AFS

- 13

- 531

- E November 22, 2013

Exemption No. 8684 E Regulatory Docket No. FAA

- 2006

- 23640

Mr. Lyle Hogg Vice President, Flight Operations US Airways, Inc. 4000 East Sky Harbor Boulevard Phoenix, AZ 85034

Dear Mr. Hogg :

This letter is to i nform you that we have granted your petition to extend Exemption No. 8684

,

as amended. It expl ains the basis for our decision, describes its effect, and lists the conditions

and limitations.

The Basis for Our Decision

By letter dated September 1, 2013

, y ou petitioned the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)

on behalf of US Airways, Inc. (US Airways) for an extension of Exemption No. 8684, as

amended

. That exemption from § 121.619 of Title 14, Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR)

allows US Airways, its c ertificated dispatchers, and its pilot in commands ( PICs ) to dispatch aircraft to domestic airports without designating an alternate for the destination airport where

for at least 1 hour before and 1 hour after the estimated time of arrival at the destinat ion airport the appropriate weather reports or forecasts, or any combination of them, indicate the ceiling will be at least 1,000 feet above the airport elevation and visibility will be at least 3 statute miles for airports utilizing CAT I authorizations o r the visibility will be at least 2 statute miles for airports utilizing CAT II or CAT III authorizations

.

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 basi s for granting the original exemption.2

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 US Airways.

Our Decision

The FAA has determined that the justification for the issuance of Exemption No. 8684, as amended, remains valid with respect to this exemption and is in the public interest. Therefore,

und er the authority provided by 49 U.S.C. 40113 and 44701, which the FAA Administrator has delegated to me, US Airways, Inc., is § 121.619 that allows US Airways, its certificated dispatchers, granted an extension per its petition for exemption from and its p ilot in commands (PICs) to dispatch aircraft to domestic airports without designating an alternate for the destination airport where for at least 1 hour before and 1 hour after the estimated time of arrival at the destination airport the appropriate weathe r reports or forecasts, or any combination of them, indicate the ceiling will be at least 1,000 feet above the airport elevation and visibility will be at least 3 statute miles for airports utilizing CAT I authorizations or the visibility will be at least 2 statute miles for airports utilizing CAT II or CAT III authorizations

, subject to the following conditions and limitations.

Conditions and Limitations

1. Before conducting operations under this exemption, US Airways must obtain an updated operations speci fication A005 (Exemptions and Deviations) that provide s for operations under this exemption.

2. Operations under this exemption are limited to only those destination airports in the contiguous United States.

3. Operations conducted under this exemption must use a current and qualified aircraft dispatcher.

4. Operations under this exemption are limited to only those airports at which an operable instrument landing system (ILS) procedure is published. Alternate minimums are predicated on the following table:

Table 1

- Alternate Minimums (Ceiling and Visibility Required)

Operable ILS Ceiling Required Visibility Required

Category I 1,000 feet above ground level (AGL) 3 statute miles

Category II 1,000 feet AGL 2 statute miles3

Category III 1,000 feet AGL 2 statute mil es

5. Before conducting operations under this exemption, US Airways must demonstrate to the satisfaction of the FAA principal operations inspector (POI) assigned to the US Airways

Airlines Certificate Management Office that:

a. Each US Airways dispatcher has a system available to display the location of each flight within 3 minutes of real time;

b. Each US Airways dispatch facility has a system that provides its dispatchers with overlays of weather returns updated at least once every 5 minutes;

c. Each US Airways dis patch facility has a system that provides its dispatchers with a display of the specific aircraft routing as assigned by air traffic control (ATC) and actual filed flight plan routing;

d. Each US Airways dispatcher must have the capability to expeditiously

re compute projected arrival fuel from a “point aloft” to the intended destination in the event conditions, including those required to be reported in Condition

No. 8 below , occur th at negatively impact the flight;

e. Each US Airways dispatcher must have data av ailable that will show aircraft status, including the aircraft capability to conduct CAT I, CAT II or CAT III operations as applica ble to the exemption being used;

f. Each US Airways dispatcher has a system available to display locations of

other airborne air craft including aircraft of other operators;

g. Each US Airways dispatch facility has a system available that provides its dispatchers with a display of planned and actual fuel at regular intervals along the route and the difference between planned and actual fuel;

h. Each US Airways dispatch facility has a system available that automatically alerts its dispatchers to special weather updates, changes in weather reports, forecasts and/or other significant weather

- related reports, and ensures that these

can be rela yed to flightcrews in an expeditious manner;

i. Each US Airways dispatcher is provided the capability to access the services of a qualified meteorologist approved by the POI whenever the dispatcher believes that consultation is necessary to ensure safety of o perations under this exemption. The presence of an approved Enhanced Weather Information System program satisfies this requirement; and4

j. Each dispatch release issued in accordance with this exemption will contain a

statement such as “ALTERNATE WEATHER EXEM PTION APPLIED. REFERENCE (APPROPRIATE DOCUMENT SUCH AS FLIGHT OPERATIONS MANUAL, GENERAL OPERATONS MANUAL, ETC.).” The certificate holder may choose to use other wording, if desired, but the meaning must be clear.

6. The reporting requirements of the flightc rews listed in Condition No. 8, Mandatory Pilot Reports, and the required dispatch flight planning and tracking systems in Condition No. 5 must be used to determine the feasibility of dispatching the flight under this exemption and/or continuing the flight after dispatch.

7. Approved Procedures. If the use of these systems, reports or the occurrence of other factors indicate that the conditions under which the flight was originally dispatched have changed and may negatively impact the flight, the dispatcher an d flightcrew must re

evaluate the continued operation of the flight using approved procedures, and if necessary, agree on an alternate plan as soon as possible after the occurrence of any of the following:

a. En route holding or delaying vectors, airspeed cha nges, altitude changes, or re

routings;

b. Unplanned or sustained use of deicing and anti

- icing systems or other factors directly relating to fuel consumption that may have a negative e ffect on trip fuel requirements;

c. The deterioration of destination weather below a 1,000

- foot ceiling and 2

- mile visibility if using an exemption that requires at least 3 statute miles visibi lity as listed in Table 1; and

d. The deterioration of destination weather below a 1,000

- foot ceiling and 1

- mile visibility if using an exempti on that requires for at least 2 statute miles visibility as

listed in Table 1.

8. Mandatory Pilot Reports. Pilots will notify Dispatch as soon as possible in the event of any of the following:

a. Lateral deviation from the plann ed route by greater than 100 NM;

b. Vertical deviation from the planned altitude by greater than 4000 feet ;

c. ETA will exceed pla nned by greater than 15 minutes;

d. Fuel consumption in excess of planned that may have a negative effect on trip fuel requirements;

e. Fuel system component failure or a pparent malfunction that may have a negative

e ffect on trip fuel requirements;5

f. The flight encounters weather significantly different than forecast, to include turbulence;

g. The flight is assig ned en route or arrival holding; and

h. Unplanned or sustained use of deicing or anti

- icing systems.

9. US Airways must maintain CAT I ( operations specification C074)/CAT II/CAT III ( operations specification C059) ILS approach authorization (as applicable) for those aircraft to which this exemption would apply, and each airc raft must have fully operating equipment needed for the appropriate CAT I/CAT II/CAT III ILS approach for that aircraft to operate under this exemption.

10. At the time of dispatch, the flight crew must be qualified to conduct a CAT I/CAT II/ CAT III ILS appr oach to published minimums (as applicable). PICs with less than the requisite minimum hours specified in § 121.652 cannot be used in operations under this exemption, unless the operator also holds Exemption No. 5549, the PIC has been trained

in accordance with the requirements of that exemption, and all of the conditions specified by Exemption No. 5549 are met.

11. Operations are not permitted under this exemption at any airport at which thunderstorms are reported or forecast from 1 hour before through 1 hour after the estimated arrival time if such reports or forecasts are in either or both the main body or the remarks section of the weather report or the weather forecast. Furthermore, US Airways cannot use Exemption No. 3585 (as amended) issued to Air Transp ort Association of America, Inc., members (including US Airways ) or any subsequent exemption granting similar relief regarding any kind of forecast of thunderstorms at the destination airport in conjunction with any operation conducted under this exemption

.

12. Each certificated US Airways dispatcher and PIC, who conducts operations under this exemption, must be provided with a copy of pertinent parts of this exemption. Operations under this exemption are permitted by US Airways dispatchers and PICs but are no t required.

13. Use of this exemption in operations to destinations outside the contiguous United States is prohibited. US Airways is authorized to use this exemption in operations to airports within the 48 contiguous States and the District of Columbia from airports outside those boundaries provided US Airways also holds operations specification A012 (Part 121 Domestic Operations to Certain Airports Outside the 48 Contiguous States and Alaska) and operations are conducted in accordance with the appropriate p rovisions of that operations specification as they pertain to operations from Alaska and/or the airports listed

in Table 1 thereof.

14. US Airways must provide the Administrator, by the 15 TH day of each month, reports that include the information listed below, during the preceding calendar month. The POI is6

authorized to delete this reporting requirement once US Airways has conducted operations under this exemption satisfactorily for at least 24 continuous calendar months and sufficient data to thoroughly eval uate operational performance have been obtained.

Reports must contain the following information:

a. The total number of flights operated by US Airways under domestic rules to destinations within the 48 contiguous States and the District of Columbia;

b. The to tal number of flights operated under this exemption, including those flights conducted under the appropriate provisions and limitations of operations specification A012. For each flight operated, the dates; airport pairs; flight numbers; aircraft make, m odel, and serial number; trended or graphical summary of flight planned fuel vs. actual arrival fuel; and contingency fuel must be listed. Report format shall be in ch ronological order by fleet type;

c. The total number of flights that divert to an alternat e airport;

d. The total number of flights that divert to an alternate airport that are separated under this exemption, and the reason for each diversion, such as weather conditions, mechanical problem, fuel quantity, passenger problem, air traffic,

crewmembe r, or any other reason. US Airways must fully document each diversion; and

e. The total number of US Airways flights, operated under this exemption, that declare an emergency and the reason for such declaration, or during which flight

a low fuel state occu rs that results in actions being taken by ATC and/or dispatch to provide priority handling, even if no emergency is declared.

The Effect of Our Decision

Our decision extends the termination date of Exemption No. 8684, as amended, to January 31,

2016 unles s sooner superseded or rescinded.

Sincerely,

/s/
Michael J. Zenkovich Deputy Director, Flight Standards Services