BEFORE THE 

FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION 

WASHINGTON, DC 

 

Petition of ) 

 ) 

 TEM Enterprises d/b/a Xtra Airways ) Exemption No. 9736 

 ) Regulatory Docket 

for an exemption from various ) No. FAA-2008-0588 

provisions of 14 CFR Part 121. ) 

 )

PETITION OF 

TEM ENTERPRISES D/B/A XTRA AIRWAYS 

FOR RENEWAL OF EXEMPTION

Summary

In accordance with the provisions of § 11.61 of the Federal Aviation Regulations 

(FAR), TEM Enterprises d/b/a Xtra Airways (“Xtra”) hereby requests a renewal of its 

exemption from the terms of 14 CFR § 61.3(a) and § 61.3(c) allowing an operator to 

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

crewmember certificate based upon information contained in the operator’s approved 

record system. 

The exemption was originally granted to Xtra Airways on August 4, 2008 in 

Exemption 9736 (“the Exemption”) and was corrected on August 14, 2008. It is set to 

expire on August 31, 2010. 

Specifically, under the exemption, Xtra Airways pilots are authorized to carry 

written confirmation of FAA-issued pilot or medical certificates provided by Xtra Airways 

based on information in Xtra Airways’s approved record system. 

Exemption 9736 has proved to be a useful device that benefits the commercial 

aviation industry and the flying public and there has been no change in the underlying 

circumstances or reasons that justified granting the Exemption. For these reasons, it 

should be extended. 

FAR’s Affected

Section 61.3(a) states, in pertinent part, that no person may act as pilot-incommand or in any other capacity as a required pilot flight crewmember of a civil aircraft 

of United States registry unless he has in his physical possession or readily accessible 

in the aircraft a certificate issued to him under this part. This section also requires the 

crewmember to have in his physical possession or readily accessible in the aircraft a 

government issued photo identification which includes a valid drivers license or official 

passport. 
2

Section 61.3(c) imposes the same possession requirements for an appropriate 

current medial certificate. 

Discussion

The request for renewal of the Exemption is supported by the same statements 

and justifications that justified its original grant. As noted in Xtra’s original petition for an 

exemption, the reasons the exemption serves the public interest and ensures at least 

equivalent levels of safety were set forth by the Air Transport Association of America 

(ATA) in its petition for similar relief for air carriers who operate under Part 121 and the 

Regional Airline Association (RAA) for scheduled air carriers who operate under Part 

135. The information presented by ATA is found in Regulatory Docket No. 26582 and 

was the basis upon which the FAA issued Exemption No. 5487 to ATA members 

operating under Part 121. The information presented by RAA is found in Regulatory 

Docket No. 26952 and was the basis upon which the FAA issued Exemption No. 5560 to 

RAA members and other scheduled 135 carriers operated under Part 135. Those 

presentations of the relevant issues remain applicable to Xtra Airways as well. Further, 

two years of operations under the Exemption demonstrate that granting a renewal of the 

Exemption would not adversely affect safety and would be in the public interest. 

Xtra justifies its request with the following: Xtra’s flights are largely unscheduled 

(charter) and involve operations during all hours of the day and night, often to remote 

locations. Considering the number of certificated airmen required to support these 

operations, it is not uncommon for a small percentage of this group to have his or her 

required certificate(s) and/or photo ID misplaced, lost, or destroyed. Occasionally, this 

may occur at a time and/or location where it is not possible to contact the FAA in 

Oklahoma City to request the appropriate telegraphic confirmation in accordance with 

§61.29. It may also be impractical to obtain a required photo ID at the time and/or 

location. Under the current rules, a flight must then be delayed or cancelled until the FAA 

certificate confirmation and/or photo ID can be received by the operating crew. Xtra, like

ATA and RAA, believes that such delay or cancellation should not be necessary

because the certificate holder has a record of the airman’s certificates and a copy his or 

her passport and/or drivers license. However, to comply with the above rules, the flight 

must be delayed or in some cases cancelled simply because the FAA offices in 

Oklahoma are closed, because prompt telegraphic capabilities may not be available at 

the airman’s location, or because there is no way to quickly acquire a replacement photo 

ID. 

As supporting justification that the petition would establish a level of safety 

equivalent to the regulation, essentially the ATA petition proposed that an approved 

method be established as an alternative. That method would confirm the identity of the 

crewmember and provide the crewmember with a facsimile of the certificate(s) and/or 

photo ID. ATA also proposed that the operator-issued certificate confirmation would be 

valid only until the airman is able to acquire FAA-issued certificate confirmation. Xtra 

proposes the same with the addition that the operator-issued copy of a current valid 

driver’s license or official passport be valid (for FAA identification purposes only) until a 

replacement government photo ID can be acquired. 
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Request for Waiver

Xtra Airways hereby requests waiver for publication of this petition in the Federal 

Register. 

Precedent already exists for waiver from publication. Similar requests were 

granted to ATA and RAA. 

* * * 

ACCORDINGLY, TEM Enterprises d/b/a Xtra Airways requests that the 

aforementioned Exemption be renewed for a period of two years, and that the FAA grant 

any other and further relief that it may deem necessary. 

 Respectfully submitted, 

 

 Mark W. Atwood 

 Joshua P. Weinshank 

 Sher & Blackwell, LLP

 1850 M Street, NW 

 Washington, DC 20036 

Dated: April 5, 2010