P.O. Box 700548, Dallas, Texas 75370-0548 

(972) 725-9000  FAX (972) 725-9090 

U.S. Department of Transportation 

Docket Operations 

West Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140, 

1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., 

Washington, DC 20590. 

September 20, 2013 

Subject Petition for Reconsideration - Docket FAA-2013-0180 

Ameristar Air Cargo, Inc., dba Ameristar Charters (Ameristar) respectfully requests that its petition for 

exemption, denied in the above referenced docket, be reconsidered in accordance with 14 CFR Part 

11.101 and the information presented below. 

A. Summary of Petition 

On February 19, 2013, Ameristar petitioned the FAA to grant an exemption, with limitations, from 

FAR Part 121.1115. This regulation states in part: 

“Limit of validity. No certificate holder may operate an airplane identified in paragraph (a) 

of this section after the applicable date identified in Table 1 of this section unless an 

Airworthiness limitations section approved under Appendix H to part 25 or § 26.21 of this 

chapter is incorporated into its maintenance program.” 

Ameristar requested that it be allowed to continue to operate one specific aircraft, a Boeing 737-

200 Advanced, N733TW and Boeing Serial Number 22732 (N733TW) listed in Paragraph D085 of 

its current Operations Specifications. This petition was denied. 

B. In the denial of the exemption, the FAA incorrectly states that Ameristar did not provide 

“predicted” current aircraft cycles and flight hour computations1

. It is clear that Ameristar did 

provide this information2

 showing average utilization for a period of over 7 years. It was also 

stated that Ameristar, if granted the exemption would not fly the aircraft over 500 hours or 300 

cycles in any calendar year3

. Further the FAA did not question Ameristar with regard to this 

issue. The FAA could have further restricted the cycles and hours as a limitation in granting the 

exemption. 

C. Ameristar believes that it has provided a sound plan that demonstrates that the exemption would 

not adversely affect public safety. The FAA allows similarly situated aircraft and operating 

strategies to continue to fly without compliance with this rule. In addition to the Part 125 aircraft 

operators being able to continue to fly, a Part 135 operator could also operate the aircraft with up 

to 30 persons. The FAA has contradicted itself in this area of adversely affecting public safety in 

that the same aircraft affected by FAR Part 121.1115 rule can hold out to the public at large in 

Part 135 operations. 

D. A significant fact was omitted from Ameristar’s original petition for exemption, that is that the 

current configuration of N733TW is 56 seats which limits the zero weight of the aircraft to well 

below the maximum zero fuel weight (ZFW). A reduced ZFW significantly reduces the stress on 

the structure of the aircraft. 

 

1

 Page 3 first paragraph Docket FAA-2013-0180-0003 

2

 Page 2 Paragraph F Docket FAA-2013-0180-0001 

3

 Page 4 Paragraph H(4) Docket FAA-2013-0180-0001 
Reconsideration of Exemption from 14 CFR Part 121.1115 Page 2 September 20, 2013 

Reconsideration of Exemption 

Ameristar respectfully requests that this petition for exemption be granted based on the foregoing and 

with the following conditions and any other conditions that the FAA may elect to impose: 

1. The current interval for a C Check be reduced from 24 months to 15 months 

2. Aircraft hours would be limited to 350 hours per calendar year 

3. Aircraft cycles would be limited to 230 per calendar year 

4. Maximum seating capacity would be limited to 56 seats 

Thank you for your consideration in this matter. 

Sincerely 

Pat Hulsey 

Director of Operations 

Ameristar Air Cargo, Inc.