1 

## Exemption Request FAR 91.319(c)

Submitted by the Commemorative Air Force

For Participants I n 

### Arsenal of Democracy World War II Victory Capitol Flyover

Aircraft: 2 P

- 39 s , 4 P

- 40 s , 4 P

- 47 s , 2 P

- 63 s , 3 FG

- 1D s , 4 FM

- 2 s , 2 F4U s , 2 F6F s , 2 F8F s and 1 SB2C

Re quest: Exemption from FAR 91.319 (c) and associated condition s in the aircraft operating limitations



## 1. Reason for Exemption:

The Commemorative Air Force is submitting this request for various operators participating in the flyover along with our CAF aircra ft. Although the coordination for sourcing these aircraft is still in progress, we are planning to include a number

close to those shown above and the line

- up for the entire parade is shown in paragraph 2 below. We are requesting this exemption to provide operational relief

from the restriction s of operating experimental aircraft ov er D ensely Populated

Areas during the flyover of the Nationa l Mall celebrating the 70 th annive rsary of the end of WW II, on 8 May, 2015. The concept of the flyover was briefed to Administrator Huerta by Congressman Grave s and summarized in the letter to the

Administrator (attachment 1) . The lette r clearly establishes the event as in the

P ublic Interest. The basis of showing there is no adverse effect on public safety is the ove rflight of populated areas by any of these aircraft will only be one minute to one minut e and

30 seconds and the route is always within 30 seconds of the river route if an aircraft has to abort and depart the area

. A partner in the minimum exposure mitigat ion is catastrophic (fall out of the sky) failures without warning are extremely rare. The chance of such a failure happening during a 60

- 90 second segment of normal flight

is s o unlikely; it c an be assumed it will not occur.



## 2. Overview of VE Day Flyover :2

WHEN: May 8, 2015 •WHY: Honor and pay tribute to our nation’s greatest generation on the 70th anniversary of VE Day •WHERE: Washington, DC and the World War II Memorial through the established “Honor Flight” model •HOW: Fly historic WWII planes over N ational Mall

“THE PLAN”

• Capitol Mall Flyover •Trainers followed by 13 Historically Sequenced Warbird formations and concluding with a missing man formation to “taps”

•Formations in 90

- second intervals •70+ planes representing the major battles of World War II, from Pearl Harbor to the final air offensive to defeat Japan

HISTORICAL AERIAL REVIEW FLOW •Trainer Formation “Pass in Review” (Boeing Stearmans, Piper L

- Birds, North

America T

- 6s, Cessna/Beech Twin Bomber Trainers •Pearl Harbor/Flying Tigers (Curtis P

- 40 Warhawks) •Doolittle Raid (North American B

- 25 Mitchells) •Guadalcanal Campaign (Bell P

- 63/P

- 39 Kingcobras/Aerocobras) •Battle of Midway (Consolidated PBY Catalina, Grumman F4F/FM

- 2 Wildcats

, Douglas SBD Dauntless)

•Yamamoto Shoot down (Lockheed P

- 38 Lightnings) •Ploesti Raid (Consolidated B

- 24 Liberators)

•Combined Bomber Offensive

— Long

- Range Fighter Escort/Tuskegee Airman (North American P

- 51 Mustangs) •Big Week (Boeing B

- 17 Flying Fort ress)

•D

- Day (Douglas C

- 47/R4D Skytrain, Douglas A

- 26 Invader) •Marianas Turkey Shoot/Battle of Leyte Gulf (Grumman TBM Avengers, Grumman F6F Wildcats, Grumman F8F Bearcats, Curtis SB2C Helldivers) •Battle of the Bulge (Republic P

- 47 Thunderbolts)

•Iwo Jima (Vought FG

- 1D Corsair s ) •Final Air Offensive to Defeat Japan (Boeing B

- 29 Superfortress)

CONCLUDES WITH A MISSING MAN FORMATION TO TAPS •The flight will be a mixture of the fighter aircraft, or a 4 ship of one model (Mustangs)3



## 3. Route of Flight /Restricted Area Waivers

The route of flight and approvals for flight in the restricted areas are being worked thru Mr. James Johnson (703) 563

- 3118 IAW the Administrator s’ Letter of 19 August, 2014 (attachment 2 ). The interagency suspense’s for the se approvals are very close to the event and history has shown they will not become final until the

month before the event , or later . However, Mr. Johnson and the General Avia tion Operations Branch, AFS

- 830, have been working together and have agreed upon the

routes as shown below. NOTE: The Washington FSDO, AFS

- 830 and the CAF have coordinated and we will apply for a waiver to FAR 91.119 to allow the flyover altitude as low as 1,000’ AGL.4

Flight Path (Populated Area Close Up)

Flight Path (St reet View )5



## 4. Minimizing Adverse Effect / Equivalent Level of Safety:

A. The period of overflight and time to egress is extremely limited:

Thanks to the cooperation of the interagency working group and participation of

AFS

- 830 in selecting this route

, the total distance of populated area overflight is only 3 miles and the period of overflight for each airplane is only 60

- 90 seconds. This very limited overflight is an overwhelming mitigation of potential risk associated with mechanical problems. It is e xtremely rare for any mechanical malfunction to

pr ogress to significant failure in a minute and a half. Moreover, at the most distant point during the flyover (approximately Independence and 3 rd St.) the egress to the outbound river route is only 1 mile, o r about 20

- 30 seconds.

B

. Similar aircraft operate with limited certificates : The aircraft in this request are of comparable make , construction, and materials as the WW II era fighters certificated in the limited category. The window for requesting the limited certification was relatively brief in relation to when the thrust to preserve t hem gained momentum and more importantly, the significance of the restrictions on experimental aircraft wasn’t anticipated in the immediate era

after the war. The b ottom line is these aircraft were certificated in the experimental category because the owners failed to make appropriate applications, not because6

the aircraft were less safe and less reliable than those which were certificated in the limited category.

C . The Pilots have specific FAA authorizations to operate these aircraft : The pilots must receive specific training, be examined in the specific model and receive a type rating or authorization to operate these aircraft . These additional FAA requirem ents insure the pilots operating these aircraft are fully trained and qualified.

D. The P ilots will be formation qualified IAW National Standards : The pilots will be qualified and holders of current FAST credentials ; the FAA recognized formation cre dential for waivered airspace.

E . T he aircraft are maintained and inspected IAW FAA required programs :

The Washington FSDO will be performing ramp inspections of these aircraft within two days of them participating in the flyover to verify airwort hiness and compliance with Federal requirements. NOTE: The aircraft are maintained by FAA credential mechanics.



## 5. Risk Assessment :

Fortunately , there are very few events which could result in one of these aircraft crashing into the populated area during the 60

- 90 seconds of the overflight and they are extremely rare. The longest distance to an unpopulated area is 1 m ile, or 20

- 30 seconds of flig h t, so even if something serious should happen, diverting away to the

river route will protect the population. Catastrophic structural failures, immediate loss of power and midair collisions are

ab out the only things which could result in an aircraft goin g down in the populated

areas. Structural failures and possibly loss of control in a midair collision could result in catastrophic damage on the ground, but loss of an engine would still allow the pilot to fly the airplane to the ground and avoid catastrop hic damage. The FAST qualification of the pilots reduces the likelihood of catastrophic midair damage to improbable . The likelihood of lesser damage where the aircraft is still controllable is only a remote possibility. Minimizing the time of the overfligh t as we have planned, special qualifications of the pilots (type ratings/authorizations and FAST cards), annual aircraft inspections

and ramp checks by the FSDO all mitigate the likelihood of an accident in the very small area of the overflight to an accep table level.7 

### Risk Assessment Matrix Population/Structures in DC Area for VE Day Flyover

Severity

Likelihood of happening during a three minute period Negligible

IV

Less tha n minor inju ry and/or less

than minor

structure damage Marginal

III

Minor injury and/or minor

structure damage Critical

II

S evere injury and/or major

structure damage Catastrophic

I

Results in

fata lities and/or loss

of structures

Frequent = A

Continuously experienced

Probable = B

Will occur often

Occasional = C

Likely to occur

sometime

Remote = D

Unlikely , but possible Engine failure

And

Midair lesser damage

Improbable = E

So unlikely, it c an be assumed it will

not occur Structural failure

And

Midair loss of control8



## A. Summary:

Participation of these American Fighters in the flyover of the National Mall celebrating the 70 th anniversary of the end of WW II is in t he public interest and the safety of the populati on is assured by the mitigations above.

I lo ok forward to the opportunity of work ing with the Agency answering questions as they arise during the staffing of our request. Please contact me on my cell, or via

email should the need arise.

Sincerely,

Robert A. Stenevik Vice President of Safety, Maintenance and Operations

Commemorative Air Force

Cell 817

- 705

- 5817 rstenevik@cafhq.org

2 Attachments:

- Congressional Letter to the Administrator

- Administrators’ Letter of 19 August, 2014