# American Airlines — Hazardous Materials Safety Interpretation

**Citation:** 02-0144  
**Type / status:** guidance / guidance  
**Agency:** Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration  
**Effective:** Not stated  
**Published:** 2002-10-22

02-0144 response to American Airlines concerning 175.31.

## Document text

<<<PAGE 1>>>

of Transportation
U.S.Department
Washington, D.C
400 Seventh Street, S.W
20590
Research and
Special Programs
Administration
OCT 2 2 2002
Mr. Les Adolph
American Airlines
Ref. No. 02-0144
3900 North Mango Road
P.O. Box 582809 MD 517
Tulsa, OK 74116
Dear Mr. Adolph:
This responds to your May 14, 2002 email concerning the requirement in 49 CFR 175.31 to
report to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) a discrepancy in the shipment of a
aboard an aircraft.
hazardous material that is discovered following the acceptance of the material for transportation
The discrepancy reporting requirement applies to an aircraft operator that accepts a shipment of
hazardous material that is improperly packaged, marked, labeled, described, or certified in a
manner not ascertainable when accepted under the provisions of § 175.30(a). This requirement
does not apply to a person who offers a hazardous material for transportation by air or to a person
who receives a hazardous material that has been transported by air, so long as that person (the
offeror or consignee) does not transport the hazardous material aboard an aircraft.
The offeror of a shipment of hazardous materials that does not comply with the requirements of
the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR, 49 CFR parts 171-180) may be in violation of other
requirements in the HMR. However, the fact that the offeror or consignee is an aircraft operator,
by itself, does not create a duty to report a discrepancy to the FAA under § 175.31, when the
offeror or consignee has not transported the hazardous material aboard an aircraft.
This answer has been coordinated with the Dangerous Goods and Cargo Security Division of the
satisfie Our requestious, if you ave a titonal questions, please do no hesitate conlethay it
Sincerely,
Alva 7. Magulle
dward T. Mazzull
irector, Office of Hazardou
Materials Standards
175.31
020144

<<<PAGE 2>>>

Gale
Gale, John
$ 175.31
Sent:
From:
Les Adolph [Les.Adolph@aa.com]
Subject:
To:
Tuesday, ivay 14, 2002 5:01 PM
Report of Discrepancie.
Clarification of 49CFR 175.31 "Reports of discrepancies"
Gale, John <RSPA>
2 - 0141
is citing us for violation of timely reporting on a shipment. We
I have an urgent need for clarification of 175.31. We have situation where the FAA
undeclared shipment to a carrier at JFK, upon delivery of the shipment at TUL, back to our
shipper tendered an
incorrectly, we as the consignor/ consignee reported the incident to the FAA, who in turn
supply folks, while in the receipt process, we found the shipment to have been processed
are citing us for not reporting the incident in a timely manner: My understanding is that
discussed this with Bill Wilkening who was in agreement and suggested that I may want to
we are under no obligation to report this incident as
the consignee/consignor?? I
get this clarification.
Thanks,
Les Adolph.

## Provenance

- Official: Yes
- Source: <https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/sites/phmsa.dot.gov/files/legacy/interpretations/Interpretation%20Files/2002/020144.pdf>
- Source ID: `phmsa`
- SHA-256: `d58bff4d2cd145e09817981878d37a2c570537a408948012c558a1fca19bddab`
- Retrieved: 2026-08-20T00:59:31.977Z
- Exported: 2026-08-22T19:16:38.628Z
- Document slug: `phmsa-interpretation-02-0144`

### Source metadata

```json
{
  "materialSubtype": "interpretation",
  "interpretationArea": "hazardous_materials",
  "representation": "full_text_from_official_pdf",
  "companies": [
    "American Airlines"
  ],
  "individuals": [
    "Les Adolph"
  ],
  "refIds": [
    "02-0144"
  ],
  "catalogDates": [
    "2002-10-22"
  ],
  "catalogParts": [
    175
  ],
  "catalogRowCount": 1,
  "sourceRecordUrls": [
    "https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/node/59756"
  ],
  "linkedAttachmentUrls": [],
  "unavailableResponseUrls": [],
  "duplicateRepresentationUrls": [],
  "citedSections": [
    "175.31",
    "175.30(a)"
  ],
  "catalogPageUrls": [
    "https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/regulations/title49/section/17531"
  ],
  "pdfUrls": [
    "https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/sites/phmsa.dot.gov/files/legacy/interpretations/Interpretation%20Files/2002/020144.pdf"
  ],
  "representations": [
    {
      "viewUrl": "https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/sites/phmsa.dot.gov/files/legacy/interpretations/Interpretation%20Files/2002/020144.pdf",
      "detailUrl": null,
      "detailHtmlPath": null,
      "pdfUrl": "https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/sites/phmsa.dot.gov/files/legacy/interpretations/Interpretation%20Files/2002/020144.pdf",
      "pdfArtifactPath": "data/sources/phmsa-interpretations/02-0144-5aaa8bc89a.pdf",
      "pdfArtifactSha256": "7b705e07a0b2a0adabf0723cc4e8b6d625141fa30f29c294a175715c3c149971",
      "extractedTextPath": "data/sources/phmsa-interpretations/02-0144-5aaa8bc89a.v2.txt",
      "extractedTextSha256": "00c57fa67291df01d59be82423708871d9024bebf3d246c87ab4992d49da93e5",
      "pageCount": 2,
      "extractionVersion": 2
    }
  ],
  "caveat": "Interpretations apply regulations to the facts presented and do not create independently enforceable requirements.",
  "jurisdiction": "US"
}
```