AFS-15-1051-E

July 6, 2015

 Exemption No. 11985

 Regulatory Docket No. FAA-2001-8863

Commander Matt K. Conliffe

Department of the Navy

Naval Strike and Air Warfare Center

4755 Pasture Road, Building 465

Fallon, NV 89496-5000

Dear Commander Conliffe:

This letter is to inform you that we have granted your request for exemption. It transmits our 

decision, explains its basis, and gives you the conditions and limitations of the exemption, 

including the date it ends.

The Basis for Our Decision

By letter dated March 31, 2015, you petitioned the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on 

behalf of Department of the Navy (Navy) for an exemption from § 91.215(c) of Title 14, Code 

of Federal Regulations (14 CFR) to the extent necessary to allow the Navy to provide realistic 

air combat training in airspace defined in the exemption as the Transponder-Off Area.

The FAA has determined that good cause exists for not publishing a summary of the petition 

in the Federal Register because the requested exemption would not set a precedent, and any 

delay in acting on this petition would be detrimental to the Navy.

The FAA has issued a grant of exemption in circumstances similar in all material respects to 

those presented in your petition. The FAA originally granted an exemption to the Navy for 

this activity in 1990 (Exemption No. 5156). That exemption was extended several times

(Exemption No. 6741). The FAA has reviewed the conditions and limitations granted in that 

exemption, and the operational history of use of the exemption, and finds that the petitioner's 

flight operations have been conducted safely in designated airspace above 10,000 feet above 

mean sea level without being required to operate their transponders when the terms and 
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conditions of the exemption are met. In using the exemption, the FAA finds that an 

equivalent level of safety can be maintained by limiting all such activity to certain U.S. 

military aircraft, by confining the operations to the defined area described in the conditions 

and limitations section of this exemption by employing dedicated surveillance during such 

operations, and by publicizing appropriate information concerning radar traffic advisory 

service provided to other users of the airspace. Changes to this exemption from previous 

versions reflect current procedures and references but should not be interpreted to have 

changed how these operations have been conducted historically.

Having reviewed your reasons for requesting an exemption, I find that—

• they are similar in all material respects to relief previously granted in Grant of Exemption 

Nos. 5156 and No. 6741;

• the reasons stated by the FAA for granting Grant of Exemption Nos. 5156 and No. 6741

also apply to the situation you present; and 

• a grant of exemption is in the public interest.

Our Decision

Under the authority contained in 49 U.S.C. §§ 106(f), 40113 and 44701, which the FAA 

Administrator has delegated to me, I hereby grant the Department of the Navy an exemption 

from 14 CFR § 91.215(c) to the extent necessary to allow the Navy to provide realistic air 

combat training in airspace defined in the exemption as the Transponder-Off Area, subject to 

the conditions and limitations described below.

Conditions and Limitations 

1. Operations conducted under the authority of this exemption may be conducted only 

in the airspace 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.

All references to the “Transponder-Off Area” in this exemption refer to this 

airspace only. 
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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. For purposes of this exemption, 

the FAA considers references to the ‘petitioner,’ the ‘Naval Air Station Fallon Air 

Traffic Control Facility’ ‘Fallon ATC’ and ‘military ATC/radar unit’ to describe 

the same entity when transponder-off operations are conducted in the TransponderOff Area. 

3. Nothing in this exemption changes or relieves the petitioner from providing ATC 

services within the Transponder-Off Area in accordance with FAA regulations, 

procedures, orders or agreements except as specifically provided in these 

conditions and limitations. 

4. The petitioner must review and maintain a letter of agreement with the Air Traffic 

Manager of the FAA’s Oakland and Salt Lake City Air Route Traffic Control 

Centers. The letter must include the procedures, contacts, operational times, and 

other information required by the petitioner and the FAA to safely conduct the 

operations authorized by this exemption. 

5. Only U.S. military aircraft under the direct control of the petitioner are authorized 

to conduct operations under this exemption. The petitioner must also ensure that 

such aircraft are equipped with a non-transponder electronic device that enables 

aircraft identification and position correlation while conducting transponder-off 

operations under this exemption.

6. Each operation conducted under this exemption may be conducted only:

a. In the airspace described as the Transponder-Off Area;

b. Where two-way radio and primary radar coverage exists;

c. When two-way radio and radar identification can be maintained continuously 

between the aircraft and military ATC/radar unit ground personnel responsible 

for tracking the aircraft; and 

d. By pilots the petitioner has determined are thoroughly familiar with the 

airspace containment procedures that are applicable to the operation and that 

are contained in the letters of agreement required under Condition Number 4 of 

this exemption. 

7. Operations conducted 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;

b. Transmitters and receivers used for two-way radio communications between 

pilots and military ATC/radar unit ground personnel responsible for tracking 

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

ATC facilities that is required for normal operations.

8. When nonparticipating aircraft operating adjacent to the Transponder-Off Area are 

observed independently on the Fallon ATC facility’s radar displays or received as 

radar point-outs from adjacent military and civil ATC facilities, the Fallon ATC 

facility must track and monitor such flights.

9. When nonparticipating aircraft request radar traffic advisory service while 

operating in any Military Operations Area contained within the airspace described 

in Condition number 1 above, the Fallon ATC facility must provide such service.

10. The petitioner must ensure that each aircraft operating with its transponder off 

remains within the Transponder-Off Area and within the petitioner’s radar 

surveillance coverage; or if outside the Transponder-Off Area or beyond the 

petitioner’s radar surveillance coverage, is instructed to turn the transponder back 

on.

11. If radar surveillance of an aircraft conducting transponder-off operations 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 to a point within the 

Transponder-Off Area designated in the letter of agreement required under 

Condition Number 4 of this exemption.

12. The petitioner must ensure that any pilot conducting operations under the authority 

of this exemption is instructed to turn on the aircraft transponder:

a. Whenever a loss of pilot/controller communications occurs or is anticipated; 

b. When a participating aircraft poses a potential for a spill-out or conflict with 

any nonparticipating aircraft; or

c. When advised by the military ATC/radar unit for any reason.
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13. The petitioner may conduct operations under the authority of this exemption only 

when appropriate information is publicized to airspace users concerning radar 

traffic advisory service that will be provided by the petitioner, and is included in 

the letter of agreement required under Condition Number 4 of this exemption.

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

Sincerely,

/s/

Jodi S. McCarthy

Director, Airspace Services Air Traffic Organization