ATA-11-198-E March 14, 2011 Exemption No. 6741F Regulatory Docket No. FAA-2001-8863

Commander James Kuehl Operations Officer Department of the Navy

Naval Strike and Air Warfare Center NAS Fallon, NV 89496-5000

Dear Commander Kuehl:

This letter is to inform you that we have granted your petition to extend Exemption No. 6741, as amended. It explains the basis for our decision and describes its effect.

The Basis for Our Decision

By letter dated February 23, 2011, you petitioned the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on behalf of the Department of the Navy (Na vy), for an extension of Exemption No. 6741, as amended. That exemption from § 91.215(c) of Title 14, Code of Federal Regulations allows the Navy to provide realistic air combat training in airspace defined in the exemption as the “Transponder-Off Area.”

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.

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

Our Decision

The FAA has determined that the justification for the issuance of Exemption No. 6741, 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. § 40109, which the FAA Administrator has delegated to me, I grant your petition, subject to the conditions and limitations listed

below.2

Conditions and Limitations

1. Operations conducted under the authority of this exemption may be conducted only in the airspace defined as the Transponder-Off Area. The Transponder-Off Area is described as that airspace bounded by a line beginning at—

lat. 39 deg 45'00" N., long. 118 deg 22'00"W.; thence eastward to lat. 40 deg 07'00" N., long. 117 deg 00'00"W.; to lat. 39 deg 25'00" N., long. 117 deg 00'00"W.; to lat. 39 deg 10'00" N., long. 117 deg 23'00"W.; to lat. 38 deg 57'00" N., long. 118 deg 20'00"W.; to lat. 39 deg 07'00" N., long. 118 deg 20'00"W.; to lat. 39 deg 06'00" N., long. 118 deg 33'00"W.; to lat. 39 deg 17'00" N., long. 118 deg 21'00"W.; to lat. 39 deg 45'00" N., long. 118 deg 22'00"W.;

excluding that airspace defined as the “VFR Corridor” as depicted on the Fallon Range Chart (FRC-1), prepared and published by the Defense Mapping Agency.

2. The petitioner may assign overall responsibility for airspace containment of operations conducted under the authority of this exemption to the Naval Air Station Fallon Air Traffic Control (ATC) Facility.

3. The petitioner must manage the airspace of the Transponder-Off Area and provide ATC service to all aircraft operating within that area, in accordance with FAA Orders 7210.3, 7610.4, and 7110.65, as revised, and any other pertinent FAA orders dealing with the control of air traffic.

4. The petitioner must enter into a letter of agreement with the Air Traffic Managers of the Oakland and Salt Lake City Air Route Traffic Control Centers.

5. Only U.S. military aircraft under the direct control of the petitioner are authorized to conduct operations under the authority of this exemption. The petitioner must also ensure that such aircraft are equipped with a nontransponder electronic device that enables aircraft identification and position correlation.

6. Operations under the authority of this exemption may be conducted only in the airspace described as the Transponder-Off Area where two-way radio and primary radar coverage exists, and only when two-way radio and radar identification continuously are maintained between the aircraft and ground personnel responsiblefor tracking the aircraft and ensuring the aircraft are contained in the TransponderOff Area.

7. Operations under the authority of this exemption may be conducted only when the following petitioner’s equipment is operational:

a. Automated radar tracking systems for ATC and tactical training;3

b. Transmitters and receivers used for two-way radio communications between pilots and personnel responsible for tracking the aircraft and ensuring the aircraft are contained within the Transponder-Off Area; and

c. Interfacility communications equipment between the petitioner’s and FAA

facilities.

8. The petitioner may not allow any pilot to conduct operations under the authority of this exemption unless that pilot is thoroughly familiar with the airspace containment procedures specified herein and those procedures pertinent to the operation contained in the letters of agreement.

9. The Fallon ATC facility must track and monitor the flight of nonparticipating aircraft operating adjacent to the Transponder-Off Area when such aircraft are observed independently on the petitioner’s radar displays or received as radar point-outs from adjacent ATC facilities.

10. The Fallon ATC facility must provide radar traffic advisory service within any Military Operations Area contained within the Transponder-Off Area to any nonparticipating aircraft that request such service.

11. The petitioner must ensure that each aircraft operating within the Transponder-Off Area is contained within the petitioner’s radar surveillance coverage. In the event that radar surveillance of an aircraft conducting operations under the authority of this exemption cannot be maintained, the military ATC/radar unit controller must advise the pilot of that aircraft to turn on the aircraft’s transponder and proceed toa point, predetermined in the required letter of agreement, within the TransponderOff Area.

12. The petitioner must ensure that any pilot conducting operations under the authority of this exemption is instructed to turn on the aircraft’s transponder whenever a loss of pilot/controller communications is anticipated or an aircraft conducting operations under the authority of this exemption poses a potential for a spill-out or conflict with any nonparticipating aircraft.

13. The petitioner may not conduct operations under the authority of this exemption

unless—

a. The petitioner’s orders and directives issued pursuant to this exemption, the results of primary radar and two-way radio coverage flight checks, and the required letter agreement are in compliance with this exemption, as determined by the FAA Headquarters Office of Mission Services, Airspace Services (AJV) Director or that person’s designee; and

b. Appropriate information is publicized to airspace users concerning radar traffic advisory service that will be provided by the petitioner.

14. The petitioner must allow periodic inspections by the FAA Headquarters AJV Director of Operations, conducted under the authority of this exemption and associated procedures.4

The Effect of Our Decision

Our decision extends the termination date of Exemption No. 6741, as amended, to March 31, 2013, unless sooner superseded or rescinded.

Sincerely,

/s/

Dennis E. Roberts Director, Airspace Services Air Traffic Organization