or show the noise status of the airplane from on-board documents.

To address the difficulties that U.S. carriers had experienced, the FAA published a draft Advisory Circular in October 2005 (70 FR 60127, October 14, 2005). That AC included an optional template on which operators leaving the United States could compile the noise certification data envisioned by the working group. With the adoption of Amendment 8 and the new paragraph 1.4, noise documentation must now be carried on board all aircraft operating outside the United States in order to comply with ICAO, Annex 16, Volume I. We have determined that a regulatory change to require the carriage of noise certification documents is necessary.

Now as an operating requirement rather than a certification requirement, the information exists in operators’ manuals and does not affect the certification basis of an airplane. As an operating regulation, it will not affect domestic operators who do not leave the United States.

7. Explain any special circumstances that would cause an information collection to be conducted in a manner:

There are no special circumstances.

8. Provide information on the PRA Federal Register Notice that solicited public comments on the information collection prior to this submission. Summarize the public comments received in response to that notice and describe the actions taken by the agency in response to those comments. Describe the efforts to consult with persons outside the agency to obtain their views on the availability of data, frequency of collection, the clarity of instructions and recordkeeping, disclosure, or reporting format (if any), and on the data elements to be recorded, disclosed, or reported.

A Federal Register Notice published on June 5, 2020 (85 FR 34711), solicited public comment. No comments were received.

Historically, on March 2, 2010, the FAA published the final rule Notice No. 91-312, Aircraft Noise Certification Documents for International Operations (75 FR 9327). Notice No. 91-312 contains a new paragraph in Section 91.703 that requires operators that fly outside the United States, using aircraft subject to ICAO, Annex 16, Volume 1, to carry aircraft noise certification information on board the aircraft. As required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3507(d)), the FAA submitted a copy of the proposed rule to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for its review.

A 60-day notice for public comments was published in the Federal Register on April 19, 2013, vol. 78, no. 76, page 23628. No comments were received.

9. Explain any decisions to provide payments or gifts to respondents, other than remuneration of contractors or grantees.

There are no circumstances which involve payments or gifts to respondents.

10. Describe any assurance of confidentiality provided to respondents and the basis for assurance in statute, regulation, or agency policy.

There will be no proprietary information submitted, and therefore, no reason to provide confidentiality.

11. Provide additional justification for any questions of a sensitive nature, such as sexual behavior and attitudes, religious beliefs, and other matters that are commonly considered private.

There are no questions of a sensitive nature.

12. Provide estimates of the hour burden of the collection of information. The statement should:

With the regulation enacted and the entire preexisting operational airplane fleet required to comply, the new estimates of hour burden of the collection of information will be much lower than the original implementation as only the new aircraft coming into operational fleet and/or subsequently modified will be collecting information.

Recall the first year of the enacted regulation, the FAA used (an overestimate number) the total number of passenger jet and cargo jet aircraft registered to U.S. mainline carriers in its cost computations. Based on the FAA Aerospace Forecast, there are a total of 5,034 aircraft currently registered to U.S. mainline air carriers (889 cargo aircraft¹ and 4,145 passenger jet aircraft²) in 2019. With the total fleet brought to compliance upon enactment, the only aircraft required to report at present are new airplane brought into operations and those subsequently modified.

This action would be completed one time for each aircraft. We estimate that completion of the action would require 15 minutes of a technical writer’s time and 10 minutes of a chief pilot’s or chief engineer’s time.

Total number of respondents annually: 70

Frequency of response: once per new aircraft acquired or modified by an operator

Total hour burden: 70 x 0.42 hours = 29 hours annually; 0.40 hours for each additional airplane acquired or modified that is affected by this regulation

Summary (Annual numbers)	Reporting	Recordkeeping	Disclosure
# of Respondents		70
# of Responses per respondent		1
Time per Response		0.42
Total # of responses		70
Total burden (hours)		29.4

The new estimate is that only 70 airplanes would be affected annually. A technical writer would be required to transfer the data from the Airplane Flight Manual one time for each airplane. The average wage rate for a technical writer is $43.23 per hour³ after accounting for fringe benefits. The average wage rate for an airline pilot or chief engineer is estimated at $81.19 per hour⁴ after accounting for fringe benefits. The cost of the regulation per affected airplane was derived by multiplying the technical writer’s wage rate of $43.23 per hour by 0.25 hours required to complete the action, and adding to that the airline pilot’s wage rate of $81.19 per hour multiplied by 0.17 hours required to review the data. Thus, compliance with this regulation would result in a per-airplane cost of $24.61.

Cost per plane: $25 per plane

Total Annual Cost burden: $25 x 70 planes affected = $1,750

Because in 2019 the fleet is projected to edge down by 0.1 percent (3 aircraft) from 2018 to 2019, due to a reduction in widebody aircraft that just outweighs the increase in narrowbodies, the previous estimate for 73 annual respondents (that represents new airplanes brought into operation and those subsequently modeified) is being projected down by 3 for a new estimate of 70 annually for this renewal.

13. Provide an estimate for the total annual cost burden to respondents or record keepers resulting from the collection of information.

No additional cost incurred.

14. Provide estimates of annualized costs to the Federal government. Also, provide a description of the method used to estimate cost, which should include quantification of hours, operational expenses (such as equipment, overhead, printing, and support staff), and any other expense that would not have been incurred without this collection of information.

No additional cost anticipated.

15. Explain the reasons for any program changes or adjustments.

Since the inception of the rule, the baseline operating fleet has now been brought into compliance and cost accounted. The only annual program cost will only involve new aircraft annually brought into operations and subsequently modified. This estimated increase in the level of collection from the original is to account for annual reporting of the incoming new airplanes and subsequently modified airplanes.

16. For collections of information whose results will be published, outline plans for tabulation and publication. Address any complex analytical techniques that will be used. Provide the time schedule for the entire project, including beginning and ending dates of the collection of information, completion of report, publication dates, and other actions.

The results will not be published and there is no statistical analysis. The collection of information does not employ statistical methods.

17. If seeking approval to not display the expiration date for OMB approval of the information collection, explain the reasons why display would be inappropriate.

No approval is sought.

18. Explain each exception to the topics of the certification statement identified in “Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions.”

There are no exceptions identified in Item 19 of OMB Form 83-1.

1 Table 22, U.S. Mainline Air Carriers, Cargo Jet Aircraft, FAA Aerospace Forecast, FY 2019 - 2039

2 Table 21, U.S. Mainline Air Carriers, Cargo Jet Aircraft, FAA Aerospace Forecast, FY 2019 - 2039

3 Bureau of Labor Statistics, annual salary for technical writer ($72,850 - median)

4 Hourly wage derived by taking median salary of $136,801 for a airline pilot, dividing by 2080 hours per year, and multiplying by the fringe benefit factor of 1.2345. Salary source: https://www.salary.com/research/salary/alternate/airline-pilot-salary