01/0B/2011 14:21 2022675075 OFFICE OF RULEMAKING PAGE 02 

IQnitcd States Senate 

WASHINGTON, DC 20510 

CJO 

December 22,2010 

The Honorable Raymond LaHood cr 

Secretary -r-i 

U.S. Department of Trartsportation 

1200 New Jersey Avenue ^ 

Washington, D.C. 20590 2 

Dear Mr. Secretary, 

We are writing to express our strong concerns about the Federal Aviation Administration's current 

Flightcrew (Member Duty and Rest Requirements Notice of Proposed Rulemalcing. 

We have reviewed both the NPRM and Regulatory Impact Analysis and heard from constituents directly 

impacted by this proposal. We were surprised by a number of issues. 

The most troubling point is the apparent fact that the FAA barely considered the repercussions of this 

proposal on the non-scheduled sector of the industry, where many airlines are also small businesses. 

The FAA stated that it assigned charter (non-scheduled) passenger and small cargo airlines to the 

category of large cargo operators because it believed they are similar. Charter (non-scheduled) 

passenger and small cargo airlines could not be more different from large cargo airlines regarding size 

and types of operations. 

This oversight by the FAA has significant ramifications. The proposed new rule will impose significant 

additional costs on non-scheduled carriers, which are safely flying commercial operations as well as 

transport missions on behalf of the Department of Defense. Non-scheduled airlines estimate these 

extra costs at $3.7 billion dollars over ten years - all from on« new federal rule. The FAA appears not to 

have considered these additional costs for non-scheduled carriers in its Regulatory Impact Analysis. 

The FAA stated that carriers will be able to use Fatigue Risk Management Systems (FRMS) to provide 

flexibility and potential deviations from the new prescriptive rule. Any system must be uniform, 

predictable, and applicable to all environments to be effective, FRMS, presently. Is not. The FAA 

acknowledged that no country has adopted FRiWtS as a regulatory alternative. Relying on FRMS will 

almost certainly place non-scheduled carriers' military missions at risk, as they would not be able to 

undertake these flights in a timely and responsive manner. Finally, regarding commercial flights, this 

proposal places our carriers in significant Jeopardy of losing business to foreign carriers that will be able 

to operate more freely. ' 

This oversight must be addressed with respect to the FAA having overlooked the non-scheduled sector 

of the industry and the impact it will have on these carriers. We ask that the FAA continue current 

Subpart S rules governing flight and duty time rules for non-scheduled carriers until a separate 

rulemaking can be undertaken to specifically focus on modernizing Subpart S. 
I'M 

, IS 

.01/06/2011 14:21 2022675075 OFFICE OF RULEMAKING PAGE 93 

Thank you for your consideration of this request. We look forward to hearing from you on this critically 

Important issue affecting our constituents. 

!,. 

Jamjr M. Inhofe 

Uqfed States Senator 

Sincerely, 

Senator Tom Coburn 

United States Senator 

Senator Lisa Murkowski 

United States Senator 

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