AFS

- 1 6

- 2087

- E January 11, 2016

Exemption No. 8658G Regulatory Docket No. FAA

- 2005

- 22336

Mr. Christopher A. Williams Director of Operations

United Parcel Service Company

825 Lotus Avenue Louisville, KY 4021 3

Dear Mr. Williams :

This le tter is to inform you that we have granted your petition to ext ended Exemption

No. 8658 , as amended. It expl ains the basis for our decision, describes its effect, and lists the

revised conditions and limitations.

The Basis for Our Decision

By letter date d October 21, 2015

, you petitioned the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)

on behalf of United Parcel Service Company (UPS) for extension of Exemption No. 8658, as

amended

. That exemption from § 121.619 of Title 14, Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR)

a llows UPS, UPS’s certificated dispatchers, and UPS’s pilots in command (PIC) to dispatch aircraft to domestic airports without designating an alternate for the destination airport where for

at least 1 hour before and 1 hour after the estimated time of arri val at the destination airport

, the appropriate weather reports or forecasts, or any combination of them, indicate the ceiling will be at least 1,000 feet above the airport elevation and visibility will be at least 3 statute miles for airports utilizing Ca tegory ( CAT ) I authorizations or the visibility will be at least 2 statute miles for airports utilizing CAT II or CAT III authorizations

.

In your petition, you indicate that there has been no change in the conditions and reasons relative to public intere st and safety that were the basis for granting the original exemption.

The FAA has determined that good cause exists for not publishing a summary of the petition

in the Federal Register because the requested extension of the exemption would not set a

prec edent, and any delay in acting on this petition would be detrimental to UPS.2

Our Decision

The FAA has determined that the justification for the issuance of Exemption No. 8658, as amended, remains valid with respect to this exemption and is in the public i nterest. Therefore,

u nder the authority provided by 49 U.S.C. §§ 106(f), 40113

, and 44701, which the FAA

Administrator has dele gated to me, United Parcel Service Company is granted an extension to

its exemption from 14 CFR § 121.619 to allow UPS, its cert ificated dispatch ers, and its PICs to dispatch aircraft to domestic airports without designating an alternate for the destination airport

where for at least 1 hour before and 1 hour after the estimated time of arrival at the destination airport

, the approp riate weather reports or forecasts, or any combination of them, indicate the ceiling will be at least 1,000 feet above the airport elevation and visibility will be at least 3 statute miles for airports utilizing Category ( CAT ) I authorizations or the visib ility will be at least 2 statute miles for airports utilizing CAT II or CAT III authorizations

, subject to the conditions

and limitations listed below.

Conditions and Limitations

1. Before conducting operations under this exemption, UPS must obtain an updat ed operations specification A005 (Exemptions and Deviations) that provides for operations under this exemption.

2. Operations under this exemption are limited to only those destination airports in the contiguous United States.

3. Operations conducted under this exemption must use a current and qualified aircraft dispatcher.

4. Operations under this exemption are limited to only those airports at which an operable instrument landing system (ILS) procedure is published. Alternate minimums are predicated on the follow ing table:

Table 1

- Alternate Minimums (Ceiling and Visibility Required)

Operable ILS Ceiling Required Visibility Required

Category I 1,000 feet above ground level (AGL) 3 statute miles

Category II 1,000 feet AGL 2 statute miles

Category III 1,000 fee t AGL 2 statute miles3

5. Before conducting operations under this exemption, UPS must demonstrate to the satisfaction of the FAA principal operations inspector (POI) assigned to the UPS Certificate Management Office that:

a. Each UPS dispatcher has a system ava ilable to display the location of each flight within 3 minutes of real time;

b. Each UPS dispatch facility has a system that provides its dispatchers with overlays of weather returns updated at least once every 5 minutes;

c. Each UPS dispatch facility has a syst em that provides its dispatchers with a display of the specific aircraft routing as assigned by air traffic control (ATC) and actual filed flight plan routing;

d. Each UPS dispatcher must have the capability to expeditiously recompute projected arrival fuel f rom a “point aloft” to the intended destination in the event conditions, including those required to be reported in C ondition

N umber 8

, occur th at negatively impact the flight;

e. Each UPS dispatcher must have data available that will show aircraft sta tus, including the aircraft capability to conduct CAT I, CAT II or CAT III operations as applica ble to the exemption being used;

f. Each UPS dispatcher has a system available to display locations of other airborne aircraft including aircraft of other operator s;

g. Each UPS dispatch facility has a system available that provides its dispatchers with a display of planned and actual fuel at regular intervals along the route and the difference between planned and actual fuel;

h. Each UPS dispatch facility has a system av ailable that automatically alerts its dispatchers to special weather updates, changes in weather reports, forecasts and/or other significant weather

- related reports, and ensures that these can be relayed to flightcrews in an expeditious manner;

i. Each UPS di spatcher is provided the capability to access the services of a qualified meteorologist approved by the POI whenever the dispatcher believes that consultation is necessary to ensure safety of operations under this exemption. The presence of an approved En hanced Weather Information System program satisfies this requirement; and

j. Each dispatch release issued in accordance with this exemption will contain a

statement such as “ALTERNATE WEATHER EXEMPTION APPLIED REFERENCE (APPROPRIATE DOCUMENT SUCH AS FLIGHT

OP ERATIONS MANUAL, GENERAL OPERATONS MANUAL, ETC.).”4

The certificate holder may choose to use other wording, if desired, but the meaning must be clear.

6. The reporting requirements of the flightcrews listed in Condition 8, Mandatory Pilot Reports, and the req uired dispatch flight planning and tracking systems in Condition 5 must be used to determine the feasibility of dispatching the flight under this exemption and/or continuing the flight after dispatch.

7. Approved Procedures. If the use of these systems, repo rts or the occurrence of other factors indicate that the conditions under which the flight was originally dispatched have changed and may negatively impact the flight, the dispatcher and flightcrew must

re

- evaluate the continued operation of the flight using approved procedures, and if necessary, agree on an alternate plan as soon as possible after the occurrence of any of the following:

a. En route holding or delaying vectors, airspeed changes, a ltitude changes, or

re

- routings.

b. Unplanned or sustained use of deicing and anti

- icing systems or other factors directly relating to fuel consumption that may have a negative effect on trip fuel requirements.

c. The deterioration of destination weather below a 1,000

- foot ceiling and 2

- mile visibility if using an exemption that requires at least 3 statute miles visibility as

listed in Table 1.

d. The deterioration of destination weather below a 1,000

- foot ceiling and 1

- mile visibility if using an exemption that requires for at least 2 statute miles visibility as listed in Table 1.

8. Mandatory Pilot Reports. Pilots will notify Dispatch as soon as possible in the event of any of the following:

a. Lateral deviation from the plann ed route by greater than 100 NM;

b. Vertical deviation from the planned altitude by greater than 4000 feet ;

c. E TA will exceed planned by greater than 15 minutes ;

d. Fuel consumption in excess of planned that may have a negative effect on trip

- fuel

r equirements ;

e. Fuel system component failure or apparent malfunction that may have a negative

e ffect on tr ip fuel requirements;

f. The flight encounters weather significantly different than forecast, to include turbulence;

g. The flight is assigned en route or arrival holding ; or5

h. Unplanned or sustained use of deicing or anti

- icing systems.

9. UPS must maintain CAT I ( operations specification C0 52 )/CAT II/CAT III (operations specification C0 59/C060 ) ILS approach authorization (as applicable) for those aircraft to which this exemption would apply, and each aircraft must have fully operating equipment needed for the appro priate CAT I/CAT II/CAT III ILS approach for that aircraft to operate under this exemption.

10. At the time of dispatch, the flight crew must be qualified to conduct a CAT I/CAT II/ CAT III ILS approach to published minimums (as applicable). PICs with less t han the requisite minimum hours specified in § 121.652 cannot be used in operations under this exemption, unless the operator also holds Exemption No. 5549, the PIC has been trained in accordance with the requirements of that exemption, and all of the cond itions specified by Exemption No. 5549 are met.

11. Operations are not permitted under this exemption at any airport at which thunderstorms are reported or forecast from 1 hour before through 1 hour after the estimated arrival time if such reports or forecasts are in either or both the main body or the remarks section of the weather report or the weather forecast. Furthermore, UPS cannot use Exemption No. 3585 (as amended) issued to Air Transport Association of America, Inc., members (including UPS ) or any sub sequent exemption granting similar relief regarding any kind of forecast of thunderstorms at the destination airport in conjunction with any operation conducted under this exemption.

12. Each certificated UPS dispatcher and PIC, who conducts operations under t his exemption, must be provided with a copy of pertinent parts of this exemption. Operations under this exemption are permitted by UPS dispatchers and PICs but are not required.

13. Use of this exemption in operations to destinations outside the contiguous Un ited States is prohibited. UPS is authorized to use this exemption in operations to airports within the 48 contiguous States and the District of Columbia from airports outside those boundaries provided UPS also holds operations specification A012 (Part 1 21 Domestic Operations to Certain Airports Outside the 48 Contiguous States and Alaska) and operations are conducted in accordance with the appropriate provisions of that operations specification as they pertain to operations from Alaska and/or the airport s listed in Table 1 thereof.

14. UPS must provide the Administrator, by the 15 TH day of each month, reports that include the information listed below, during the preceding calendar month. The POI is authorized to delete this reporting requirement once UPS has conducted operations under this exemption satisfactorily for at least 24 continuous calendar months and sufficient data to thoroughly evaluate operational performance have been obtained.6

Reports must contain the following information:

a. The total number o f flights operated by UPS under domestic rules to destinations within the 48 contiguous States and the District of Columbia;

b. The total number of flights operated under this exemption, including those flights conducted under the appropriate provisions and limitations of Operations S pecification A012. For each flight operated, the dates; airport pairs; flight numbers; aircraft make, model, and ser ial number; trended or graphical summary of flight planned fuel vs. actual arrival fuel; and contingency

fuel m ust be listed. Report format shall be in chronological order by fleet type;

c. The total number of flights that divert to an alternate airport;

d. The total number of flights that divert to an alternate airport that are separated under this exemption, and the reason for each diversion, such as weather conditions, mechanical problem, fuel quantity, passenger problem, air traffic, crewmember, or any other reason. UPS must fully document each diversion;

and

e. The total number of UPS flights, operated under this exemption, that declare an emergency and the reason for such declaration, or during which flight a low fuel state occurs that results in actions being taken by ATC and/or dispatch to provide priority handling, even if no emergency is declared.

The Effect of Our Decision

Our decision extends the termination date of Exemption No. 86 58 , as amended, to January 31,

201 8

, unless sooner superseded or rescinded.

Sincerely,

/ s / John Barbagallo Deputy Director, Flight Standards Service