A JV

- 13

- 434

- E Exemption No. 10894

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION WASHINGTON, DC 20591

In the matter of the petition of

AMERI FLIGHT , LLC Regulatory Docket No. FAA

– 2013

– 0571

for an exemption from § 91.225 of Title 14, Code of Federal Regulations

DENIAL OF EXEMPTION

By letter dated July 24 , 2013

, Mr. Andrew Lotter, Vice President of Flight and Director of Operations of Ameriflight, LLC ( Ameriflight ), 4700 Empire Av enue , Hangar 1

, Burbank, CA
91505

, petitioned the Federal A viation Administration (FAA) on behalf of Ameriflight for an exemption from § 91.225 of Title 14, Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR). The proposed exemption, if granted, would grant Ameriflight a 4 year delay from compliance with requirements to have a u

tomatic dependent surveillance

- broadcast ( ADS

- B ) Out equipment
installed on all aircraft in its fleet.

Th e petitioner requests relie f from the following regulation s:
Section 91.225(a), (b), and (d) prescribes , in pertinent part, that after January 1 , 20 2 0 :
(1) A ircraft operating in Class A airspace must meet the requirements of Technical Standard Order (TSO)

- C166b and § 91.227; and

(2) A ircraft operating in airspace designated in paragraph (d) of this section must meet the requirements of TSO

- C166b or TSO

- C 154c , and § 91.227.

The petitioner supports its request with the following information:

Ameriflight states that it anticipate s supply problems for some components for ADS

- B
installation. It also project s that bringing its entire fleet into compliance exceeds the capacity of its maintenance department, as well as its ability to remove aircraft from service, especially during peak demand seasons. Ameriflight plan s to bring the largest, fastest and most complex aircraft into compliance first, eventually leaving smaller2

aircraft that seldom operate in Class A airspace or into high

- traffic airports as the last to complete. The petitioner projects final fleet compliance by December 31, 2024.

The petitioner argues that a grant of exemption would be in the public's i nterest because it operates "more than 1900 flights per week, transporting express packages for UPS, Fed Ex and DHL, medical laboratory samples, radioactive isotopes used in medical treatment and diagnosis and other high

- priority cargo to communities throu ghout the U.S., Canada, Alaska, Central and South America, and the Caribbean." It contends that business and government entities rely upon the service for timely delivery of urgent

cargo.

The petitioner also states that relief from the requirements of § 91.225 would not adversely affect safety because Ameriflight's aircraft operate with Mode A/C transponders

, the y are engaged in all

- cargo operations and mostly during off

- peak hours and at less busy airports

, and its plan includes the majority of its air craft being equipped by 2020.

In addition , the petit

ioner provided a copy of the DOT Inspector General’s report on the
status of NextGen to the House A viation S ubcommittee, dated July 17, 2013, to support its request.

A summary of the petition wa s published in the Federal Register on July 26, 2013, ( 78 FR 45287 ). No comments were received.

The FAA’ s analysis is as follows:

The FAA does not find a valid basis to delay Ameriflight’s compliance date for reasons of
ADS

- B equipment availability, work load, or time out of fleet. The subject final rule requiring
ADS

- B Out equipment and u se was published on May 28, 2010 (75 FR 30160) and specified a compliance date of January 1

, 2020.

Manufacturers of ADS

- B Out avionics report there is no present or ant icipa ted shortage of equipment . A provider of TSO

- compliant ADS

- B Out equipment informed the FAA that all of
its system designs have been undertaken with full insight into expected demand for retrofit equipment , even in those areas that require specialized parts, such as Global Navigation Satellite System ( GNSS ) sensors. This provider, like many others, has established at least two
sources with an in

- house

, back

- up capability. Additionally, a separate provider of TS O

compliant ADS

- B Out equipment informed t he FAA that it could multiply its current monthly output twofold immediately and by much more if sufficient demand existed. The FAA is not aware of any grounds for concern over availability of equipment to meet a 2020 deadline.

Various operators, includi ng carriers conducting operations under 14 CFR part s 135, 121 and
129

, regional carriers an d cargo lines

, have indicated to the FAA plans to comply with the equipment requirements by 2020

.3

The petitioner claims that modi fications of aircraft will require two aircraft per month to be out
of service , and that varied and older cockpit designs may not allow for easy refit

. The FAA is not persuaded that this reflects a realistic amount of time required to install ADS

- B Out equipment. Some ADS

- B Out installation s can be accomplished with software upgrades to a
Mode

- S transponder and GNSS receiver. For older equipment that cannot be upgraded, t he majority of replacements consist of remov ing the existing transponder and installing the new equipment in the same spac e. Wiring

, where needed

, can also be quickly installed

. In the majority of aircraft, t

he refit of this equipment can be accomplished in 1

- 2 day s ; t herefore

, the disruption to the availability of aircraft is expected to be minimal

. Based on the FAA’s
expert ise and the information received from other operators that have installed ADS

- B Out equipment, the FAA does not find reason to expect aircraft to be out of service for a month to
install ADS

- B Out equipment alone.

The FAA specifically stated in the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for this rule that "a 10

- year compliance window gives the aviation community ample time to manage costs and minimize the impact of ADS

- B on its normal operations" (72 FR 56947 and 56960)

. The FAA affirmed the selection of this comp liance date in the final rule based on the comments received and the rationale from the proposal that a 2020 compliance date permits most operators to use regularly scheduled maintenance to install or upgrade their equipment. Furthermore, the final rule

s pecifically contains provisions for pilots of non

- equipped aircraft to request access to Class A, B, C , and certain Class E airspace areas

.

Lastly, the petitioner included, as support for its request, the Statement of the Honorable Calvin L. Scovel III, I nspector General, Department of Transportation, on the FAA's Progress and Challenges in Advances the Next Generation Air Transportation System. 1 This Report was on the status of the NextGen Program, and has no bearing on establ ished technology and rules th at are de signed to work directly with implementation of ADS

- B Out equipment . The report ma kes

no recommend ations regarding implementation of any NextGen technology , and therefore does not support the petitioner ’ s request

.

Given that Ameriflight has 6 year s to comply with the rule, and that the rule specifically contains a provision to allow non

- equipped aircraft to request access to the airspace, the FAA does not find that Ameriflight has satisfactorily demonstrated that relief from the requirement is

warr anted at this time

.

The FAA’s Decision:

In consideration of the foregoing, I find that a grant of exemption would not be in the public interest. Therefore, pursuant to the authority contained in 49 U.S.C. §§ 40113 and 44701, delegated to me by the A dministrato r, the petition of Ameriflight for an exemption from 14 CFR § 91.225 is hereby denied.

Issued in Washington, D

. C

. , on November 13, 2013.

1 This Statement was before the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, Subcommittee on Aviation, United States House of Representatives, July 17, 2013.4

/s/
Franklin A. Black Deputy Director, Airspace Services