Exemption No. 10615 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION 

WASHINGTON, DC 20591 

 

In the matter of the petition of 

 

SUNDANCE HELICOPTERS, INC. Regulatory Docket No. FAA-2011-1044

 

for an exemption from § 93.323 

of Title 14, Code of 

Federal Regulations 

 

GRANT OF EXEMPTION 

 By letter dated September 21, 2011, Mr. Kurt Barton, Director of Operations, Sundance 

Helicopters, Inc., (Sundance), 5596 Haven Street, Las Vegas, NV 89119, petitioned the 

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

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

granted, would relieve Sundance from the requirement to file a flight plan prior to conducting 

operations in the Grand Canyon National Park (GCNP) Special Flight Rules Area (SFRA). 

The petitioner requests relief from the following regulation:

Section 93.323 prescribes that each certificate holder conducting a commercial SFRA 

operation must file a visual flight rules (VFR) flight plan in accordance with § 91.153. This 

section does not apply to operations conducted in accordance with § 93.309(g). The flight 

plan must be on file with a FAA Flight Service Station prior to each flight. Each VFR flight 

plan must identify the purpose of the flight in the “remarks” section according to one of the 

types set forth in the “Las Vegas Flight Standards District Office Grand Canyon National 

Park Special Flight Rules Area Procedures Manual” which is available from the Las Vegas 

Flight Standards District Office. 

AFS-11-469-E 

The petitioner supports its request with the following information:
2

The petitioner contends that the filing of flight plans prior to operation within the 

GCNP SFRA is required for allocation use monitoring and not for safety of flight. The 

petitioner notes that no flight locating or following is afforded by the current daily 

flight plan submission requirement. Additionally, the petitioner states that the filing of 

referenced flight plans is an exact duplication of the information contained in quarterly 

GCNP operations reporting required by the “Las Vegas Flight Standards District Office 

Grand Canyon National Park Special Flight Rules Area Procedures Manual.” 

The petitioner states that its demonstrated method of quarterly allocation use reporting, 

verification, and possible audit options provides for more than adequate oversight by 

the responsible agency. The petitioner notes these records are transparent, and allow 

for easy audit and validation of reported data at any time. 

The petitioner notes that, although, to the untrained eye, there is no apparent benefit to 

the flying public, flight locating/following is conducted in-house using the satellite 

based tracking system “Spidertracks.” The petitioner states this system allows for 

constant reporting of aircraft locations, allowing Sundance to know exactly where all 

company aircraft are located at any given time. The petitioner states this method of 

flight locating provides superior safety when compared to the FAA flight plan method 

of flight following using a VFR flight plan, thus affording a greater level of safety to 

the flying public. 

 A summary of the petition was published in the Federal Register on December 27, 2011 

(76 FR 81010). No comments were received. 

The FAA's analysis is as follows:

The FAA finds that a grant of exemption would be in the public interest and would provide an 

equivalent level of safety to that provided by the regulation. 

The Issue of Safety

Sundance Helicopters is mandated by § 93.325 to report to the FAA the number and nature of 

each air tour operation that they conduct within the GCNP SFRA. In support of that rule, 

§ 93.323 prescribes the filing of a flight plan for each GCNP SFRA operation for the explicit 

purpose of verification of compliance with § 93.325. As stated in its preamble, § 93.323 was 

never intended to serve a safety function. Instead, the sole purpose of § 93.323 was to serve 

as an auditing tool. Therefore, a grant of exemption would not adversely affect safety. 

Consistency with the Intent of § 93.323

As discussed above, § 93.323 requires the filing of a flight plan for each GCNP SFRA 

operation. The requirement in § 93.323 was written into FAA regulations in 2000 to verify 

the accuracy of Grand Canyon flight allocation data reporting. However, in 2005 the FAA 

developed better methods of cross-checking air tour operator data to verify reporting. 
3

Because the FAA currently utilizes these other methods to verify data reporting, granting an 

exemption from the requirements of § 93.323 would not undermine the FAA’s data 

verification capabilities. 

The Issue of Public Interest

The filing of individual flight plans by Sundance Helicopters for each of its many thousands 

of annual air tour flight operations over the Grand Canyon results in an extremely large 

workload for Sundance Helicopters and for the flight service station (FSS) that receives them. 

Continued processing of those administrative flight plans now incurs significant costs to both 

Sundance Helicopters and to the Federal Government without benefit. In the interim, the 

FAA has implemented more effective efficient alternate methods of auditing allocation 

compliance. The FAA finds that it is in the public interest to reduce this paperwork burden to 

both Sundance Helicopters and to the FSS. 

The FAA will consider the information provided by Sundance Helicopters in future 

rulemaking. 

The FAA’s Decision 

 In consideration of the foregoing, I find that a grant of exemption is in the public interest. 

Therefore, pursuant to the authority contained in 49 U.S.C. §§ 40113 and 44701, delegated to 

me by the Administrator, Sundance Helicopters, Inc. is granted an exemption from 

14 CFR § 93.323 to the extent necessary to relieve Sundance from the requirement to file a 

flight plan prior to conducting operations in the Grand Canyon National Park Special Flight 

Rules Area. 

This exemption expires on August 31, 2014, unless sooner superseded or rescinded. 

Issued in Washington, D.C., on August 27, 2012. 

John M. Allen 

Director, Flight Standards 

 Service