AFS-17-00014-E November 23, 2016

Exemption No. 5560K Regulatory Docket No. FAA-2000-8180

Ms. Stacey Bechdolt Vice President, Safety & Operations Regulatory Counsel Regional Airline Association 2025 M Street, NW, Suite 800 Washington, DC 20036

Dear Ms. Bechdolt:

This letter is to inform you that we have granted your petition to extend Exemption No. 5560, as amended. It explains the basis for our decision, describes its effect, and lists the

conditions and limitations.

The Basis for Our Decision

By letter dated September 19, 2016, you petitioned the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on behalf of the Regional Airline Association (RAA), for an extension of Exemption No. 5560, as amended. That exemption from §§ 61.3(a) and (c) of Title 14, Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR) allows RAA part 135 member carriers to establish special procedures that enable an air carrier to issue to its flight crewmembers, on a temporary basis, confirmation of any required pilot and medical certificate and photo ID, based on information contained in the operator’s approved record system.

Also, you requested an exemption from § 135.95(a). However, in Exemption No. 5560, the FAA determined that an exemption from § 135.95 is not required, since that regulation does not require that a certificate holder’s airmen have their certificates in their possession, it only requires that each airman hold a certificate.2

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

In previous grants of exemption, the FAA granted relief to the petitioner’s member airlines, as well as to “other qualifying part 119 certificate holders.” However, in an effort to manage exemptions granted by the FAA and to facilitate operator compliance with the conditions and limitations of a grant of exemption, the FAA is no longer including “other qualifying part 119 certificate holders” in grants of exemption. Theref ore, use of this exemption is limited to the RAA part 135 members listed in Attachment 1.

The FAA has determined that good cause exists for not publishing a summary of the petition in the Federal Register because the requested extension would not set a precedent, and any delay in acting on this petition would be detrimental to the RAA.

Our Decision

The FAA has determined that the justification for the issuance of Exemption No. 5560, as amended, remains valid with respect to this exemption and is in the public interest. Therefore, under the authority provided by 49 U.S.C. §§ 106(f), 40113, and 44701, which the FAA Administrator has delegated to me, RAA is granted an extension to Exemption No. 5560, as amended, which allows RAA part 135 member carriers to establish special procedures that enable an air carrier to issue to its flight crewmembers, on a temporary basis, confirmation of any required pilot and medical certificate and photo ID, based on information contained in the operator’s approved record system, subject to the following conditions and

limitations.

Conditions and Limitations

1. This exemption is issued for the purpose of preventing cancellation of scheduled air carrier flights in situations where a pilot flight crewmember’s FAA pilot certificate, FAA medical certificate, and/or photo identification are valid but physically unavailable. The privileges of this exemption are intended for situations where crewmembers have no access to Airman Services at the www.faa.gov website for receiving via FAX or internet download F AA-issued documents containing temporary authority to exercise certificate privileges.

2. This exemption allows RAA member carriers to develop and issue to a pilot flight crewmember a document confirming the pilot flight crewmember’s FAA-issued pilot and medical certification. The document issued by the RAA member carrier must be in the pilot flight crewmember’s physical possession when exercising the privileges of the exemption and must contain the following information—

a. The pilot flight crewmember’s certification information from the crewmember’s pilot and medical certificates.

b. The exact text or a photocopy of this exemption.

c. The RAA confirmation document must include the following statements:3

i. “Issued under the authority of Exemption No. 5560, as amended.”

ii. “Expires (insert date/time 72 hours after issuance).”

iii. “The privileges of this exemption may be exercised only within the District of Columbia and the 48 contiguous United States.”

iv. The privileges of this exemption may only be exercised for scheduled air carrier flights. The privileges of this exemption may not be exercised for operations under part 91, part 91 Subpart K, or for unscheduled flights operated under part 135.

3. Before conducting operations under this exemption, each RAA member carrier must receive approval from its FAA principal operations inspector (POI) for the procedures the RAA member carrier expects to employ in issuing a confirmation document to pilot flight crewmembers who do not have in their personal possession the pilot and/or medical certificate or photo identification. Th ese procedures must include a method to ensure positive identification of the pilot f light crewmember when the pilot no longer has photo identification.

4. Each pilot flight crewmember who operates a flight under this exemption must—

a. As soon as practicable, obtain from Airman Services at the www.faa.gov website a document containing temporary authority to exercise certificate privileges.

b. If the pilot flight crewmember’s FAA pilot and medical certificate are permanently lost or destroyed, the pilot flight crewmember must comply with § 61.29 and assure that a request for a replacement certificate from the FAA is made within 72 hours of the initiation of any flight conducted under this exemption. The RAA member carrier is authorized to make the application to the FAA on behalf of each pilot flightcrew member.

c. The pilot flightcrew member must provide a copy of the FAA-issued documents containing temporary authority to exercise certificate privileges to the RAA member carrier within 24 hours of the receipt of that document.

Our decision extends the termination date to November 30, 2018, unless sooner superseded or

rescinded.

Sincerely,

/s/
John Barbagallo Deputy Director, Flight Standards Service4

Attachment 1

The relief provided by Exemption No. 5560 is limited to the certificate holders listed below: 1

Regional Airline Association Part 135 Members

Empire Airlines, Inc. Grand Canyon Airlines, Inc. (DBA Scenic Airlines) Great Lakes Aviation, Ltd. Hyannis Air Service, Inc. (DBA Cape Air) New England Airlines Inc.

1 Attachment updated October 31, 2016. The FAA confirmed with the pe titioner that the DBA RAVN Alaska applies to its member Corvus Airlin es, Inc. Because Corvus Airlines is a part 121 air carrier, the FAA has included it in Exemption No. 11152, applicable to RAA’s part 121 member carriers.