1 AVIATION WAY, DEKALB-PEACHTREE AIRPORT ATLANTA, GA 30341 PHONE: 770-458-9851

8/18/2011

Docket Management Facility US Department of Transportation 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE West Building Ground Floor

Room W12-140 Washington, DC 20590

To whom it may concern:

Epps Air Service, Inc. is petitioning for an exemption from 14 CFR 43.3(g) as it pertains to navigational software databases as listed in Appendi x A to 14 CFR 43, paragraph (c) item (32).

The specific section of Title 14 CFR from which we seek an exemption is: § 43.3 Persons authorized to perform maintenance, preventive maintenance, rebuilding, and alterations. (g) Except for holders of a sport pilot cer tificate, the holder of a pilot certificate issued under part 61 may perform preventive maintenance on any aircraft owned or operated by that pilot which is not used under part 121, 129, or 135 of this chapter. The holder of a sport pilot certificate may perform preventive maintenance on an aircraft owned or oper ated by that pilot an d issued a special airworthiness certificate in the light-sport category. Appendix A to Part 43—Major Alteration s, Major Repairs, and Preventive

Maintenance (c) Preventive maintenance. Preventive maintenance is limited to the following work, provided it does not involve complex assembly operations: (32) Updating self-contained, front instru ment panel-mounted Air Traffic Control (ATC) navigational software data bases (excluding those of automatic flight control systems, transponders, and microwave frequency distance measuring equipment (DME)) provided no disassembly of the unit is required and pertinent instructions are provided. Prior to the unit's intended use, an operational check must be performed in accordance with applicable sections of part 91 of this chapter.

Currently as an air carrier, ESMA 688D, Epps Air Service cannot allow our pilots to update navigational databases due to 14 CFR 135 regulations. If the exemption were granted, Epps Air Service pilots, who will be trained on database download procedures, per our 14 CFR 135 approved training manual, would be allowed to update FMS and GPS databases for 14 CFR 135 aircraft. By granting this requested exemption, Epps Air Service trained pilo ts would have the ability to better serve the public, achieve a higher level of safety, and reduce operating costs for the company.

With the current 14 CFR 43.3 restraints as a pplicable to 14 CFR 135 aircraft, navigational databases are, at times, not able to be maintained w ithout lapses in currently. This is due to the 28-day update cycle not coinciding with the aircraft being at a location that offers approved maintenance. Under1 AVIATION WAY, DEKALB-PEACHTREE AIRPORT ATLANTA, GA 30341 PHONE: 770-458-9851

optimum conditions the aircraft would be at our hom e base during an updated cycle and our local 14 CFR 145 repair station would perform the database update. However, with our operation being on-demand, the aircraft can easily end up at a location with no appr oved maintenance technician during a cycle change over period. As a result, the non-RNAV capable aircraft can lead to several issues that would not be in the public's best interest:

• Inability to fly more accurate, and thus safer RNAV approaches

• Inability to land at customer's preferred airports in outlying areas due to low weather and not have the ability to fly RNAV approaches. Our customers choose 14 CFR 135 flights over 14 CFR 121 due to our ability to land at 10 times the number of airports, thus significantly reducing the customers travel time on the road and increasing th eir productivity. However, many of the small town airports offer only non-precision approach es, with RNAV approaches usually having the lowest landing minimums. Losing the ability to fly RNAV approaches could cause us to have to take the customer to an airport several miles fro m their first selection during times of low ceilings and visibility.

• Inability to fly RNAV SID and STAR procedures, as well as Class 1 navigation enroute, which can lead to lengthy routing delays and increasing ATC workloads.

• Inability to maintain higher levels of safety with RNAV capability due to navigation accuracy. With the GNSS system offering an extremely higher degree of accuracy than traditional land based navigation aids, the crew and passengers would be at greater risk of controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) as well as having a reduced obstacle clearance margin of safety in a non-RNAV

aircraft.

With regard to this exemption affecting safety, E pps Air Service feels that the level of safety will increase for the following reasons:

• With flight crews having the ability to update da tabases, the aircraft will remain RNAV capable to a greater extent without having to rely on ob taining a qualified technician at locations away

from home base. This will allow the aircraft to take advantage of the above listed RNAV capabilities.

• Pilots will be trained per Epps Air Service's FAA approved training program on the specific FMS or GPS unit for the aircraft they crew. With the flight crews already trained and proficient on the usage of the FMS or GPS unit, having to learn update procedures will be an easy and safe

transition.

• With flight crews most likely more proficient in the use of the FMS or GPS than many technicians, the level of safety will not be co mpromised. Furthermore, the FMS and GPS units run an automatic self-test during required unit restar ts after database updates. This allows crews to determine continued RNAV capability after updates.

• All crews performing updates will coordinate with the Director of Maintenance for each update cycle. The pilot will be notified of all upcoming cycle database availability and effective dates. Upon successful completion of an update, the cr ewmember will document the update in the maintenance log. This entry will then be signed by the DOM for proper record retention and

aircraft release data.1 AVIATION WAY, DEKALB-PEACHTREE AIRPORT ATLANTA, GA 30341 PHONE: 770-458-9851

SUMMARY

Epps Air Service, Inc. is petitioning for an exemption from 14 CFR 43.3(g) as it pertains to navigational software databases as lis ted in Appendix A to 14 CFR 43, paragraph (c) item (32). Due to current 14 CFR 135 regulations we currently must have a certified technician, preferably from the local 14 CFR 145 repair station at our home base, update al l aircraft databases at every 28-day cycle at an added cost to us that must be passed on to the customer . This cost is much higher if databases must be updated away from home base. With our on-demand sch edule we are unable to predict and plan when and where database updates can occur. This can lead to aircraft being in locations where updates are unable to be performed due to the up date availability and effective cycle not timing with the aircraft being at a location with approved maintenance technicians.

As a result Epps Aviation would not be able to take advantage of our RNAV approved enroute and approach capability, which would not benefit the pub lic and can reduce levels of safety. The flight crew may have to take the customer to airports other than the one requested, which may only have RNAV approaches, or has RNAV approaches with the low est landing minimums required during times of low ceilings and visibility. A non-RNAV capable aircraft also usually requires extra time and effort from multiple ATC facilities and thus increases their workload and possibly reduces safety margins. With the FAA promoting RNAV capability as improving ATC traffic flows, airport access, safety, etc. it would be in the operator's as well as the public's best interest to allow properly trained flight crews the ability to keep the database current at all times with no interruption in cycle currency.

With the pilots having been training on the aircraft specific model of FMS or GPS, the level of safety would remain or be greater than that obtained with the current 14 CFR regulations. This is especially true since the database would be updated by a small group of qualified pilots who use the RNAV systems more frequently than most technician s. Once the database has been updated, a self-test is performed as evidence that the database is current and the system continues to operate as before. All pilots would coordinate with the Director of Mainte nance after a database update for the proper aircraft log entry and aircraft release.

Sincerely,



### Gregg Johnson Director of Standards & Compliance Epps Air Service, Inc. gjohnson@eppsaviation.com

770-458-9851 ext 227