U.S. Department 

of Transportation 

Office of the Secretory 

of Transportation 

Mr. Joseph R. Hicks 

Temsco Helicopters, Inc .. 

P.O. Box 5057 

Ketchikan, Alaska 9990 1-005 7 

Dear Mr. Hicks: 

Assistant Secretary 

March 19, 2012 

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t.Ui.:. ' I l '""\ A II· • ,~. G 

Thank you for your letter concerning the U.S. Department of Transportation's (Department) 

citizenship investigation ofVIH Cougar Helicopters, Inc. (VIH Cougar). 

On March 12,2012, the Department issued Order 2012·3·7 tentatively finding that VIH Cougar 

is not a U.S. citizen as defined in 49 U.S.C. § 40102(a)(l5) and proposing to cancel its air taxi 

authority. Interested parties are provided 2 I days from the date of its issuance to file objections 

to the Department's tentative findings. Access to the docket is available by entering the docket 

number, DOT-OST-2012-0022, into the simple se.arch function at the Department's Docket 

Management System (DMS) website, which is http://www.regulations.gov. 

Finally, since this matter is pending, I am unable to comment on the merits of VIH Cougar's 

submissions. I assure you, however, that the Department will give full consideration to all 

comments on the record in the docket. 

As is our normal practice, I an1 placing a copy of your letter and this response in Docket 

DOT-OST-2012-0022 as a contact outside the record of this matter. I appreciate your interest in 

this proceeding. 

Sincerely yours, 

( 

Susan L. Kurland 

Assistant Secretary for 

Aviation and International Affairs 
... 

Ms. Susan Kurland 

Assistant Secretary of Transportation for Aviation & International Affairs 

United States Department of Transportation 

1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE 

Washington, DC 20590 

KETCHIKAN: 

FAX: 

PETERSBURG: 

SKAGWAY~ 

JUNEAU: 

Via email to susan.kurland@dot.gov; susan.l.kurland@dot.gov; faac@dot.gov 

(91J1)~141 

{907)215-2$40 

(907) 172-4180 

(907) ... 

(907)1..-1 

SUBJECT: VIH Cougar Helicopters, Inc. I Foreign Operators Competing with Americans 

Dear Secretary Kurland: 

Petroleum Helicopters, Inc (PHI) challenged the operations of VIH Cougar Helicopters, Inc. (VIH 

Cougar) in the United States (Alaska, the West Coast, and the Gulf of Mexico). As a certificated air 

carrier I concur with the sentiments expressed in this letter. 

In your October 6, 2011 letter to counsel for VIH Cougar Helicopters, Inc, (VIH Cougar) 

concerning their status as a Part 298 Air Taxi Operator you cited "overwhelming evidence" 

that VIH Cougar is not in compliance with the requirements of the Federal Aviation Act that 

certificated airline operators be citizens of the United States. 

US air carriers have long maintained and you finally concluded that although VIH Cougar theoretically 

complies with the numerical ownership requirements of the statute, it is not under the actual control 

of citizens of the United States. You note four reasons, including: 

• the agency relationship of Mr. Steeper by Mr. Nourie, 

• the provision of technical and operational services and equipment by the VIH Group to VIH 

Cougar, 

• contractual relationships among the VIH Group and VIH Cougar, and, 

• tellingly, information discrepancies provided to the Department. 

Additionally, VIH Cougar officials have made public statements revealing that company's Canadian 

ties. Each one of these alone would be grounds for a finding on non-compliance, but together they 

show a premeditated and willful lack of compliance disposition as well as non-citizenship. 

During the entire period of this investigation VIH Cougar has continued to compete unfairly with U.S 

certificated operators. VIH Cougar has been the beneficiary of its illegal relationship with the VIH 

Group at the expense of U.S. companies. Since October 6, 2011, VIH has continued to do business 

without any apparent change. If anything, it is now incentivized to seek additional market share as 

part of whatever restructuring it may offer to the Department. 

While US certificated operators appreciates the Department's very thorough review of the allegations 

against VIH Cougar, we believe that the time has come to stop VIH Cougar's, and other foreign 

entities, lengthy history of flaunting the citizenship requirements and competing unfairly against U.S. 

citizen operators. As the VIH Group remains in control of VIH Cougar almost three months after 

the 30-day deadline for compliance included in your October 6, 2011 letter, we respectfully 
request that immediate action be taken to bring an end to this illegal situation. . " Iii 

We urge the Department to move quickly and openly to end this situation, which has gone on 

for several years. VIH Cougar should not be allowed to continue to engage in unlawful 

competition that disadvantages U.S. citizen operators as it delays compliance with U.S. law to 

maximize its ill-gotten gains. VIH Cougar should not be allowed to continue to operate in the 

United States unless it has met the requirements of the Federal Aviation Act that certificated airline 

operators be citizens of the United States. 

The Department's recent Notice of Proposed Policy Clarification for the Registration of 

Aircraft to U.S. Citizen Trustees in Situations Involving Non-U.S. Citizen Trustors and 

Beneficiaries, Federal Register Feb 9, 2012 indicates the serious concern the Department is 

showing with regard to assuring close regulatory oversight of U.S. registered aircraft and 

operations. 

Likewise, in this matter, the operator has persistently evaded statutory requirements for actual citizen 

control. Just as the Department is taking action to assure that regulatory oversight on leased 

US registered aircraft is not avoided through complex ownership instruments, the Department 

should move to quickly close down VIH Cougar's evasion of the statute. 

We believe that there is no public policy that can be served any longer by shielding VIH Cougar's 

citizenship status from the public. Having made the preliminary findings based on "overwhelming 

evidence," we respectfully request that the Department bring transparency to any further 

proceedings in this matter. The Department's informal proceedings may have public policy 

benefits in enabling operators to arrange their citizenship affairs privately when they are seeking to 

comply with the law, but that does not apply in this case. Here, VIH Cougar circumvented the law in 

a calculated manner and did not merely seek to ascertain the limits of the citizenship requirements. 

Instead, it established, and long operated under, an egregious scheme which violated the citizenship 

requirements and engaged in deception to do so. 

As U.S. citizens, we are entitled to transparency and open government in matters of regulatory . 

compliance. Any efforts by the Department to ensure that VIH Cougar divests and 

restructures should be open, transparent and public. 

Sincerely, 

Joseph R. Hicks 

Sr. Vice President 

TEMSCO Helicopters Inc. 

Cc: Ray LaHood, Secretary of Transportation via email to robert.letteney@dot.gov 

Representative Don Young, via email to scott.leathard@mail.house.gov 

Senator Lisa Murkowski, via email to warren.wright@murkowski.senate.gov 

Senator Mark Begich, via email to james feldman@begich.senate.gov 

Governor Sean Parnell, via email to randall.ruaro@alaska.gov; russ.kelly@alaska.gov