AFS-15-1934-E

Exemption No. 13133

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION

WASHINGTON, DC 20591

In the matter of the petition of 

 

CALIFORNIA SHOCK TRAUMA Regulatory Docket No. FAA-2015-1868

AIR RESCUE

 

for an exemption from § 135.611(b) 

of Title 14, Code of 

Federal Regulations 

 

GRANT OF EXEMPTION

 By letter dated May 18, 2015, Mr. Scott Tish, Director of Operations, California Shock 

Trauma Air Rescue (CALSTAR), 4933 Bailey Loop, McClellan, California, 95652, petitioned 

the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on behalf of CALSTAR for an exemption from 

§ 135.611(b) of Title 14, Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR). The proposed exemption, if 

granted, would allow CALSTAR to conduct instrument flight rules (IFR) departures and IFR 

approach procedures at airports and heliports that do not have an approved weather reporting 

source in helicopter air ambulance (HAA) aircraft and without functioning severe weather 

detection equipment (airborne radar or lightning strike detection equipment) when there is no 

reasonable expectation of severe weather at the destination, the alternate, or along the route of 

flight.

The petitioner requests relief from the following regulation:

Section 135.611(b) prescribes that certificate holders authorized to conduct IFR helicopter air 

ambulance operations at airports with an instrument approach procedure and at which a 

weather report is not available from the U.S. National Weather Service (NWS), a source 

approved by the NWS, or a source approved by the FAA, must be equipped with functioning 

severe weather detection equipment.

The petitioner supports its request with the following information:
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CALSTAR petitions for an exemption from § 135.611(b) in order to conduct IFR operations 

at locations without weather reporting in helicopters without functioning severe weather 

detection equipment. It seeks to exercise this relief in its HAA operations with helicopters 

that have a passenger seating configuration of nine seats or less.

CALSTAR emphasizes that the exemption would apply only when current weather reports 

indicate that thunderstorms or other potentially hazardous weather conditions are not 

reasonably expected to exist at the destination or at the alternate airport at the estimated time 

of arrival (ETA). The petitioner states that its pilots will use all available weather products 

during preflight planning (i.e., RotorWatch, Direct User Access Terminal, Aviation Digital 

Data Service, and any other NWS data) to determine that severe weather does not exist and is 

not forecast to exist at the destination or at the alternate at the ETA. In addition, CALSTAR

highlights that its Flight Risk Assessment Tool (FRAT) will be structured to identify any IFR

operation to a destination and alternate where the potential for severe weather exists. The 

petitioner adds that constant monitoring and continued risk mitigation with the certificate 

holder or the CALSTAR Operational Control Center (OCC) will be required prior to and 

during flight if that risk is identified and, if the risk cannot be mitigated, the flight will be 

declined or aborted.

CALSTAR believes that a grant of exemption will maintain an equivalent level of safety to 

§ 135.611(b). The petitioner states that, if allowed, the exemption will help avoid the 

potential for controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) accidents caused by pilots trying to remain 

in visual meteorological conditions (VMC) when the weather is clearly instrument 

meteorological conditions (IMC). CALSTAR asserts that the purpose of § 135.611 is to 

facilitate IFR operations and result in more aircraft operating in a positively controlled 

environment, thereby increasing safety for HAA operations. CALSTAR contends that a grant 

of exemption would be consistent with the safety goal of § 135.611 because preflight 

planning and risk assessment, weather interpretation training for its pilots and Operations

Control Specialists (OCS), and constant operational control oversight and flight monitoring

would mitigate the risk of operations in areas of severe weather. 

CALSTAR maintains it is in the public's best interest to utilize the IFR infrastructure to the 

fullest extent possible by allowing access to all Intrument Approach Procedures (IAP) in

accordance with § 135.611(a), (c), and (d), regardless of the weather reporting capabilities at 

the landing site. The petitioner contends that it is safer to file an IFR flight plan and to operate 

under IFR than to conduct operations under marginal visual flight rule (MVFR) conditions. 

CALSTAR believes that the exemption sought would allow IFR operations more often,

thereby minimizing MVFR operations and increasing safety.

In addition, CALSTAR maintains that a grant of exemption would serve the public interest by 

allowing greater access to HAA assets that can expedite the air transportation of patients

directly to a specialty care facility. CALSTAR states that it operates in an environment 

challenged by the visibility and ceiling limitations of stratus and marine layer cloud cover on 
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a consistent basis. Further, the petitioner explains that denial of a patient's access to specialty

care in the necessary timeframe by restricting IFR operations in weather that generally does 

not include any severe or convective activity, such as these stratus or marine layers, is 

contrary to the public's best interest. The petitioner concludes that a grant of exemption will 

avoid the delay of transporting patients through ground transportation by allowing flight in 

weather conditions that would benefit from an IFR flight plan, while still avoiding flight in 

severe weather conditions.

In its petition, CALSTAR states that it will mitigate the risk of flight into severe weather by 

training and evaluating its pilots and OCSs on the following subjects on an annual basis:

1. IFR flight planning

2. Use and interpretation of NWS weather charts

3. Interpretation of live radar feeds

4. Significant Meteorological Information (SIGMETs) and Airmen’s Meteorological 

Information (AIRMETs)

5. METARS and Terminal Aerodrome Forecasts (TAFs)

6. Interpretation and appropriate use of available cockpit weather displays

7. The applicability and use of this exemption

The petitioner emphasizes that its General Operations Manual (GOM) clearly restricts flight 

into thunderstorms or other hazardous weather conditions with aircraft that do not have 

thunderstorm detection equipment or airborne weather radar installed.

The FAA found the petition, if granted, would set a precedent. Therefore, to allow for the 

public to comment on the petition, a summary of the petition was published in the Federal 

Register on June 8, 2015 (80 FR 32432). No comments were received.

The FAA’s analysis is as follows:

One of the FAA’s intentions in authorizing HAA IFR operations is to ensure that these 

operations are not conducted unless reliable weather information for the destination airport is 

available to the pilot. Generally, this has meant that current weather from a source approved 

by the FAA is available at the airport where an IFR approach is conducted. When the FAA 

authorized HAA IFR operations into airports without weather reporting, it required aircraft to 

be equipped with onboard severe weather detection equipment. In both cases, the pilot has a 

reliable severe weather information source available, either through the airport weather report 

or through onboard severe weather detection equipment.

Section 135.173 requires, in part, thunderstorm detection equipment in helicopters with a 

passenger seating configuration, excluding any pilot seat, of 10 seats or more in passengercarrying operations, under IFR or night visual flight rules (VFR) when current weather reports 

indicate that thunderstorms or other potentially hazardous weather conditions that can be 
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detected with airborne thunderstorm detection equipment “may reasonably be expected along 

the route to be flown.” Section 135.175 states, in pertinent part, “No person may begin a flight 

under IFR or night VFR conditions when current weather reports indicate that thunderstorms, 

or other potentially hazardous weather conditions that can be detected with airborne weather 

radar equipment, may reasonably be expected along the route to be flown, unless the airborne 

weather radar equipment required by paragraph (a) of this section is in satisfactory operating 

condition.” Both §§ 135.173 and 135.175 allow flight under IFR to be conducted without 

functioning severe weather detection equipment as long as the pilot determines there is no 

reasonable expectation of thunderstorms or other potentially hazardous weather along the 

route. 

Although §§ 135.173 and 135.175 allow IFR operations without functioning severe weather 

detection equipment, the IFR operating limitations and weather requirements of §§ 135.213, 

135.219, and 135.225 require the certificate holder to obtain a weather report from a weather 

reporting facility operated by the NWS, a source approved by the NWS, or a source approved 

by the FAA. The FAA previously granted exemptions from applicable paragraphs of §§ 

135.213, 135.219, and 135.225 (i.e., Exemptions No. 9490 and No. 9665) to permit helicopter 

medical transport operations to conduct IFR approach procedures and departure procedures at 

airports without weather reporting. The conditions and limitations listed in Exemptions No. 

9490 and No. 9665 required that each helicopter operated under the exemption must be 

“equipped with severe weather detection equipment, such as airborne weather radar or 

lightning detection. This equipment must be operating.” Unlike past exemptions which 

required functioning severe weather detection equipment for instrument approach procedures 

and instrument departure procedures at airports without weather reporting, CALSTAR seeks 

relief to conduct IFR operations at locations without weather reporting and without this 

equipment, but with other pre-takeoff planning, risk analysis and flight monitoring measures.

Since issuance of previous exemptions, the FAA published the Helicopter Air Ambulance, 

Commercial Helicopter, and Part 91 Helicopter Operations final rule (79 FR 9932; February 

21, 2014). This rule requires certificate holders with 10 or more helicopter air ambulances to 

establish an OCC staffed with OCSs (§ 135.619) by April 22, 2016. The OCS communicates

with pilots, provides weather information, monitors flights and assists with preflight risk 

assessments, providing an additional measure of safety for complex operations. Section 

135.617 requires HAA operators, regardless of size, to have an FAA approved and 

documented Risk Analysis Program that includes procedures for elevating the final post 

mitigation risk to a higher management level for approval when the total risk exceeds a 

predetermined threshold. A preflight risk analysis provides certificate holders with the means 

to assess and mitigate risk and make determinations regarding the flight’s safety before 

launch. For HAA operators with OCCs, the pilot in command (PIC) will be required to 

complete a risk analysis worksheet and the OCS will be required to review and concur with 

the pilot’s risk analysis worksheet. This overlap is intended to provide larger operations with 

an additional measure of review over the flight’s risk analysis.
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The compliance date for the requirement for larger HAA operators, such as CALSTAR, to 

establish an OCC is April 22, 2016. The FAA has previously granted exemption from 

§ 135.611(b) in circumstances where the petitioner has already established an OCC that meets 

the requirements of § 135.619 (Exemption No. 12556). The FAA finds that CALSTAR’s 

circumstances are different because it is still in the process of establishing an OCC that fully 

meets the requirements of § 135.619.

The agency has, however, considered that smaller operators and operators that are required to 

implement an OCC but that have not yet done so may use similar appropriately scaled 

methods and techniques to achieve the same functionality as an OCC. The FAA finds that 

smaller operators and operators that have not yet established an OCC can establish flight 

monitoring capabilities utilizing personnel trained on availablility of severe weather reporting 

and forecasting products and appropriate methods of communicating observed real-time 

location and rate of development of severe weather.

The FAA finds that granting an exemption from the requirement for onboard severe weather 

detection equipment would not adversely affect safety if CALSTAR provides appropriate 

training in conveying thunderstorm reporting and forecasting to flight crew and OCS or 

personnel assigned to monitor operations to ensure that this exemption is utilized only when 

there is no reasonable expectation of thunderstorms or other potentially hazardous weather

that could otherwise be detected along the route with onboard weather radar or lightning 

detection equipment. The application of appropriate analysis of the risk of encountering severe

weather and the availability and application of real-time ground based weather radar feeds and 

other approved weather information sources can provide the pilot timely forewarning of an 

IFR HAA flight operation that may be threatened by severe weather, further enhancing safety. 

CALSTAR states that its FRAT will be structured to identify any IFR operation to a 

destination and alternate where the potential for severe weather exists. The petitioner adds that 

constant monitoring and continued risk mitigation will be required prior to and during flight if 

that risk is identified and that the flight will be declined or aborted if the risk cannot be 

mitigated. In this regard, the FAA finds that the OCS or trained personnel assigned to monitor

the flight support the HAA pilot in monitoring factors that may affect the flight and serves as 

a ground-based continuing verification of the pilot’s risk analysis. 

The limitation of this exemption to circumstances when there is no reasonable expectation of 

thunderstorms or other potentially hazardous weather along the route, the provision of training 

in weather reporting and forecasting to HAA pilots and OCSs or trained personnel assigned to 

monitor the flight, the completion of required risk assessments by the pilot and the OCS or 

personnel assigned to monitor the flight, and the ability of the OCS or other trained personnel 

to continuously monitor the flight and provide current weather information to the pilot factor 

into the FAA’s determination that a grant of exemption would provide an equivalent level of 

safety. The FAA emphasizes that if a reasonable expectation of severe weather exists during 

the flight and in the vicinity of the planned route, the helicopter must be equipped with 

operable severe weather detection equipment or the flight must be declined or aborted.
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The FAA finds, when conducted in accordance with the conditions and limitations provided 

below, the safety of CALSTAR HAA operations would not be adversely affected when 

conducting IFR departures and IFR approach procedures in HAA aircraft without functioning 

severe weather detection equipment at airports and heliports that do not have an approved 

weather reporting source. The public interest would be served by granting an exemption from

§ 135.611(b) by increasing the opportunity for additional access to critical care patient flights 

when weather conditions are below those required for VFR operations. In addition, the FAA 

finds that it is safer and in the public interest to encourage the utilization of the IFR 

infrastructure to the fullest extent possible, thereby avoiding the potential for CFIT accidents 

during flights conducted under MVFR conditions.

The FAA’s Decision

In consideration of the foregoing, the FAA finds that a grant of exemption is in the public 

interest. Therefore, pursuant to the authority contained in 49 U.S.C. §§ 106(f), 40113 and

44701, delegated to me by the Administrator, California Shock Trauma Air Rescue is 

granted an exemption from 14 CFR § 135.611(b) to the extent necessary to conduct IFR

departures and IFR approach procedures at airports and heliports that do not have an

approved weather reporting source, subject to the conditions and limitations described

below.

Conditions and Limitations

1. This exemption is limited to IFR HAA operations conducted by CALSTAR

(operating certificate STRA290I) in accordance with § 135.601 in helicopters with a 

passenger seating configuration of nine seats or less (excluding any pilot seat).

2. Use of this exemption is authorized only at airports or heliports with an instrument

approach procedure and at which a weather report is not available from the NWS, a

source approved by the NWS, or a source approved by the Administrator.

3. When conducting operations under the provisions of this exemption, CALSTAR and 

the PIC must comply with §§ 135.611(a), (c), and (d) as applicable.

4. The PIC and either a CALSTAR OCS or other CALSTAR personnel who satisfy the 

requirements of Condition and Limitation No. 8 of this exemption must participate in 

the IFR pre-flight planning and risk analysis required by § 135.617 for the purpose of

assessing the probability of severe weather. If the PIC or either the OCS or personnel 

who satisfies the requirements of Condition and Limitation No. 8, determines that there 

is a reasonable expectation of thunderstorms at the destination airport or heliport, at 

the alternate airport or heliport, or along the route to be flown for the period of time 

planned for the flight, the flight must be declined.
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5. Each PIC who conducts operations under this exemption must use current weather 

observations and forecast information obtained from the NWS or from a source 

approved by the FAA, to determine that there is no reasonable expectation of 

thunderstorms at the destination airport or heliport, at the alternate airport or heliport,

or along the route to be flown for the period of time planned for the flight. Sources 

include all of the following: AIRMET, SIGMET, Convective SIGMET, METAR, 

Regional NEXRAD, NOTAM, PIREP, and TAF or other aviation weather forecast, as 

appropriate and available.

6. All flights conducted under this grant of exemption must be continuously monitored by

a CALSTAR OCS or other CALSTAR personnel who satisfy the requirements of

Condition and Limitation No. 8 of this exemption. Any information concerning 

thunderstorms and severe weather must be provided directly to the PIC via two-way 

communication system or by relay through a communications center. 

7. Flight planning for IFR flights conducted under this exemption must include selection

of an alternate airport that meets the requirements of §§ 135.221 and 135.223 and has

an approved weather reporting source in accordance with § 135.213.

8. CALSTAR must amend its FAA-approved training program as provided in § 135.325 to 

ensure all pilots conducting IFR operations under this exemption and all CALSTAR OCSs

or other CALSTAR personnel monitoring flights satisfactorily complete additional initial 

and recurrent training, checking and testing on the subjects identified in paragraphs a. 

through f. of this Condition and Limitation prior to operating under the provisions of this 

exemption. The pilot recurrent training, testing and checking on the subjects identified in 

paragraphs a. through f. of this condition and limitation must take place within 12 calendar 

months before service as a pilot operating in compliance with this exemption. The OCS or 

other personnel monitoring the flight must complete this additional recurrent training and 

testing every 12 calendar months after completion of initial training and testing. The 

training, testing, and checking, as applicable to the pilot and the OCS or other personnel 

monitoring the flight must include the following subjects:

a. The applicability and use of this exemption;

b. IFR operating procedures for locations without weather reporting;

c. IFR flight planning considerations for thunderstorms and convective activity;

d. Use and interpretation of NWS charts, weather reports, and forecast products

that depict current or forecast thunderstorm activity as well as weather services, 

such as pilot reports, AIRMETs, SIGMETs, live radar feeds, and in-flight 

severe weather advisories;
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e. Interpretation and appropriate use of available cockpit weather displays 

including the significant limitations of NEXRAD or similar mosaic weather 

displays and that such in-flight graphic weather depictions may not be used for 

penetration of areas of thunderstorms or navigation around thunderstorms; and

f. Methods for determining weather conditions including the presence of severe 

weather precursors during observations by the pilot. This must include methods

for determining present visibility (measured or estimated), methods for

determining estimated ceilings, and methods for weather observation used by

the NWS.

This exemption terminates on October 31, 2017, unless sooner superseded or rescinded. 

Issued in Washington, DC on October 8, 2015.

/s/

John Barbagallo

Deputy Director, Flight Standards Service