BEFORE THE 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY 

WASHINGTON, DC 

 

In the matter of the cancellation of the 

Air Taxi authority issued to: 

VIH COUGAR HELICOPTERS, INC. 

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Docket DOT-OST-2012-0022 

VIH Cougar Helicopters, Inc. 

Violations of 14 CFR Part 298 and 

49 U.S.C. § 41101 

 

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Docket DOT-OST-2013-0004 

 REPLY OF PETROLEUM HELICOPTERS, INC., NORTHERN PIONEER 

HELICOPTERS LLC, AND SOLOY HELICOPTERS LLC IN SUPPORT OF 

MOTION FOR CLARIFICATION OF ORDER 2013-11-16 

Communications with respect to this document should be sent to: 

John Longstreth john.longstreth@klgates.com 202-661-6271 

Timothy Hobbs tim.hobbs@klgates.com 206-370-7664 

K&L Gates LLP 

1601 K Street NW 

Washington, DC 20006-1600 

202-778-9100 (fax) 

 
BEFORE THE 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY 

WASHINGTON, DC 

 

In the matter of the cancellation of the 

Air Taxi authority issued to: 

VIH COUGAR HELICOPTERS, INC. 

 

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Docket DOT-OST-2012-0022 

 

VIH Cougar Helicopters, Inc. 

Violations of 14 CFR Part 298 and 

49 U.S.C. § 41101 

 

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Docket DOT-OST-2013-0004 

 REPLY OF PETROLEUM HELICOPTERS, INC., NORTHERN PIONEER 

HELICOPTERS LLC, AND SOLOY HELICOPTERS LLC IN SUPPORT OF 

MOTION FOR CLARIFICATION OF ORDER 2013-11-16 

 

Petroleum Helicopters, Inc. (“PHI”), Northern Pioneer Helicopters LLC (“Northern”), 

and Soloy Helicopters LLC (“Soloy”) have moved the Department to clarify that its Order 2013-

11-16 does not preclude the Department from either: 

(a) investigating the ongoing operations under which contracts previously serviced by 

VIH Cougar Helicopters, Inc. (“VIH Cougar”), which was found in the Order to have violated 

the law for a substantial period of time and ordered to pay a $300,000 fine, have been transferred 

from VIH Cougar to Construction Helicopters, Inc. (“CHI”), whose owner and President 

previously purported to be the indirect owner of VIH Cougar; or 
(b) seeking a penalty directly against Mr. Kenneth Norie, who with his companies was 

found to have illegally controlled VIH Cougar. 

VIH Cougar’s response to the Motion does not attempt to assert, much less demonstrate, 

that Order 2013-11-16 precludes the Department from doing either of these things. That 

response thus offers no basis on which to deny the Motion. The Department should confirm that 

the Order does not preclude either investigation into the ongoing operations, or imposition of a 

penalty directly on Mr. Norie, as PHI, Northern, and Soloy understand the Order and as VIH 

Cougar’s Opposition does not contest. 

Rather than deal directly with the issue presented in the Motion, VIH Cougar embarks on 

a series of misstatements and non sequiters that are easily dismissed. VIH Cougar first suggests 

that the Motion for Clarification is an attack on the settlement, but it is not. It is merely a request 

for a clarification to confirm its terms. And since VIH Cougar does not advance any contrary 

reading of those terms, that confirmation can be easily provided. 

VIH Cougar also makes the odd assertion that the Motion is somehow precluded because 

PHI, Northern and Soloy did not object to VIH Cougar’s withdrawal of its appeal of Order 2013-

6-8. Withdrawal of that appeal kept in place an order that PHI, Northern and Soloy fully 

supported, establishing that VIH Cougar was in violation of the law. VIH Cougar does not 

explain how PHI, Northern and Soloy could nonetheless have required that its appeal of Order 

2013-6-8 be continued,1

 or why continuation of that appeal should be a prerequisite to 

clarification of Order 2013-11-16, which was never any part of the appeal. 

Finally, VIH repeats its tired rhetoric suggesting that PHI, Northern and Soloy’s interest 

in enforcement of the law should be discounted because they are competitors of VIH Cougar. 

 

1

 Applicable precedent provides that intervenors are not permitted to raise issues not presented by the 

parties. See, e.g,, Ill. Bell Tel. Co. v. FCC, 911 F.2d 776, 786 (D.C. Cir. 1990) (“An intervening party 

may join issue only on a matter that has been brought before the court by another party.”) 
This assertion is simply wrong, as is clear from case law that has been frequently been brought to 

VIH Cougar’s attention providing that parties are fully empowered to seek relief from unlawful 

competition such as that DOT has found was present here. See, e.g., Louisiana Energy & Power 

Auth. v. FERC, 141 F.3d 364, 367 (D.C. Cir. 1998) (“parties suffer constitutional injury in fact 

when agencies lift regulatory restrictions on their competitors or otherwise allow increased 

competition.”). PHI, Northern and Soloy are the very parties whom the laws at issue here are 

intended to protect, and have every right to seek investigation into, and cessation of, illegal 

operations that harm them. Nor does VIH Cougar offer a shred of support for its assertion that 

enforcement of the laws would create some kind of monopoly, even assuming that was a relevant 

consideration which it is not. 

PHI, Northern and Soloy therefore respectfully request that the Motion for Clarification 

be granted. 

Respectfully submitted, 

 /s/ John Longstreth____ 

Dated: December 19, 2013 John Longstreth 

 Timothy Hobbs 

 K&L Gates LLP 

 1601 K Street NW 

 Washington, DC 20016 

 

Counsel for Petroleum Helicopters, Inc., 

Northern Pioneer Helicopters LLC, and 

Soloy Helicopters LLC 

 
CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE 

I certify that I have on this 19th day of December 2013 served the foregoing Reply of 

Petroleum Helicopters, Inc., Northern Pioneer Helicopters LLC, and Soloy Helicopters LLC in 

Support of Motion for Clarification of Order 2013-11-16 upon the persons listed below, and have 

also filed a copy in the dockets of these proceedings:

Susan L. Kurland 

Office of the Assistant Secretary for 

Aviation and International Affairs 

U.S. Department of Transportation 

1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE 

Room W96-495 

Washington, DC 20590 

Lauralyn Remo 

Office of the Assistant Secretary for 

Aviation and International Affairs 

U.S. Department of Transportation 

1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE 

Room W96-495 

Washington, DC 20590 

Peter Lynch, AGC-300 

Asst. Chief Counsel for Enforcement 

Federal Aviation Administration 

800 Independence Ave. SW 

Washington, DC 20591 

William J. Weber 

Certification Section Manager 

FAA AFS-900 

45005 Aviation Drive Suite 131 

Dulles, VA 20166 

Roy Hardie 

Aviation Safety Inspector 

Federal Aviation Administration 

1601 Lind Avenue SW, Suite 260 

Renton, WA 98057 
David M. Nadler 

David Y. Yang 

Andrew E. Smith 

DICKSTEIN SHAPIRO LLP 

1825 Eye Street, NW 

Washington, DC 20006 

Telephone: (202) 420-2200 

Facsimile: (202) 420-2201 

nadlerd@dicksteinshapiro.com 

yangd@dicksteinshapiro.com 

smitha@dicksteinshapiro.com 

Counsel to VIH Cougar Helicopters, Inc. 

 _/s/ J. Timothy Hobbs___________________ 

 J. Timothy Hobbs