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- 1689 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. PHI Air Medical is seeking immediate relief to the extent necessary to allow PHI Air Medical to resume performing instrum ent 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 PHI Air Medical Operations Specifications and its operational practice for several years before that interpretation, the requested exemption, if granted, will be limited a s follows:
A. The exemption would apply to operations of PHI Air Medical helicopters with a passenger seating configuration of 9 seats or less (excluding any pilot seat), listed in our Operations Specifications when

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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; and

2. Additional preflight planning is tr iggered by the PHI Air Medical Preflight Risk Assessment Program which 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 conduct ed under Section 135.611, the we ather briefing, flight monitoring and related training actions described below must be taken. These actions are described in the PHI Air Medical General Operations Manual and Approved Training Programs.

1. 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

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• No IFR operatio n under Section 135.611 will be conducted 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.2800 N. 44 th St. Ste. 800 Phoenix, AZ 85008 602

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- 1689 2. Flight monitoring by the Operations Control Center
Once the flight becomes active, the PHI Air Medical Operations Control Center (EOC) uses specialized software, the EOC automatically monitors the flight plan, current position and destination of all active flights. The EOC system automatically alerts the Operations Control Specialist, by text a nd with visual alerts on the EOC display, when there are thunderstorms or severe weather wit hin 30 NM of an aircraft or a point on the route of flight.
The PHI Air Medical 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 over our internet based voice communications system; or

• Contacting the pilot directly via satellite.

- 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 E xemption would Enhance Safety and is in the Public Interest
PHI Air Medical 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.2800 N. 44 th St. Ste. 800 Phoenix, AZ 85008 602

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- 1689 PHI Air Medical believes that, by granting this p etition, 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. PHI Air Medic al 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.
PHI Air Medical is committed to the safe and successful completion of its air medic al 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). PHI Air Medical believes that operating in marginal VMC weather con ditions has been the single most frequent causal factor in EMS aircraft accidents.
PHI Air Medical 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 accordan ce 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 PHI Air Medical does not condu ct IFR operations in severe weather conditions.
Further Justifying Information
PHI Air Medical is one of the largest HAA operators in the country and has over 35 years of HAA experience. PHI Air Medical corporate headquarters are located in Phoenix, AZ. PHI Air Medical has more than 70 bases of operations providing air medical tran sport and critical patient services. We operate both fixed and rotor wing aircraft.

For many years PHI Air Medical/PHI. INC 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 2009 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 correc tly removed from the Operations Specifications and placed in what2800 N. 44 th St. Ste. 800 Phoenix, AZ 85008 602

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- 1689 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.

PH I Air Medical conducted 10,200 hours in the years 2011 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,

Kevin P. McCord

Chief Pilot

Phi Air Medical,L.L.C.

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Summary of Petition for Publication
PHI Air Medical seeks an exemption from Section 135.611(b) of Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations, as that section has been recently interpret ed by the FAA’s Flight Standards Service in internal guidance to Principal Operations Inspectors. PHI Air Medical is seeking relief to the extent necessary to allow PHI Air Medical to resume performing instrument flight rules (IFR) departures and to perfor m 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 com pany’s past operating practices.