465 California Street 

Suite 210 

• 

San Francisco 

California 94104 

• 

(415) 421-2500 

Fax (415) 421-2560 

www.avialex.com 

law@avialex.com 

Michael L. Dworkin and Associates 

Law Offices 

(VIA FEDEX) 

The Honorable Richard C. Goodwin 

Office of Hearings, M-20 

1200 New jersey Avenue, S.E. 

East Building Ground Floor, 

Room E12-320 

Washington, D.C. 20590 

RE: In the Matter of SkyWest Airlines, Inc . 

july 19, 2012 

RECEIVED 

JUL 2 32012 

HEARING DOCKET 

FAA Case Nos.: 2011NM060011; 2011NM060010; and 

2011NM060033 (Consolidated) 

MOTION FOR PROTECTIVE ORDER AND/ORCONFIDENTIAL ORDER 

Dear judge Goodwin: 

Pursuant to 14 CFR Sec. 13.200[g] and[h], enclosed herewith are those 

documents SkyWest Airlines, Inc. hereby seeks to have protected as 

confidential and proprietary information and material, consisting of trade 

secret, commercial, business and competitive information, and other 

information affecting SkyWest or its officers, employees, agents and 

contractors' privacy rights. 

There are five sealed manila envelopes with ID Nos. correlating to 

those documents set forth in the document index starting on page 2 of the 

Motion for Protective and/ or Confidential Order. 

cc: SkyWest Airlines, Inc. 

Todd C. Emerson, Esq. 

jeffrey M. Harper, Esq.; 

Hearing Docket Clerk; 

Moifair Chin, Esq. 

Enclosures: 
Todd C. Emerson, #8175 

SKYWEST AIRLINES, INC. 

444 South River Road 

St. George, Utah, 84 790 

Telephone: (435) 634-3530 

Facsimile: ( 435) 634-3505 

-andMichael L. Dworkin #64070 

MICHAEL L. DWORKIN AND ASSOCIATES 

465 California Street, Suite 21 0 

San Francisco, California 94118 

Telephone: (415) 421-2500 

Facsimile: ( 415) 421-2560 

RECEIVED 

JUL 2 3 2012 

HEARING DOCKET 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

OFFICE OF HEARINGS 

WASHINGTON, D.C. 

In the Matter of: 

Sky West Airlines, Inc. 

To: The Honorable Richard C. Goodwin: 

FAA Case Nos.: 2011NM060010, 

2011NM060011, 2011NM060033 

(Consolidated) 

MOTION FOR PROTECTIVE AND/OR 

CONFIDENTIAL ORDER 

(14 CFR Sec. 13.220[g] and[h]) 

Judge: Richard C. Goodwin 

MOTION FOR PROTECTIVE AND/OR CONFIDENTIAL ORDER 
Sky West Airlines, Inc. ("Sky West"), by its counsel, hereby files its Motion for 

Protective and/or Confidential Order, pursuant to Section 13.220 (g) and (h) of the Rules of 

Practice in Civil Penalty Proceedings (14 C.P.R. l3.220(g) and (h)), and states as follows: 

INTRODUCTION 

The FAA has propounded written discovery to Sky West, seeking production of 

certain documents, materials and information which include confidential and proprietary 

information and material, consisting of trade secret, commercial, business and 

competitive information, and other confidential information affecting Sky West or its 

officers, employees, agents and contractors' privacy rights. 

Sky West desires to comply with all requests for production of documents and 

materials in the spirit of discovery. However, disclosure of such information to persons 

not parties to this action might result in damage to the Parties, including but not limited to 

their respective subsidiaries, affiliated and related entities, and their respective officers, 

employees, agents and contractors. 

INDEX LISTING DOCUMENTS SOUGHT TO BE WITHHELD: 

The following documents include references to corrective actions undertaken by 

Sky West in response to these enforcement cases. These proprietary documents include the 

results ofSkyWest's investigation ofthe alleged discrepancies, system-wide audits, critical 

FAA Case Nos.: 2011NM060010, 2011NM060011, 2011NM060033 (Consolidated) 

MOTION FOR PROTECTIVE AND/OR CONFIDENTIAL ORDER 

Page 2 
self examination, elaborate details of its training course development and changes in dayto-day procedures and operations developed and deployed in response to the subject action, 

meeting and conference agendas, cost data from implementation of corrective actions and 

explicit details of how Sky West implemented and delegated tasks in connection with its 

corrective actions. 

TITLE DESCRIPTION IDNO. NO. OF 

PAGES 

2009 CST Conference Schedule 1-1 18 

Conference 

Schedule 1 

1 In its 6'h Affirmative Defense, Sky West averred: Any and all discrepancies upon which 

these actions are based are the product of simple human arithmetic error and in no way are 

indicative of SKYWEST's regulatory compliance disposition as all relevant employees were 

adequately trained and qualified and have since received additional training and internal audits 

2009, 2010 and 2011 Customer Service Training ("CST") materials are being provided to 

illustrate the nature, quality and level of training and concern with which Sky West has treated its 

weight and balance program. As can be seen, between 2009 and 2011, the training became far 

more comprehensive and Sky West witnesses will testify that the 2011 enhanced training was 

developed in response to the incidents which are the subject of the complaints. 

FAA Case Nos.: 2011NM060010, 2011NM060011, 2011NM060033 (Consolidated) 

MOTION FOR PROTECTIVE AND/OR CONFIDENTIAL ORDER 

Page 3 
2009 CST Weight and Balance Handout- Discussion 1-2 

Conference of current LAR discrepancy trends and 

Weight and procedures for determining application to 

Balance Handout individual stations with CLRs. 

. 

2009 CST Weight and Balance Workbook: Training 1-3 

Conference material, self tests, course information, 

Workbook CLR reports, Weight & Balance 

worksheets, case studies, etc. 

2010 CST Coversheet 2-1 

Conference 

Worksheet 1: Schedule 

Information 

Booklet Worksheet 2: Assigned Workshops 

Worksheet 3: Workshop Objectives 

Workshop 4: General Sessions 

2010 CST Weight and Balance booklet. Sky West 2-2 

Conference guidelines, job duties, case studies and 

Workbook cargo load exercises. 

FAA Case Nos.: 2011NM060010, 2011NM060011, 2011NM060033 (Consolidated) 

MOTION FOR PROTECTIVE AND/OR CONFIDENTIAL ORDER 

Page 4 

6 

88 

20 

16 
2010 CST SP 4100 Powerpoint Presentation: Weight 2-3 44 

Conference SP and Balance guidelines, job duties, case 

4100 studies and CLR examples. 

2011 CST Worksheet 1: Conference Schedule 3-1 12 

Conference 

Schedule 

2011 CST CST Conference Day 1 Timeline. Internal 3-2 5 

Conference Press Release. Exercise- Reconstructing 

Outline: Scenario Ground Occurrence 

and Exercise 

2011 CST Coverage of topics such as: 3-3 9 

Conference Ops Ops Spec Internal Review, Manuals Flight 

Ops Tab, Manual required to be followed 

Specs Presentation per Ops Specs. 

Discussion of compliance concerns. 

2011 CST Coverage of topics such as: 3-4 3 

Conference List of 

Review ofF ARs/Regulations Docs 

Regulations 

Violated. Ops Specs/Manuals involved. 

Presentation 

Ground Ops Bulletins involved. 

FAA Case Nos.: 2011NM060010, 2011NM060011, 2011NM060033 (Consolidated) 

MOTION FOR PROTECTIVE AND/OR CONFIDENTIAL ORDER 

Page 5 
2011 CST Coverage of topics such as: 3-5 

Conference 

Lessons learned. Building a safety culture. 

Managing Risk 

Flying Cheap. Dollars and Sense. Weight 

Presentation 

and Balance. 

2011 CST Coverage of topics such as: 3-6 

Conference 

USC, CFR, Ads, Ops Specs, A TOS, 

Working with the 

Orders, Notices, ACs, Safety Alerts 

FAA Presentation 

coverage of safety regulations. Discussion 

of language's role in regulations. FAA 

Inspector responsibilities and interactions. 

FAA Case Nos.: 2011NM060010, 2011NM060011, 2011NM060033 (Consolidated) 

MOTION FOR PROTECTIVE AND/OR CONFIDENTIAL ORDER 

Page 6 

20 

16 
2011 CST Coverage of topics such as: 3-7 

Conference 

FAA Penalties; Sky West Aircraft Loading 

Weight and 

Procedures; Duties and Responsibilities; 

Balance 

Designated Loading Agent; Training 

Presentation 

Resources; SP 7015; Designated Loading 

Agent Certification; Sky West CLR Online 

Course; SP 4100; Online Courses; CLR 

Activity & Exercises 

2011 CST Objectives; Discrepancies and Findings; 3-8 

Conference FAA Penalties; Sky West Aircraft Loading 

Weight and Procedures; Duties and Responsibilities; 

Balance Handout Designated Loading Agent; Training 

Resources; SP 7015; Designated Loading 

Agent Certification; Sky West CLR Online 

Course; SP 4100; Online Courses; CLR 

Activity & Exercises 

FAA Case Nos.: 2011NM060010, 2011NM060011, 2011NM060033 (Consolidated) 

MOTION FOR PROTECTIVE AND/OR CONFIDENTIAL ORDER 

Page 7 

54 

29 
2011 CST Worksheet I: costs associated with CST, 3-9 

Conference W &B focus groups, training course, online 

Certified Station component, classroom component, LAR, 

Trainer Costs CS compliance, DLA and flight operations 

Sheet 

Internal Memo: Description of Sky West response to LOI, 4-1 

Sky West Weight workshop revisions in Certified Station 

and Balance Trainer Conference. Course description 

Corrective Actions and analysis with observations. 

Confidential- Not for Distribution 

Internal Memo: Detailed Cost Summary - Confidential- 4-2 

Sky West Weight Not for Distribution 

and Balance 

Corrective Action 

Costs 

Internal Memo: Worksheet I: Tasks & Results- Internal 4-3 

Tasks and Results review of tasks, results and action items. 

Confidential- Not for Distribution 

FAA Case Nos.: 2011NM060010, 2011NM060011, 2011NM060033 (Consolidated) 

MOTION FOR PROTECTIVE AND/OR CONFIDENTIAL ORDER 

Page 8 

3 

4 

5 

5 
Delta Flight Delta Flight Operations Manual 5.6.1 0- 5 2 

Operations Manual 11 2

--Flight Planning Weight Data Record. 

(Excerpt) 

AUTHORITY 

14 CFR Sees. 13.220 (g) and (h) provide in pertinent part: 

(g) Confidential orders. A party or person who has received a discovery request 

for information that is related to a trade secret, confidential or sensitive material, 

competitive or commercial information, proprietary data, or information on 

research and development, may file a motion for a confidential order with the 

administrative law judge ... 

(h) Protective orders. A party or a person who has received a request for 

discovery may file a motion for protective order with the administrative law 

judge ... 

In addition to the guideline established in 14 CFR 13 .220(g) and (h), under 49 

CFR 7.17, all information and documentation submitted herein is designated by the 

Sky West as confidential commercial information and is to be treated as exempt from 

FOIA' s statutory disclosure requirement. Sky West is to be immediately notified before any 

such information is released to ensure Sky West has an opportunity to submit a written 

2 This document was identified in Sky West's Supplemental Amended Responses to 

Complainant's Initial Discovery Requests, served on December 20,2011, but not produced. This 

document served as a basis for Sky West's requested amendment to its weight and balance 

Program to permit cargo tolerance for last minute bag changes. 

FAA Case Nos.: 2011NM060010, 2011NM060011, 2011NM060033 (Consolidated) 

MOTION FOR PROTECTIVE AND/OR CONFIDENTIAL ORDER 

Page 9 
objection to any such release. Sky West hereby requests that the information provided 

herein be treated as confidential under 49 CFR 7.13(c)( 4) and (6), and under 49 USCS 

552(b)(4),(6). 

The information and documentation concurrently submitted herein by Sky West is 

being submitted as a single confidential package, and as such, is to remain together and is 

not to be deemed segregable under 49 uses 552. 

STATEMENT OF ADVERSE AFFECT FROM PUBLIC DISCLOSURE 

Sky West has determined the documents referenced above and attached herewith 

include confidential and proprietary information and material, including but not limited to 

trade secret, commercial, business and competitive information, or which may contain 

confidential information affecting Sky West or its officers, employees, agents and 

contractors' privacy rights. This includes internal compliance audits, company created 

training courses, and other proprietary and confidential information not proper for 

distribution. 

Disclosure of such information to persons not parties to this action might result in 

damage to Parties, including but not limited to their respective subsidiaries, affiliated and 

related entities, and their respective officers, employees agents and contractors. 

FAA Case Nos.: 2011NM060010, 2011NM060011, 2011NM060033 (Consolidated) 

MOTION FOR PROTECTIVE AND/OR CONFIDENTIAL ORDER 

Page 10 
Additionally, Sky West requests recognition of the common-law qualified 

privilege protecting certain critical self-appraisals from discovery. The concept underlying 

the privilege is to protect from disclosure documents containing candid and potentially 

damaging self-criticism. This self-critical analysis qualified privilege allows businesses to 

candidly evaluate their compliance with regulatory and legal requirements without creating 

evidence that may be used against them in future litigation. 

The rationale for this qualified privilege is that critical self-evaluation fosters the 

compelling public interest that individuals and businesses comply with the law. 

Here, much of the information sought to be protected is the product of Sky West's 

critical self-analysis undertaken and prepared with the expectation that it would be kept 

confidential, and it has in fact been kept confidential. 

The public has a strong interest in preserving the free flow of the type of 

information sought so that airlines will continue to self-evaluate performance to ensure 

safety is job number one and that regulations are being always and fully complied with. 

Most importantly, should this information be made freely discoverable, it will 

curtail future self-evaluations by all airlines fearing to risk that said evaluations will be 

used against them in future litigation. 

FAA Case Nos.: 2011 NM0600 10, 2011 NM0600 11, 20 11NM060033 (Consolidated) 

MOTION FOR PROTECTIVE AND/OR CONFIDENTIAL ORDER 

Page 11 
Complainant does not need or otherwise require the subject information be made 

publically available to continue to prosecute the consolidated action. There is no special 

need or extraordinary circumstances as Complainant's discovery has been completed and 

all subject information is for mitigatory purposes only. 

DATED this lith day of July, 2012. 

ichael L. Dworkin 

Co-Counsel for Sky West Airlines 

FAA Case Nos.: 2011NM060010, 2011NM060011, 2011NM060033 (Consolidated) 

MOTION FOR PROTECTIVE AND/OR CONFIDENTIAL ORDER 

Page 12 
CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE 

The undersigned hereby certifies that on this L:(_'h day of July, 2012, a true and 

correct copy of the foregoing: 

MOTION FOR PROTECTIVE ORDER AND/OR CONFIDENTIAL ORDER 

was served as follows: 

The Honorable Richard C. Goodwin 

Office of Hearings, M-20 

1200 New Jersey Avenue, S.E. 

East Building Ground Floor, 

Room El2-320 

Washington, D.C. 20590 

Fax: (202) 366- 7536 

{FED EX with sealed documents and 

Facsimile without sealed documents} 

Federal Aviation Administration 

800 Independence Avenue SW 

Washington, DC 20591 

Attn: Hearing Docket Clerk, AGC-430 

Wilbur Wright Building - Suite 2Wl 000 

Fax: (202) 493 - 5142 

{FED EX and Facsimile without sealed 

documents} 

Jeffrey M. Harper 

Federal Aviation Administration 

Northwest Mountain Region, ANM-7 

1601 Lind Avenue S.W. 

Renton, Washington 98057 

Fax: (425) 227-1007 

{FED EX and Facsimile without sealed 

documents} 

Ms. Moifair Chin 

Federal Aviation Administration 

Northwest Mountain Region, ANM-7 

1601 Lind Avenue S.W. 

Renton, Washington 98057 

Email: moifair.chin@faa.gov 

{Email without sealed documents} 

FAA Case Nos.: 2011NM060010, 2011NM060011, 2011NM060033 (Consolidated) 

MOTION FOR PROTECTIVE AND/OR CONFIDENTIAL ORDER 

Page 13