January 26, 2012 

Docket Management Facility 

US Department of Transportation 

1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE 

West Building Ground Floor 

Room W12-140 

Washington, DC 20590 

Re: Request for Exemption 

Petitioner:

Seaborne Virgin Islands, Inc., d.b.a. Seaborne Airlines 

by its President/CEO, Mr. Omer ErSelcuk 

Petitioner’s Contact Information:

1210 Watergut 

Christiansted, VI 00820 

(340) 773-5991 extension 23 

oerselcuk@seaborneairlines.com 

Background:

Seaborne Virgin Islands, Inc., doing business as Seaborne Airlines holds Air Carrier Certificate 

Number: S9BA675J and has operations specifications authorizing it to conduct domestic, flag 

and supplemental operations in the islands of the Caribbean. Seaborne Airlines primarily 

provides scheduled passenger service to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands using 19-

passenger DeHavilland DHC-6-300 wheel planes. A portion of Seaborne Airlines’ route 

structure involves providing scheduled passenger operations using the FLOAT plane 

configuration of the DHC-6 between St. Thomas, VI (SPB) Charlotte Amalie Harbor and St 

Croix, VI (SBB) Christiansted Harbor. 

After April 7,2012, 14 CFR Part 121359(i), Cockpit Voice Recorders, requires Seaborne Airlines 

to install upgraded Cockpit Voice Recorders in their aircraft that in part, meets the standards of 

TSO-C123a, or later revision. The most notable enhancement is the increase of recording 

retention time from 30 minutes to 2 hours. 

Relief Sought from Regulatory Sections:

Compliance Date: 14CFR Part 121359(i), Cockpit Voice Recorde, for selected airplanes. 

Nature and Extent of the Requested Relief

Seaborne Airline is requesting an extension to the compliance date for upgraded Cockpit 

Voice Recorder required by 14 CFR Part 121.359(i) for three specific aircraft and for a 

specified time as described in the Analysis section of this request. 

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Analysis

Although Seaborne Airlines has equipped its aircraft with the upgraded CVR, the airline also 

operates three leased aircraft that do not have the upgraded CVR installed. The leases on the 

aircraft will expire as indicated below which presents a unique and potentially expensive issue 

for Seaborne Airlines. The DHC-6 Turbopropeller aircraft operated under Part 121 requires the 

upgraded Cockpit Voice Recorder,1

 however this same aircraft can be operated under Part 135 

without the upgraded Cockpit Voice Recorder.2

 As a result the lessor (aircraft owner) has little 

interest in participating in the cost of installing the upgraded CVR. 

In the absence of a temporary operating exemption for these three aircraft, Seaborne Airlines is 

faced with making a substantial financial investment with no assurance that the leases will be 

renewed. Seaborne Airlines has determined that the purchase cost for each CVR unit will be 

20,000 dollars and the labor cost is estimated at 3200 dollars per installation. The aircraft will 

be out of service for 4 days and requires a permanent modification to the cockpit instrument 

panel. 

It is important to understand that Seaborne Airlines is prepared to immediately comply with this 

required upgrade for its fleet but is concerned about making a 23,200 dollar capital improvement 

to these leased aircraft with no assurance that the aircraft will be available after the end of the 

lease period. Although the final rule (FR FAA-2005-20245) rejected commenter requests for 

extending the CVR compliance date, the FAA did recognize the possible need for a temporary 

operating exemption for an individual airplane. 

Therefore, Seaborne Airlines is requesting a temporary operating exemption for the airplanes 

indicated: 

1. DeHavilland DHC-6; N251SA; S/N 524; exemption relief until 12/15/2012 

2. DeHavilland DHC-6; N288SA; S/N 389; exemption relief until 10/15/2012 

3. DeHavilland DHC-6; N562CP; S/N 562; exemption relief until 10/05/2013 

Equivalent Level of Safety

The primary enhancement to the upgraded CVR is the increase of recording retention time from 

30 minutes to 2 hours. Since Seaborne Airlines normally operates at or below 5000 feet and 

the longest flight is 47 minutes, the loss of critical cockpit voice data is very remote.

In addition, the use of the current CVR does not reduce the operational safety capabilities since 

its purpose of any CVR is post incident investigation. Therefore, safety of the flight is not 

affected. 

If exemption relief is granted, Seaborne Airlines will restrict the flight time of any single 

scheduled leg to no more that one hour. 

As a result, granting of a temporary operating exemption for these aircraft will not reduce the 

current level of safety.

 

1

 § 121.359 Cockpit voice recorders. (i) By April 7, 2012, all turbine engine-powered airplanes subject to 

this section that are manufactured before April 7, 2010, must have a cockpit voice recorder installed that 

also-- (1) Meets the requirements of § 23.1457(d)(6) or § 25.1457(d)(6) of this chapter, as applicable; 

(2) Retains at least the last 2 hours of recorded information using a recorder that meets the standards of 

TSO-C123a, or later revision; and 

(3) Is operated continuously from the use of the checklist before the flight to completion of the final 

checklist at the end of the flight. 

2

 § 135.151 Cockpit voice recorders. 

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Benefit to the Public Interest 

If Seaborne Airlines is not able to control its cost while providing its services under Part 121 

rules, the airline will be forced to conduct operations in accordance with regulatory requirements 

with lesser safety standards. If Seaborne Airlines was unable to properly manage the financial 

impact of this cost, many of our passengers would then be forced to fly on "9 or less" piston 

powered aircraft or worse, single pilot/single engine aircraft over open water to the ports we 

currently serve. 

Therefore, we believe that granting of this exemption which provides passengers with continued 

access to turbopropeller powered twin engine aircraft is in the public interest. 

Summary for Publication in the Federal Register 

Seaborne Virgin Islands, Inc., doing business as Seaborne Airlines holds Air Carrier Certificate 

Number: S9BA675J and has operations specifications authorizing it to conduct domestic, flag 

and supplemental operations in the islands of the Caribbean. Seaborne Airlines primarily 

provides scheduled passenger service to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands using DeHavilland 

DHC-6-300 wheel planes. A portion of Seaborne Airlines' route structure involves providing 

scheduled passenger operations using the FLOAT plane configuration of the DHC-6 between 

St. Thomas, VI (SPB) Charlotte Amalie Harbor and St Croix, VI (SBB) C~lristiansted Harbor. 

After April 7,2012, 14 CFR Part 121359(i), Cockpit Voice Recorders, requires Seaborne Airlines 

to install upgraded Cockpit Voice Recorders in their aircraft that in part, meets the standards of 

TSO-C123a, or later revision. 

Seaborne Airlines seeks exemption relief to postpone installation of the upgraded Cockpit Voice 

Recorder in certain leased aircraft until it can be determined that the airline is able to lease 

these aircraft on a more permanent basis. 

In order to maintain an equivalent level of safety, Seaborne Airlines will accept a limitation of a 

maximum flight time for any single leg to one hour. 

Technical Support - Contact Information 

Seaborne Airlines - Director of Quality Control 

Mr. John Harrison 

(340) 514-6208 

jharrison@seaborneairlines.com 

Seaborne Airlines - Chief Operating Officer 

Mr. David Ziemer 

(340) 773-5991 extension 23 

dziemer@ seaborneairlines .com 

Sincerely, 

tlc~ ,A-.- -

Omer ErSelcu~ President/Chie~cutive Officer 

Seaborne Airlines 

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