Midwest MedAir

Serving Nebraska and Surrounding States

800-562-3396

5400 E. Lee Bird Road, Suite 14, North Platte, Nebraska 69101

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Description of Requested Relief

This is a petition to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) pursuant to 14 CFR Section 11.61 for an 

exemption from 14 CFR Section 135.611(b), as that section has been recently interpreted by the FAA’s Flight 

Standards Service in internal guidance to Principal Operations Inspectors. Platte County Ambulance, Inc., 

dba Midwest MedAir (9MDA507M) is seeking immediate relief to the extent necessary to allow Midwest 

MedAir to resume performing instrument flight rules (IFR) departures and approach procedures (IAP) at 

airports and or heliports that do not have an approved weather reporting source without airborne radar or 

lightning strike detection equipment installed in its helicopters with a passenger seating configuration of 9 

seats or less (excluding any pilot seat). Consistent with Midwest MedAir Operations Specifications and its 

operational practice for several years before that interpretation, the requested exemption, if granted, will be 

limited as follows:

A. The exemption would apply to operations of Midwest MedAir helicopters with a passenger seating 

configuration of 9 seats or less (excluding any pilot seat), listed in our Operations Specifications when -

1. Current weather reports or forecasts indicate that there is no reasonable possibility of thunderstorms or 

other severe weather expected to exist at the destination, alternate or along the route to be flown for 

the period of time planned for the flight; and2. Additional preflight planning is triggered by the Midwest MedAir Preflight Risk Assessment Program that 

must be completed before the first leg of each Helicopter Air Ambulance Operation (HAAO), conducted

under Section 135.611.

B. For a flight to be conducted under Section 135.611, the additional weather briefing, flight monitoring and 

related training actions described below must be taken. These actions are described in the Midwest MedAir

General Operations Manual and Approved Training Programs.

1. Additional Weather Briefing Requirements for Flights under Section 135.611

 The pilot will use information obtained from the National Weather Service to determine that there is 

no reasonable possibility of thunderstorms or other severe weather conditions expected to exist at 

the destination, alternate or along the route to be flown for the period of time planned for the flight;

 The following aviation weather products must be reviewed in making that determination; AIRMET, 

SIGMET, CONVECTIVE SIGMET, METAR, REGIONAL NEXRAD, NOTAM, PIREP, and TAF; and-

 No IFR operation under Section 135.611 will be released if current weather reports or forecasts 

indicate the potential for thunderstorms or other severe weather to exist at the destination, 

alternate or along the route to be flown for the period of time planned for the flight. If such potential 

exists, the pilot must refuse the flight.
Midwest MedAir

Serving Nebraska and Surrounding States

800-562-3396

5400 E. Lee Bird Road, Suite 14, North Platte, Nebraska 69101

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2. Flight monitoring by the Operations Control Center

Once the flight becomes active, the Midwest MedAir Operations Control Center uses specialized software, 

Troo Track, that automatically monitors the flight plan, current position and destination of all active flights. 

The additional use of ForeFlight and other Weather tools will allow the OCC to plan the route and inform the 

pilot of any thunderstorms within 30 miles of the intended route. 

The Midwest MedAir Operations Control Center continuously monitors all flights for thunderstorms and 

severe weather and provides that information to the pilot by:

 Relay through the Communications Center to the pilot;

 Contacting the pilot directly via satellite phone; or

 Contacting the pilot directly over a text based system.

-The Operations Control Center provides general advice such as, “there are thunderstorms to your west --

recommend you divert to the east.”

3. Training for our pilots and operations control specialists will be completed on an annual basis and 

includes:

a. IFR Flight Planning (4.0 hours)

b. Use and interpretation of NWS weather charts (2.0 hours)

c. Interpretation of live radar feeds (2.0 hours)

d. SIGMETS and AIRMETS (2.0 hours)

e. METARS and TAFS’s (2.0 hours)

f. Interpretation and appropriate use of available cockpit weather displays (2.0 hours)

g. The applicability and use of this exemption (1.0 hours)

Granting the Requested Exemption would Enhance Safety and is in the Public Interest

Midwest MedAir maintains that it is in the public interest to utilize the IFR infrastructure to the fullest extent 

possible thereby avoiding the potential for controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) accidents caused by pilots 

trying to remain VFR when the weather is marginal. The public interest also will be served by increasing the

opportunity for additional access to critical care patient flights.
Midwest MedAir

Serving Nebraska and Surrounding States

800-562-3396

5400 E. Lee Bird Road, Suite 14, North Platte, Nebraska 69101

Page	3

Midwest MedAir believes that, by granting this petition, the FAA will permit an alternate means of 

compliance that is an equivalent level of safety as provided by Section 135.611(b) to be maintained and will 

be acting in a manner consistent with the aviation safety goal of Section 135.611. Midwest MedAir believes 

that the true mitigation of the risk of operations in areas of severe weather lies in effective and consistent 

preflight planning and training for its pilots and operational control oversight by the certificate holder. If this 

exemption is not granted it would negatively affect the public interest by reducing the number of available 

HAA flights. A fully trained crew, following proper IFR procedures, in a properly equipped aircraft, can only 

enhance safety.

The underlying purpose of Section 135.611 is to facilitate IFR operations by helicopter air ambulance 

operators and result in more aircraft operating in a positively controlled environment, thereby increasing 

safety. The recent interpretation of the rule instead has the unintended consequence of encouraging HAA 

operators to fly in marginal weather conditions under VFR because the interpretation requires Airborne 

Weather Radar or Lightning Detection Equipment. 

Midwest MedAir is committed to the safe and successful completion of its air medical flights and believes 

that it is safer to file an IFR flight plan and to operate under IFR than to conduct flight operations under VFR in 

marginal visual meteorological conditions (VMC). Midwest MedAir believes that operating in marginal VMC 

weather conditions has been the single most frequent causal factor in EMS aircraft accidents.

Midwest MedAir further believes that the proposed exemption is in keeping with the safety purpose of the 

rule by permitting HAA operators the ability to operate in accordance with IFR more often. This would 

minimize the need for marginal VFR flight operations. 

Granting the proposed exemption in regard to Section 135.611(b), as interpreted, would not promote flights 

into severe weather, because Midwest MedAir does not conduct IFR operations in severe weather conditions. 

Further Justifying Information

Midwest MedAir corporate headquarters are located in Columbus, NE. Midwest MedAir has 2 bases of 

operations that serve the State of Nebraska providing air medical transport and critical patient services. We 

operate rotor wing aircraft. In 2010 our founder, Kim Wolfe, envisioned an operation with a SPIFR helicopter 

as a pure community based operation and we have grown from that idea.

For the last five years Midwest MedAir has safely conducted IFR approaches into and out of airports and 

heliports using FAA approved non-part 97 IAP’s at locations that do not have weather reporting. Since 2010

these procedures were approved under an authorization in Operations Specifications A021 and did not 

require severe weather detection equipment. During the rewrite of part 135, the authorization in A021 was 

correctly removed from the Operations Specifications and placed in what became Section 135.611 in the final 

HAA rule. In Section 135.611 (b) there is a requirement for “severe weather detection equipment” with no 

specific definition of what that term means. 
Midwest MedAir

Serving Nebraska and Surrounding States

800-562-3396

5400 E. Lee Bird Road, Suite 14, North Platte, Nebraska 69101

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Midwest MedAir conducted 325 IFR flights and transported 1572 critical patients in the years 2010 through 

2014.

The success rate for these operations rests upon two very important items – (1) the thorough and effective 

training of pilots on preflight planning and IFR procedures and (2) the complete avoidance of flying in 

reported or forecast severe weather.

Summary:

In summary, immediate granting of the requested relief will enhance aviation safety and be in the public 

interest. Each day that passes without relief from the recent interpretation of Section 135.611(b) prevents 

safe IFR operations and unnecessarily restricts public access to air medical transportation. We appreciate 

your positive and expeditious consideration of our request for this relief.

Respectfully submitted,

Steve Gardiner

Director of Operations

Midwest MedAir

813-728-5183

Stephen.gardiner@midwestmedair.com

Summary of Petition for Publication

Midwest MedAir seeks an exemption from Section 135.611(b) of Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations, 

as that section has been recently interpreted by the FAA’s Flight Standards Service in internal guidance to 

Principal Operations Inspectors. Midwest MedAir is seeking relief to the extent necessary to allow Midwest 

MedAir to resume performing instrument flight rules (IFR) departures and to perform IFR instrument 

approach procedures (IAP) at airports and or heliports that do not have an approved weather reporting 

source without airborne radar or lightning strike detection equipment installed in its helicopters with a 

passenger seating configuration of 9 seats or less (excluding any pilot seat), with limitations consistent with 

the company’s past operating practices.