UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION 

RENTON, WASHINGTON 98057-3356 

In the matter of the petition of 

Exemption No. 11765 

Snaky Creek Enterprises, LLC, dba 

Spectrum Aeromed 

Regulatory Docket No. FAA-2014-0881 

for an exemption from §§ 25.562 and 

25.785(b) of Title 14, Code of Federal 

Regulations 

GRANT OF EXEMPTION 

By letter posted on the Department of Transportation's Federal Docket Management System on 

October 24, 2014, Mr. Justin Mahler, Director of Engineering, Spectrum Aeromed, 1815 23rd 

Avenue North, Fargo, North Dakota, 58102, petitioned the Federal Aviation Administration 

(FAA) for an exemption from the requirements of§§ 25.562 and 25.785(b) of Title 14, Code of 

Federal Regulations (14 CFR) to the extent necessary to permit certification of medical systems 

for transporting persons whose medical condition dictates such accommodations. The exemption 

is for installing the Spectrum Aeromed modular and dedicated medical systems into Boeing 

Model 777-300ER airplanes. 

The petitioner requests relief from the following regulation(s): 

Section 25.562 specifies dynamic test conditions for qualification of occupant injury 

criteria, as well as structural retention criteria. 

Section 25. 785(b) requires that each seat, berth, safety belt, harness, and adjacent part of 

the airplane at each station, designated as occupiable during taxi, takeoff, and landing 

(TT &L ), must be designed so that a person making proper use of those facilities will not 

suffer serious injury in an emergency landing as a result of inertia forces specified in 

§§ 25.561 and 25.562. Stretcher carriers are considered "berths" as far as compliance 

with this section is concerned. 
The petitioner supports its request with the following information: 

This section quotes the relevant information from the petitioner's request. The complete petition 

is available at the Department of Transportation's Federal Docket Management System, on the 

Internet at http://regulations.gov, in Docket No. FAA-2014-0881. 

Spectrum Aeromed is requesting an exemption from the dynamic requirements of 

§ 25.562 as required for berths per§ 25.785(b). Spectrum Aeromed owns several 

supplemental type certificates that allow the installation of medical systems (including 

litters or berths) on various aircraft certified under parts 23, 25, 27, and 29. The dynamic 

criteria in parts 23, 27, and 29 specifically exclude litters but the dynamic criteria in part 

25 does not specifically exclude litters. 

Spectrum Aeromed states that the estimated cost of demonstrating compliance of medical 

system installations with dynamic test requirements is quite high considering the limited 

number of units for which the cost could be amortized. Since none have been shown to 

comply with the dynamic test criteria, medical systems cannot currently be used on 

airplanes whose type certificate basis includes the dynamic requirements. In this case, a 

person who needs to travel for essential medical care can either charter an airplane at 5 to 

10 times the cost of a commercial ticket, or if the cost is prohibitive, fail to receive the 

needed treatment (the consequences of which may be fatal). Another alternative would 

be flying on an aircraft whose certification basis does not require dynamic testing. This 

would offer no increase in safety and may not be available. 

Spectrum Aeromed notes that the FAA has granted similar exemptions for litter 

installations on other Boeing Model 777, Airbus Model A330, Airbus Model A340, 

Cessna Model 750, Gulfstream Model G-V, and Cessna Model 560XL airplanes. 

• Spectrum Aeromed states that granting this petition would be in the public interest for the 

following reasons: 

1. The exemption would relieve an economic burden on a segment of the traveling 

public already dealing with adversity. 

2. The level of safety that would be provided is an acceptable level of safety, given 

the limited usage and exposure ofthe medical system. 

3. Compliance with the dynamic test requirements would be difficult at best, and 

very expensive, while returning a marginal safety benefit. In addition, § 25.562 is 

written specifically for seats and would not be easy to apply to a litter. 

Spectrum Aeromed requested that the publication of this petition for public comment be 

waived because this subject has been previously discussed in the public forum. 

2 
Federal Register Publication 

The FAA has determined that good cause exists for waiving the requirement for Federal Register 

publication for public comment because the exemption, if granted, would not set a precedent; and 

any delay in acting on this petition would be detrimental to Spectrum Aeromed, as well as 

persons with critical medical conditions. 

The FAA's analysis 

Due to humanitarian considerations, the FAA considers the transportation of persons needing 

medical attention by air to be essential and in the public interest. In many instances, those 

persons can be transported only on stretchers. 

Spectrum Aeromed has requested relief from§ 25.785(b), which currently contains the 

requirement for berths to provide adequate protection under the inertia loads of§§ 25.561 and 

25.562. This requirement was contained in§ 25.785(a) prior to Amendment 25-72. 

The FAA agrees that the requirement to consider the inertia loads of§ 25.562 for other than seats 

is not altogether obvious. Because § 25.562 refers to "seats," it would be easy to overlook the 

applicability of that section to litters or berths through its incorporation by reference in§ 25.785. 

In addition, other 14 CFR parts do not treat litters or berths in the same manner as part 25, and 

this could also lead to confusion. In any event, safe occupancy of litters or berths during taxi, 

takeoff, and landing (TT &L) is not considered feasible under the crash conditions described in 

§ 25.562. 

The FAA agrees that demonstrating compliance with the requirements of§ 25.562 for a litter or 

berth would be very difficult and that applicability, in this case, ofthe existing pass/fail criteria is 

questionable. The FAA has also considered the cost implications and overall benefits resulting 

from the use of stretcher carriers. One possible alternative, in the absence of the relief Spectrum 

Aeromed requested, would be to seek an airplane that is not required to comply with the 

dynamic-test requirements. That alternative, if available, would not offer any safety benefit 

because the stretcher carrier installation would still not be required to meet the dynamic-test 

criteria. Should that alternative not be available, a person would be forced to forego expedient 

air transport altogether, with potentially fatal consequences. Any safety benefit from requiring a 

stretcher carrier installation to meet the dynamic-test requirements would certainly be moot if the 

necessary medical attention were unavailable due to prohibitive costs. 

The need for stretcher carriers in transport-category airplanes is very infrequent. The accident 

exposure of persons occupying stretchers is, therefore, considerably less than that for airline 

passengers in general. Because only those persons whose medical condition dictates travel on a 

stretcher can occupy the stretcher carrier during TT &L, granting the requested relief would not 

set a precedent for the traveling public in general. 

3 
The FAA's decision 

In consideration of the foregoing, I find that a grant of exemption is in the public interest and will 

not significantly affect the overall level of safety provided by the regulations. Therefore, 

pursuant to the authority contained in 49 U.S.C. 40113 and 44701 delegated to me by the 

Administrator, I grant Snaky Creek Enterprises LLC, dba Spectrum Aeromed, an exemption from 

the requirements of 14 CFR 25.562 and 25.785(b). The exemption is granted to the extent 

necessary to allow the installation of medical stretcher carriers on Boeing Model 777-300ER 

airplanes, provided that occupancy during TT &L is limited to non-ambulatory persons. The 

following operating limitation must be added to the limitations section of the airplane flight 

manual supplement and stated on a conspicuously located placard: 

Occupancy is limited to non-ambulatory persons. 

Issued in Renton, Washington, on j UN 0 4 1015 

~~ 

Michael Kaszycki 

Acting Manager, Transport Airplane Directorate 

Aircraft Certification Service 

4