800 Independence Ave., S.W. Washington, DC 20591

March 25, 2010

Regulatory Docket No. FAA

- 2008

- 0959

Mr. Freddy Pearce

Director of Maintenance Aero Contractors, Ltd.

P.O. Box 1139 Smithfield, NC 27577

Dear M r. Pearce :

This is in response to y our letter dated November 15, 2008

, petitioning the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on behalf of Aero Contractors, Ltd. (Aero Contractors), for an exemption from part 125.

Aero Contractors’ current exemption request is based in part on a letter from the FAA dated October 15, 2008, that re sponded to your August 26, 2008, request for exemption from the flight recorder requirements of § 125.226. The FAA apologize s that the

October 15 letter contained some conclusions that are incorrect.

The petitione r’s DC

- 3 aircraft is a transport category airplane. The designation as

transp ort category dates back to 1950 and was confirmed when the supplemental type certificate (STC) to Basler was issued. Although the original type certification basis for

the DC

- 3 remains Aero Bulletin 7A, Aero Contractors voluntarily modified the airplane, and it was properly designated transport category.

Because the petitioner’s aircraft is properly designated as transport category, is turbine powered, and is not included in the excepted list of § 125.226(l)(2), Aero Contractors must meet the applicable flight recorder requirements of § 125.226. The specific parameters of flight data to be recorded are based on the age of the airplane. The petitioner acknowledged this applicabi lity in its initial request of August 26, 2008, when

it asked to be “exempted” from § 125.22 6(l)(2). Later in that request, Aero Contractors

indicated it thought that the DC

- 3 model should have been included in that paragraph, which lists airplanes except ed from § 125.226 that must continue to operate under § 125.225.2

When the list of excepted airpla nes was proposed in 1996 (for §§ 121.344 and 125.226), the FAA requested that operators submit aircraft models to be listed as excepted. The list

of models contained in the current regulations came from operator requests and

consideration by the FAA for inclusion of individual models. The absence of the DC

- 3 from the list indicates that either no one requested its inclusion or that proper support for

the re quest was not submitted.

T he petitioner’s current request for exemption from part 125 as a whole was based, in

part

, on incorrect information in the FAA’s October 2008 letter and is denied. The designation of the petitioner’s airplane as transport categ ory is not the sole reason for denying this exemption request. As a matter of policy, the FAA has determined that routinely issuing deviations from all of part 125 for prolonged periods renders p art 125 meaningless and defeats the purpose of the rules. D eviations granted under § 125.3 are

done for i ndividual sections on a case

- by

- case basis and require that the operator show that it can maintain an equivalent level of safety. The petitioner’s request is considered a request for a blanket deviation, which the FAA no longer consider s

.

More spec ific to your original request, o n December 2, 2008, the FAA issued a regulation that prohibits any deviations from the flight recorder requirements of part 125 (73 FR

73171 ) . Operators are on notice that any current deviations from the flight recorder requirements expire on February 12, 2012. Operators need to plan for compliance with the flight recorder regulations of part 125.

If you wish to petition the FAA for rulemaking to have the DC

- 3 included in the

parag raph (l)(2) li st (and thus remain subject to § 125.225)

, you may do so. Request for

inclusion is not automatically granted. Historically, requests must provide information concerning whether an aircraft is still in production, how many of the model are

o perational worldwide, a valid estimate of the cost to comply with the applicable flight recorder regulations (from someone other than the operator, such as an STC holder or modification facility capable of doing the work), the current value of the airplane , its general use, and estimated life. Age and production status alone do not determine whether aircraft will be added to the list, and simple statements that “it i s too expensive to comply” are not acceptable. The FAA also consider s significant modificat ions to an original model as a factor in deciding whether compliance with the flight recorder regulations are appropriate.

Accordingly, your request for exemption from § 125.226 is denied

, and Docket

No. FAA

- 2008

- 0959 is being closed.

Sincerely,

/s/

J ohn W. McGraw Acting Director, Flight Standards

Service