### 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 vari ous ) 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 tem porary 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 incl udes 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 de monstrate 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.3 Request for Waiver

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

Precedent already exists for waiver fr om 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