AFS-14-298-E

December 8, 2014

 Exemption No. 11119

 Regulatory Docket No. FAA-2014-0360

Mr. David Carrizo

Director of Operations

Key Lime Air Corporation

13252 E. Control Tower Road

Englewood, CO 80112

Dear Mr. Carrizo:

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

decision and explains its basis.

The Basis for Our Decision

By letter dated May 28, 2014, you petitioned the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on 

behalf of Key Lime Air Corporation (Key Lime) for an exemption from § 121.436(a)(3) of 

Title 14, Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR) to the extent necessary to allow Key Lime

pilots to count flight time accrued as a pilot in command (PIC) of a turboprop airplane in 

14 CFR part 135 cargo operations toward the requirement of 1,000 hours of air carrier 

experience to serve as a part 121 PIC.

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

in the Federal Register because this is not a precedent-setting petition, and any delay in acting 

on this petition would be detrimental to Key Lime.

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

those presented in your petition. The petitioner was seeking the same relief for its PICs in its 

part 135 turbojet cargo operation. In Denial of Exemption No. 11074 (copy enclosed), the 

FAA found that, after reviewing all relevant information provided by the petitioner, a grant of 

exemption from § 121.436(a)(3) would not be in the public interest. The FAA noted in the 
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denial that operations under § 91.1053(a)(2)(i) or § 135.243(a)(1) require an Airline Transport 

Pilot (ATP) certificate, are multicrew operations, generally use turbine aircraft, and therefore, 

are the most comparable to part 121 operations. For these reasons, the FAA has allowed flight 

time accrued in these operations to count towards the requirement for a pilot to have 1,000 

hours of air carrier experience prior to serving as a part 121 PIC.

As is the case with the part 135 turbojet cargo operations, turboprop pilots in part 135 cargo 

operations are also not required to hold an ATP certificate, therefore the time accrued in such 

operations does not count toward the requirements of § 121.436(a)(3). In addition, a

significant portion of Key Lime’s supporting information centered on its ability to attract and 

retain pilots for its operations, to which it was indicated Key Lime has difficulty with pilot 

retention. The FAA found this to be a private interest argument focusing on a personal 

monetary benefit and is not public interest.

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

• they do not differ materially from those presented by the petitioner in the enclosed Denial 

of Exemption No. 11074;

• the reasons stated by the FAA for denying the enclosed Denial of Exemption No. 11074

also apply to the situation you present; and

• a grant of exemption would not be in the public interest.

Our Decision

Under the authority contained in 49 U.S.C. 40113 and 44701, which the FAA Administrator 

has delegated to me, I hereby deny the petition of Key Lime Air Corporation for an exemption 

from 14 CFR § 121.436(a)(3).

Sincerely,

/s/

John Barbagallo

Acting Deputy Director, Flight Standard Service

Enclosure