E8-27539. Notice of Meeting of the National Parks Overflights Advisory Group Aviation Rulemaking Committee

ACTION:

Notice of meeting.

SUMMARY:

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the National Park Service (NPS), in accordance with the National Parks Air Tour Management Act of 2000, announce the next meeting of the National Parks Overflights Advisory Group (NPOAG) Aviation Rulemaking Committee (ARC). This notification provides the date, format, and agenda for the meeting.

Dates and Location: The NPOAG ARC will hold a meeting on December 1st, 2008. The meeting will be conducted as a telephone conference call. The meeting will be held from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. Pacific Standard Time on December 1st. This NPOAG meeting will be open to the public. Interested persons may listen in on the conference call (see Public Participation at the Meeting).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Barry Brayer, AWP-1SP, Special Programs Staff, Federal Aviation Administration, Western-Pacific Region Headquarters, P.O. Box 92007, Los Angeles, CA 90009-2007, telephone: [phone], e-mail: [e-mail], or Karen Trevino, National Park Service, Natural Sounds Program, 1201 Oakridge Dr., Suite 100, Fort Collins, CO, 80525, telephone: [phone], e-mail: [e-mail].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

The National Parks Air Tour Management Act of 2000 (NPATMA), enacted on April 5, 2000, as Public Law 106-181, required the establishment of the NPOAG within one year after its enactment. The Act requires that the NPOAG be a balanced group of representatives of general aviation, commercial air tour operations, environmental concerns, and Native American tribes. The Administrator of the FAA and the Director of NPS (or their designees) serve as ex officio members of the group. Representatives of the Administrator and Director serve alternating 1-year terms as chairman of the advisory group.

The duties of the NPOAG include providing advice, information, and recommendations to the FAA Administrator and the NPS Director on: Implementation of Public Law 106-181; quiet aircraft technology; other measures that might accommodate interests to visitors of national parks; and at the request of the Administrator and the Director, on safety, environmental, and other issues related to commercial air tour operations over national parks or tribal lands.

Agenda for the December 1, 2008, NPOAG Meeting

The agenda for the meeting will include, but is not limited to, the following: review of a Strategic Plan for the NPOAG, review and approval of the meeting minutes from the September 3-4, 2008 NPOAG meeting in Port Angeles, WA; update on ongoing Air Tour Management Plan (ATMP) program projects; discussion of the Aviation Environmental Design Tool (AEDT) model, and highlights from the Human Response to Aviation Noise workshop held at Volpe Center in October 2008.

Public Participation for the Meeting

This NPOAG meeting will be conducted as a telephone conference call. Members of the public will be able to listen in on the proceedings. Information regarding how the public may access this conference call in a “listen mode” will be posted on the FAA's ATMP Web site (http://www.atmp.faa.gov) by November 20, 2008. Other supplementary meeting information may also be posted on the ATMP Web site.

Record of the Meeting

If you are unable to participate in this NPOAG meeting conference call, a summary record of the meeting will be made available under the NPOAG section of the FAA's ATMP Web site at http://www.atmp.faa.gov or through the Special Programs Staff; Western-Pacific Region, Federal Aviation Administration, P.O. Box 92007, Los Angeles, CA 90009-207, telephone [phone].

Issued in Hawthorne, CA on November 13, 2008.

Barry S. Brayer,

Manager, Special Programs Office, Western-Pacific Region.