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Septembers, 2010 

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Air Methods Corporation 

U.S. Department of Transportation '^®"y®''i^®!'i®"l]'fl ^^I?^!\ 

Docket Management System 

400 7* Street, SW 

Room PL 401 

Washington, DC 20591-0001 

Archie Gray 

Vice President of Aviation Support Services 

Air Methods Corporation 

7301 South Peoria 

Englewood, CO 80112-4133 

Dear Sir/Madame, 

Air Methods Corporation requests an exemption from Section 91.203 and 47.49 of the 

Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR) to the extent necessary to permit temporary 

operation of U.S. registered aircraft in domestic 135 operations without the aircraft 

registration or airworthiness certificates on board. Air Methods requests relief from the 

following regulations: 

(1) Section 91.203(a) states, in pertinent part, that no person may operate a civil aircraft 

unless it has within it an appropriate and current airworthiness certificate and a 

regisfration certificate. 

(2) Section 91.203(b) states, in pertinent part, that no person may operate a civil aircraft 

unless the airworthiness certificate is displayed at the cabin or cockpit enfrance so that it 

is legible to passengers or crew. 

(3) Section 47.49, permits the holder of a certificate of aircraft registration to apply, and 

pay the fee, for a duplicate certificate of regisfration and obtain a temporary certificate by 

collect telegram if the holder needs to operate the aircraft before receipt of the duplicate 

certificate. 

Regardless of the precautions taken by Air Methods Corporation, aircraft regisfration and 

airworthiness certificates occasionally disappear, are lost, or are mutilated. The FAA 

Aircraft Registry at Oklahoma City, only provides service for replacement certificates 

from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. CST, Monday through Friday, therefore any missing 

registration certificates discovered outside of these hours and days will result in delays 

and disruption of critical medical service. 

7301 South Peoria . Englewood, Colorado, USA 80112 . 303-792-7400 . FAX 303-790-0499 
Even if a regisfration certificate is found during normal business hours, it is disruptive or 

unnecessarily expensive to obtain a telegraphic registration certificate or airworthiness 

certificate. Under the current rule, the FAA must have the application and fee in hand 

before a temporary telegraphic authorization can be sent. 

Since Air Methods has obtained the proper Aircraft Registration and Airworthiness 

Certificates, the loss of these certificates does not reflect a change in ownership, 

registration number, or state of airworthiness of the aircraft. The certificates have not 

been surrendered, revoked, or suspended, and the aircraft remain in Air Methods 

operations specifications and are maintained under the approved maintenance program. 

The missing certificates will result in a significant loss of public service. The resulting 

flight delay or inability to respond to an emergency "Life Flight" call causes an adverse 

impact to the public needing critical medical response and fransport services. 

Exemption 53181 currently sets precedents for this requested exemption. This exemption 

grants all ATA members relief from the above FARs whereas to the extent necessary to 

permit temporary operation of U.S. registered aircraft in domestic airline operations 

without the registration or airworthiness certificates on board. 

Accordingly, Air Methods requests an exemption from Sections 91.203 and 47.49 to the 

extent necessary to permit temporary operations of U.S. registered aircraft in domestic 

operations without the regisfration or airworthiness certificate on board until such time as 

the lost, stolen, or mutilated certificate can be replaced. Air Methods requests they be 

granted authority for the company to operate an aircraft with a certificate missing for a 

period of up to 5 days with the following procedures: 

(1) Allow continued operations within the contiguous 48 states for the 

next 3 working days with a copy of the Grant Exemption and 

associated Operations Specification authorizing its use in the affected 

airworthiness and / or regisfration certificate holder on the aircraft. 

(2) A logbook entry stating: "This aircraft is being operated without a 

certificate of registration or a certificate of airworthiness (as 

applicable), under the provisions of Exemption No. for a 

period of 3 working days, not including weekends or Federal holidays, 

following the start of the next business day beginning: Time: 

Date: ." The individual completing the logbook entry must 

also include his/her signature, title, and station location. 

(3) Immediate notification to the Flight Standards District Office (FSDO) 

Principle Maintenance Inspector (PMI) (or their designee) that the 

provisions of the exemption were utilized. 

(4) Timely application to the FAA to obtain the necessary certificate. 

Application for a duplicate Aircraft Registration Certificate or a 

replacement Airworthiness Certificate as applicable. 
(5) All procedures will identify by job title specific duties and 

responsibilities. 

Air Methods is confident that granting of the requested exemption would not reduce the 

level of safety since the assigned FAA PMI is cognizant of the regisfration and 

airworthiness status of the aircraft in the fleet, and it will not have adverse impact on the 

interests of the aircraft owners or on government agencies. Granting of this exemption is 

in the public interest since it will allow Air Methods to continue to provide reliable and 

timely service to support the critical medical needs of the public while reducing operating 

costs and increasing revenues by reducing aircraft out of service time. 

If you have any questions concerning this request for exemption please contact me at 

(303)792-7558 or e-mail me at agray@airmethods.com. 

Sincerely, 

Archie Gray .• 

Vice President of Aviation Support Services 

Air Methods Corporation