AFS-15-065-E

November 26, 2014

 Exemption No. 5560J

 Regulatory Docket No. FAA-2000-8180

Ms. Stacey Bechdolt, Esq.

Senior Director, Safety and Technical Affairs

Regional Airline Association

2025 M Street, NW, Suite 800

Washington, DC 20036

Dear Ms. Bechdolt:

This letter is to inform you that we have granted your petition to extend Exemption 

No. 5560, as amended. It explains the basis for our decision, describes its effect, and lists the 

conditions and limitations.

The Basis for Our Decision

By letter dated November 26, 2014, you petitioned the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) 

on behalf of the Regional Airline Association (RAA), for an extension of Exemption No. 5560, 

as amended. That exemption from §§ 61.3(a) and (c) of Title 14, Code of Federal Regulations 

(14 CFR) allows RAA part 135 member carriers to establish special procedures that enable an 

air carrier to issue to its flight crewmembers, on a temporary basis, confirmation of any required 

pilot and medical certificate and photo ID, based on information contained in the operator’s 

approved record system. 

Also, you requested an exemption from § 135.95(a). However, in Exemption No. 5560, the 

FAA determined that an exemption from § 135.95 is not required, since that regulation does 

not require that a certificate holder’s airmen have their certificates in their possession, it only 

requires that each airman hold a certificate.
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In your petition, you indicate that there has been no change in the conditions and reasons 

relative to public interest and safety that were the basis for granting the original exemption.

The FAA has determined that good cause exists for not publishing a summary of the petition in 

the Federal Register because the requested extension would not set a precedent, and any delay in 

acting on this petition would be detrimental to the RAA.

Our Decision

The FAA has determined that the justification for the issuance of Exemption No. 5560, as 

amended, remains valid with respect to this exemption and is in the public interest. Therefore, 

under the authority provided by 49 U.S.C. §§ 106(f), 40113, and 44701, which the FAA 

Administrator has delegated to me, RAA is granted an extension to Exemption No. 5560, as 

amended, which allows RAA part 135 member carriers to establish special procedures that 

enable an air carrier to issue to its flight crewmembers, on a temporary basis, confirmation of 

any required pilot and medical certificate and photo ID, based on information contained in the 

operator’s approved record system, subject to the following conditions and limitations.

Conditions and Limitations

1. This exemption is issued for the purpose of preventing cancellation of scheduled air 

carrier flights in situations where a pilot flight crewmember’s FAA pilot certificate, 

FAA medical certificate, and/or photo identification are valid but physically 

unavailable. The privileges of this exemption are intended for situations where 

crewmembers have no access to Airman Services at thewww.faa.gov website for 

receiving via FAX or internet download FAA-issued documents containing temporary 

authority to exercise certificate privileges.

2. This exemption allows RAA member carriers to develop and issue to a pilot flight 

crewmember a document confirming the pilot flight crewmember’s FAA-issued pilot 

and medical certification. The document issued by the RAA member carrier must be 

in the pilot flight crewmember’s physical possession when exercising the privileges of 

the exemption and must contain the following information—

a. The pilot flight crewmember’s certification information from the 

crewmember’s pilot and medical certificates. 

b. The exact text or a photocopy of this exemption.

c. The RAA confirmation document must include the following statements:

i. “Issued under the authority of Exemption No. 5560, as amended.”

ii. “Expires (insert date/time 72 hours after issuance).”

iii. “The privileges of this exemption may only be exercised only within 

the District of Columbia and the 48 contiguous United States.”
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iv. The privileges of this exemption may be only be exercised for 

scheduled air carrier flights. The privileges of this exemption may not 

be exercised for operations under part 91, part 91 Subpart K, or for 

unscheduled flights operated under part 135.

3. Before conducting operations under this exemption, each RAA member carrier must 

receive approval from its FAA principal operations inspector (POI) for the procedures 

the RAA member carrier expects to employ in issuing a confirmation document to 

pilot flight crewmembers who do not have in their personal possession the pilot and/or 

medical certificate or photo identification. These procedures must include a method to 

ensure positive identification of the pilot flight crewmember when the pilot no longer

has photo identification.

4. Each pilot flight crewmember who operates a flight under this exemption must—

a. As soon as practicable, obtain from Airman Services at the faa.gov website a 

document containing temporary authority to exercise certificate privileges.

b. If the pilot flight crewmember’s FAA pilot and medical certificate are 

permanently lost or destroyed, the pilot flight crewmember must comply with 

§§ 61.29(c) and assure that a request for a replacement certificate from the 

FAA is made within 72 hours of the initiation of any flight conducted under 

this exemption. The RAA member carrier is authorized to make the 

application to the FAA on behalf of each pilot flightcrew member.

c. The pilot flightcrew member must provide a copy of the FAA-issued 

documents containing temporary authority to exercise certificate privileges to 

the RAA member carrier within 24 hours of the receipt of that document. 

The Effect of Our Decision

Our decision extends the termination date to November 30, 2016, unless sooner superseded or 

rescinded. 

Sincerely,

/s/

John S. Duncan

Director, Flight Standards Service