October 10, 2013

U.S. Department of Transportation Docket Operations, M

- 30 West Building Ground Floor, Room W12

- 140 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE Washington, DC 20590

- 0001

Subject: Petition for Exemption, 14 CFR Part 117 Flight Crewmember Duty and Rest Requirements

Docket FAA

- 2013

- 0655

Dear Sir or Madam:

In accordance with the provisions of Title 14, Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR) §11.63 and §11.81,

American Eagle Airlines Inc. (American Eagle ) petitions for an exemption from 14 CFR 121 subparts Q, R and S (part 121 FDT), which prescribe flight time limits and rest requirements for U.S. carriers, in order to make an orderly transition to operate under pending 14 CFR part 117 flight crewmember duty and rest requirements. Specifically, we request that FAA permit American Eagle to implement 14 CFR part 117 early, during a phased

- in transition period beginning on January 1 through January 4, 2014 as further described below. Doing so will provide an orderly process for transitioning our fligh tcrew members to the new requirements, provide an adequate period for planning and execution of our scheduling processes and reduce the potential impact on the flying public.

Background

On January 4, 2012, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) publ ished a final rule adopting new flightcrew duty and rest rules applicable to U.S. passenger carrying airlines. The FAA provided a two

- year implementation period, with an effective date of January 4, 2014. American Eagle and all U.S. passenger

airlines have been working diligently to implement part 117 over the past 20 months and will continue to do so until the effective date of the regulation.

By Notice dated September 26, 2013 (78 FR 59226), in lieu of granting an A4A and RAA petition for exemption on b ehalf of its member airlines, the FAA made certain findings with regards to potential individual certificate holders petitions for exemption asking for early implementation of part 117. More specifically, for the stated reasons the FAA found that granting an individual certificate holder’s petition for exemption allowing for early implementation of part 117 would not have an adverse effect on safety and would be in the public interest. Similarly, the FAA found that the individual certificate holder’s exemp tion petitions would not need to be published in the Federal Register. Specifically the FAA asked that an exemption petition: (1) specify whether the petition is seeking early implementation of part 117, an early transition to part 117, or both; and (2) sp ecify the dates for the early implementation and/or early transition to part 117.

The Applicable Regulations and Relief Sought

U.S. airlines that carry passengers currently operate under part 121 flight time limitation FDT regulations.

American Eagl e seeks exemption from 14 CFR subparts Q, R and S, which prescribe the flight time limits and rest requirements for U.S. carriers.

Similar to the A4A and RAA petition, our reasons for seeking the relief include: 1) The exemption is narrowly focused seek ing a short window for American Eagle to implement part 117. 2) Permitting American Eagle to implement during a phased in transition period will reduce the impact and system vulnerability of our entire operation rather than switching crew planning softwar e and crewmembers the same day. 4) It will ease the burden of building two different crew schedules to accommodate two different regulations in the same month.Therefore, American Eagle seeks an exemption to allow it to commence an early transition to part 117,

th r ough a phased

- in transition period beginning on January 1 through January 4, 2014. As illustrated in the attachment, flight crewmembers assigned trip sequences that begin on or before December 31, 2013 will be scheduled and operated in accorda nce with Part 121 regulations, with scheduled completions to occur on or prior to January 4. Flight crewmembers assigned to trip sequences that begin on and after January 1 will be scheduled and operated in accordance with part 117 requirements. At the co nclusion of this transition period, all assignments to trip sequences after January 4 will be scheduled and operated in accordance with part 117, completing American Eagle ’s transition period to part 117. As stated in the Federal Register notice, once a fl ight crewmember has been switched to part 117, the flight crewmember will not be permitted to switch back to part 121 rules.

Granting the Exemption Would be in the Public Interest

FAA previously found granting individual exemption petition asking for ea rly transition period would be in the public interest. (See 78 FR 59227, September 26, 2013)

Granting the Exemption Would Not Adversely Affect Safety

FAA previously found granting individual exemption petition asking for early transition period would n ot adversely affect safety. (See 78 FR 59227, September 26, 2013)

A Summary of this Petition that FAA Could Publish in the Federal Register

FAA previously found granting individual exemption petition asking for early transition period would not

need to be published in the Federal Register because delaying action on the petition would result in an adverse effect. (See 78 FR 59227, September 26, 2013)

Reasons for Exercising the Privileges of the Requested Exemption Outside the United States.

Application of this exemption outside the U.S. is required because new FAA pilot duty time and rest regulations that apply to U.S. airlines that carry passengers do not distinguish between domestic and international operations. Part 117 applies to scheduling of fligh t crewmembers worldwide.

Conclusion

For the foregoing reasons, American Eagle respectfully requests an exemption from the requirements of 14 CFR 121 subparts Q, R, and S for the period of January 1 through January 4, 2014 in order to

transition to new part 117 as described.

Respectfully submitted,



### FRANCIS C. HEIL

Senior Attorney

Counsel for American Eagle Airlines , Inc.

202 496

- 5642

francis.heil@aa.com

Attachment: American Eagle ’s Transition to Part 117 Schedule

- 2

-

# American Eagle ’s Transition to Part 117 Schedule

12/30 12/31 1/1 1/2 1/3 1/4 1/5 1/6

1-day trips



### ←AA/FOS Effective Date ← FAR 117 Effective Date

Transition Period 2-day trips

3-day trips

4-day trips 

### 2013 2014

FAR 121 FAR 117