FAA Office of Hazardous Materials Safety Hazmat Highlights - July 2024

U.S. Federal Aviation Administration sent this bulletin at 07/31/2024 03:15 PM EDT

JULY 2024

“Hazmat Highlights” is the FAA’s Office of Hazardous Materials Safety monthly newsletter with public updates from government sources related to the safe transportation of hazardous materials by air.

@FAANews on X

A failing lithium battery can cause a device to feel hot, swell, smoke and even catch on fire. On your next flight – if you SEE it, HEAR it, or SMELL it, say something to your cabin crew right away.

Visit @FAANews on X to see what a failing lithium ion battery can cause.

Fly Safe With Lithium Batteries

FAA Makes Drone History in Dallas Area

In a first for U.S. aviation, the FAA has authorized commercial drone flights without visual observers in the same Dallas-area airspace.

The authorizations for Zipline International and Wing Aviation allow them to deliver packages while keeping their drones safely separated using Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Management (UTM) technology. In this system, the industry manages the airspace with rigorous FAA safety oversight.

Read the full article here.

Cabin Safety Subject Index Revision 49

The FAA has released Revision 49 of the Cabin Safety Subject Index. This revision provides many updates and contains some new content.

Click here to view the full Cabin Safety Subject Index.

Click on the OperateSafe image below to watch a short video on safely transporting dangerous goods.

Lithium Battery Air Incidents Involving Smoke, Fire or Extreme Heat

Note: These are lithium battery related events involving smoke, fire, or extreme heat that the FAA is aware of and should not be considered a complete listing of all such incidents. The methods of collecting and recording these incidents and the data involved has changed over the life span of this chart as the FAA’s Office of Hazardous Materials Safety has evolved. The incident summaries included here are intended to be brief and objective. They do not represent all information the FAA has collected, nor do they include all investigative or enforcement action taken.

This chart was last updated on July 15, 2024.

Date

Document

Subject

07/01/2024

AC No: 00-58C

This AC provides information and guidance material that a regulated entity (RE) operating under Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR) may use when voluntarily disclosing to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) apparent violations of those FAA regulations listed in paragraph 2. The procedures and practices outlined herein may be applied to all applicable REs.

Note: The Voluntary Disclosure Reporting Program (VDRP) System can be accessed at https://vdrp.faa.gov/.

07/15/2024

SAFO 24005

Mass Aircraft Demonstrations at Aviation Events

You can find all prior ACs, SAFOs, InFos, orders and notices by clicking on the buttons below.

Advisory Circulars

Orders & Notices

SAFOs

InFOs

RECENT NOTICES

Date	Agency	Title
06/26/2024	FAA	Airworthiness Directives; The Boeing Company Airplanes
06/28/2024	PHMSA	Hazardous Materials: Request for Feedback on De Minimis Quantities of Explosives
07/01/2024	DOT	Opportunities and Challenges of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Transportation; Request for Information; Extension of Comment Period
07/09/2024	FAA	Final Rule: Airworthiness Directives; Airbus Canada Limited Partnership (Type Certificate Previously Held by C Series Aircraft Limited Partnership (CSALP); Bombardier, Inc.) Airplanes
07/10/2024	FAA	Final Rule, Request for comments: Airworthiness Directives; The Boeing Company Airplanes
07/30/2024	PHMSA	Hazardous Materials: Notice of Applications for New Special Permits
07/30/2024	PHMSA	Hazardous Materials: Notice of Applications for Modification to Special Permits
07/30/2024	PHMSA	Hazardous Materials: Notice of Actions on Special Permits

PHMSA INTERPRETATIONS

Issue Date	Reference #	Company	Subject Title
07/15/2024	23-0104	Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LP	Use of The IMDG Code Within The United States
07/02/2024	24-0004	Pillinger Miller Tarallo	Non-spec packaging for transport of mercury
07/09/2024	24-0014	Precision Impacts	Cylinders Manufactured to International Organization for Standardization (ISO 11118) Requirements
07/16/2024	24-0027	BASF Corporation	Applicability of Specification Marking
07/16/2024	24-0033	Moog, Inc.	Cylinder Condemnation Requirements
07/02/2024	24-0050	Scopelitis, Garvin, Light, Hanson & Feary	Transportation of Damaged and Defective Lithium Ion Batteries

You can find all PHMSA Interpretations by clicking here.

Attention Propane Industry: Request for Feedback on Tare Weight Marking Policy for Cylinders

On June 6, PHMSA published a notice to solicit information pertaining to the current tare weight, mass weight, and water capacity marking requirements for DOT specification 4B, 4BA, 4BW, and 4E cylinders used in liquefied compressed gas service.

This Request for Feedback is in response to various comments on recent NPRMs and a Compressed Gas Association (CGA) petition for rulemaking. Several commentors on recent NPRMs have indicated that the existing requirement language in § 178.35(f)(8) leads to confusion between marked tare weight at the time of manufacture and the stamped tare weight for the filling of cylinders. The CGA has submitted a petition for rulemaking that requests that the markings be permitted to slightly vary from the actual tare weight, mass weight, and water capacity of the cylinder to account for the accuracy of the stamped weight during manufacture.

Due to these comments and the recent CGA Petition, PHMSA published “Hazardous Materials: Request for Feedback on Tare Weight Marking Policy for Cylinders”, with the goal of gathering and incorporating industry feedback on best steps to resolve the confusion over the existing requirements.

Comments close on September 4, 2024.

The Federal Register Notice can be found here.

PHMSA's Newsroom

Read the latest from PHMSA's newsroom by clicking here.

Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS) 'CALLBACK' Newsletter Highlights

The Dog Days of Summer

This month, CALLBACK features reported incidents that provide insight into a few facets of hot weather operations. Note the threats and their synergy; contemplate crew actions, other possible mitigations, and any system weaknesses.

Read the full newsletter from ASRS here.

Suspicious Mail

Dangerous mail includes mail bombs, hoax devices, suspicious substances, or any matter that may cause harm. The likelihood of anyone receiving a harmful biological or chemical agent is extremely remote. Postal Inspectors within the Dangerous Mail Investigations Program are specially trained to recognize the common characteristics of suspicious mail and use an array of specialized screening equipment to identify and mitigate threats to postal infrastructure, its employees, and the general public.

Learn more about suspicious mail and how to protect yourself here.